Tom39
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315 Posts
Dear Advice Team,
In an attempt to "stabilise" a tenancy where the tenant was proving unpredictable and who was clearly struggling, we issued the following statement to her in a text exchange (text being the primary forum for this tenant's tenancy communications): "Thank you for your transfer today. We now consider you up to date with your rent to date, six months into the tenancy." In doing so we were signalling that we would not pursue her for a residual %C2£72 of rent arrears which she at that time was also liable for. Note that we intentionally did NOT state that there were NO rent arrears, only that we would "consider" her rental account to be up to date as of that date for all practical purposes. It represented an implicit bargain that we would not pursue these %C2£72 arrears provided that further arrears did not accrue and that the tenancy henceforth proceeded smoothly. The tenant did not respond.
And yes, that most well-intentioned offer has come back to bite us.
The tenant's arrears subsequently escalated to a more substantial sum, on a variety of (all-too-familiar) pretexts, and she committed two frauds on us (one involving redecoration expenses, one involving a forged reference in our name). We accepted with relief her offer to move out, which she has now done.
Which leaves us with the assessment of the deposit deduction for the rent arrears.
We have a precise rental record showing all arrears due, but the tenant is now arguing that we issued a final and irrevocable waiver to the original %C2£72 arrears as of the six month date. We maintain that we offered only to "consider" her rental account up to date and retained the right to withdraw that consideration. We texted her to advise her of our revised position.
What is your assessment of our position with respect to a deposit deduction for the full arrears amount (ie including the original %C2£72)?
Thank you for your assistance.
Forum comments invited.