The next stage of landlord woes

[annwfyn]

So, I got this e mail from my now ex-landlord this morning:

From : Nigel Spalding
Sent : 18 October 2006 10:36:12
To : "Sally Brewer"
CC : "'Anthony Wilson'"
Subject : FW: 3QDC

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

fyi. There seems aot worng in the hosue and ryan never paid his rent . I
think there is a lot of depaoit decustions here. Thanks Nigel

N i g e l S p a l d i n g
+44 7976 268 163
www.nigelspalding.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Mitchell, Charlotte [CIB-FI] [mailto:charlotte.mitchell@citigroup.com]

Sent: 18 October 2006 11:27
To: nigel@nigelspalding.com
Subject: 3QDC

Hi Nigel,

Thanks for all your help so far as most of the things have been fixed,
however we still have a few things that are stucturally broken in the house:

1. Top floor balcony door handle broken.
2. Wooden bracket on kitchen cupboard above cutlery draw keeps falling down
when opening cupboard.
3. Kitchen draws that are broken and get stuck.
4. Washing Machine on/off button broken.
5. Toilet seat in ensuite is loose and ask if it can be removed as we would
like to replace it ourselves with a new wooden one.
6. Broken couch - springs have gone on the one side, squeaking.
7. Door missing on kitchen cupboard above oven.

We also had the cleaner in yesterday but noticed that the oven and blinds
were not cleaned at all as we had kindly requested. Would it be ok with you
if I ring Virginia back and arrange another time for them to come and do
this?

Regards
Charlotte

I sent this reply:

Nigel

Most of these things have been discussed with you prior to us moving out.

>1. Top floor balcony door handle broken.

I don't think I'd noticed that before - as far as I'm aware that was fine.

>2. Wooden bracket on kitchen cupboard above cutlery draw keeps falling down
>when opening cupboard.

That was reported to you in January of this year. There was no response, so we simply made do as best we could.

>3. Kitchen draws that are broken and get stuck.

This has been reported to you by ourselves prior to moving out. You sent Dave Buoys around to mend the kitchen drawers when we stated that this was a problem for us and has been since we moved in.

>4. Washing Machine on/off button broken.

This was reported to you as an ongoing issue, as well as the dishwasher.

>5. Toilet seat in ensuite is loose and ask if it can be removed as we would
>like to replace it ourselves with a new wooden one.

Again, I hadn't noticed this as a problem. I would argue that this is fair wear and tear and was not caused by violent usage.

>6. Broken couch - springs have gone on the one side, squeaking.

We have certainly never been rough with this couch and I would suggest that this is fair wear and tear.

>7. Door missing on kitchen cupboard above oven.

This was extant when we moved into the house. There has never been a door on the kitchen cupboard above the oven.

I have no objections to Ryan's unpaid rent being removed from the deposit, but I do object to things that were either left in the same condition as they were when we moved in being charged to ourselves or which are due to fair wear and tear and have previously been reported to yourself as an issue.

The two issues which I accept entirely our liability are Ryan's failure to pay his rent, which I am trying to chase him up on, and the scorch marks on the decking in the garden. Anything else was either as it was when we moved in, or, I feel, is simply the normal wear and tear sustained by any lived in in household and has been discussed with yourself prior to our departure.

yours sincerely

Sally Brewer

Nigel

We've lived in that property for 11 months. In all that time no one has jumped on the sofa, dropped anything heavy on the sofa, or done anything more dramatic than sit on the sofa.

Can I ask what we should have done to prevent this problem, taking into account that this sofa has only ever been sat on by ourselves and visitors? Honestly, I am simply confused as to what we could have done! I can get written statements from all flatmates that that sofa has not been roughly treated in any way at all. I also dispute that there was anything wrong with that sofa when we moved out. I certainly sat on both of those sofas in the days before we moved, and they were perfectly comfortable.

Re: the upstairs landing door - I think I've just realised what Charlotte is talking about - she's correct, the handle is broken, and has been since we moved in.

Please get back to me asap on the issue of the sofa, as I am more than a little concerned at this accusation.

Sally Brewer

UpdateThere's more....


>From: nigel@nigelspalding.com
>Reply-To: nigel@nigelspalding.com
>To: "Sally Brewer"

>I think the sofa issue is not fair wear and year. I am waiting for a quote to repair decking which I will get after 26th Oct. Thanks nigel
>
>N I G E L S P A L D I N G
>+ 44 7976 268 163
>www.nigelspalding.com
>
>Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

I'm just hissing. Those are all things we've either told him about before, asked to have fixed, never had fixed and are now apparently going to be charged for. I don't think I'm going to get this deposit back and I'm going to end up screwed over for £2,700.

I could kill this man. I really really could.