Updating post from Reddit.
England based
We have lived in the same house for around 10 years. In that time the landlord has redecorated the house twice and replaced the kitchen/bathroom and heating system.
The landlord has included these costs in the arrears that we owe. We owe around 1k in rent arrears (that we are replaying each month), but the rest (15k) is for above.
Are we legally required to pay for the redecorating/replacement bathroom/kitchen/heating system? The contract does not mention anything about this. Is there also a tribunal that we can go to for rent arrears/ landlord/tenant rights?
Haha, as a fellow landlord tell them to go fuck themself.
PS, pay your rent arrears though.
This... All the way !
Another landlord here....politely tell him/her where to shove it....Rent arrears are in the contract and need to be paid....paying for theirs maintainance and upgrades is a piss take
To be honest, if that’s the landlord’s request I don’t think politeness is required
It's not required but there is no point in getting the landlord too offside on purpose...Landlords can be real dicks sometimes.
lol.
The guy is off his fucking rocker. The only thing you need to respond to him with is the middle finger.
That is just insane!!!! Absolutely NO non of those are your costs it’s HIS house, you do not own it!
The rent is their cost.
He asked if they are legally required to pay for decorating refurbishment new kitchen boiler…answer…no none of those are your costs, he didn’t ask if he was required to pay rent dumbass!
You absolutely do not owe for any improvements made by the landlord which were required to maintain his investment. If you had specifically asked for an adaption or something and made an arrangement then it would be different. Replacing a worn out kitchen or bathroom is not at all something you should have to fund and him asking for it is ridiculous.
Pay your rent arrears and the rest is on him. You can speak to Shelter for expert advice. If you end up moving out for whatever reason check he has protected your deposit and take a lot of photos/video of the property when you leave. Your landlord sounds like the type to try and keep your deposit.
No, you're not legally required to pay anything beyond your actual rental arrears i.e. whatever you signed up to pay on a monthly basis. He's contractually required to keep the house in a functioning condition and wear and tear repair cannot be applied to the tenants either.
Your main problem you really have here is that your landlord is either intentionally trying to scam you or has so little grasp of being a landlord that its up in the air what else he'll dream up. He's either a conman or a complete tool.
Just tell him that you will pay your rent and nothing more. He's in fantasy land if he thinks he can charge renovations to the tenant. Legally he won't have a leg to stand on.
Tell him where he can shove it lol. It's his property and his problem to decorate/ update.
Ermm what. Tell him to get fucked, unless you maliciously destroyed the kitchen/bathroom/heating system then it's his responsibility and his choice to renovate, not the tenants
OP isn’t telling the whole story.
How’d you end up with the landlord thinking you’re legally responsible for the costs of redecorating and replacing the heating system?
What did you did you do to f up the decoration and heating?
What part of those costs did you agree to pay?
Oh yeah, landlords never ever ever charge their tenants for stuff like this to avoid paying for it themselves. Ever.
There is not a chance you’d get money for a due renovation. No tenant sane in his mind would pay, no court would make you right.
This is why some will believe that OP is not saying the complete truth: i.e. maybe it’s repair due to tenant damage.
Anyway, if OP is representing correctly the situation, he has nothing to do but just state the facts and that he’s not to pay for normal renovations.
Pay your rent in arrears and try to pay in time, it weaken your position to not be up to date on payments in case of dispute.
Before I bought my first house every single landlord I had tried to take £600+ for cleaning or painting or general wear and tear. Every single time. I got full deposit back every time except once where I agreed I could have cleaned the oven better. But landlords would never request money for something they’re not legally entitled to?
There is a difference with trying for cleaning and a full renovation. I doubt anybody thinks he can get away with asking the cost of a renovation unless you are a bit deranged.
Anyway, you did the right thing: now it’s even easier since you can go to the deposit scheme in case of dispute.
Post this on uktenants and I guarantee almost everyone would believe it.
Wow that’s shocking some people do that.
You should be fined for even trying …
Everyone who’s rented for a few years has dealt with a landlord they’d believe would do this.
I guess I was lucky … the worst I had were cleaning fees.
Never heard of a landlord deciding to replace a kitchen and bill the tenants. Doesn't happen. Ever.
Are they renovation costs or are they repair costs because you damaged something. They are very different things.
Surely if they did £15k in damages they'd be evicted, not billed?
This is a made up story. No tenant would be so naive. Surely.
Pay your rent arrears asap and keep up to date with rent.
As for decorating and replacing/fixing things, that's on your landlord to foot the cost.
Order a banging takeaway tonight and send the roaster the bill.
I would be equally as ridiculous and send them a 100k invoice for a £200 weekly cleaning fee for the last ten years.
You should try to get out of the rent arrears though - if you get far enough behind they can issue a ccj and this will make it very tricky to rent in the future.
The landlord has no chance of recovering any of the redecorating costs unless you pay them (which you shouldn’t).
No you are not liable for the repairs or refurbishments
I would check he has protected your deposit
I assume he's happy with you taking the kitchen and bathroom, and undoing the decorating when you leave then?
No you do not have to pay this.
There are only three circumstances in which you need to address this
If your landlord tries to evict you for rent arrears. As long as your actual rent arrears are under two months worth of rent, you can’t be evicted for that. So if they ever try to, go to the court date and explain
Deposit repayment. Again, simply explain to the Depsoit protection service what happened, and they won’t let them keep the money
They try to sue you for the money, see 1
There is nothing else they can do. They can’t force you to pay the money
Is it possible that you yourself requested this work and agreed to pay for it or to contribute towards it and then fell on somewhat hard times and tried to get out of it?
It seems utterly bizarre otherwise that the landlord would have done all this work of his own accord and then afterwards gone... oh, and by the way, you owe me £15k.
I’ve heard it all now 😂what a joke! The rent arrears are no joke though
He's a cheeky sod isn't he. Tell him to sod off you're not paying nothing for the upkeep of his house,the only thing you're obliged to pay is your rent amd bils. Let him take you to court for it because I'll bet the judge could do with a giggle
no you are not required to pay for works to the property. Politely dispute the other arrears while still paying the rent arrears.
No lol tell him to fuck a donkey.
Big time illegal
What the living F! No you are not! Get a lawyer! And I'm a landlord!
You say you've paid most of the renovation costs, this may imply you agreed to do so, but if not just work out how you've paid, translate that into how many months rent it's equivalent to, and tell your landlord you're all paid up until whatever month this calculates to
Pay your rent, tell him to do one about the rest. He's trying to get you to pay for his investment basically.
They’re absolutely taking the piss 😂😂
In the UK, unlike in eg much of Europe, there simply is no provision for the landlord to “reclaim” improvements like this. On the other hand, there’s nothing that restricts the landlord from simply raising the rent to offset their costs!
I suppose in theory this could be in the contract - or separately agreed w/ the landlord - but in that case you’d know about it. And unless it’s in the contract, it doesn’t have any bearing on your lease!
That said: given that you’re in arrears you probably have v limited protection from being evicted - at least until the new government reforms are actually enacted, and quite possibly afterwards too.
You have to pay for him to redecorate and install a new kitchen/heating system in a house he OWNs? Tell him to jog on.
>The contract does not mention anything about this.
IANAL but I'd say that's the key thing. Tell them to go forth and multiply.
Maintenance is the landlords responsibility and they pay for that themselves, unless of course it's due to tenants negligence/abuse of the facilities. Some landlords take the biscuit. Definitely get those arrears paid off though!
That’s called capex, the burden is on the landlord and it’s not your liability. No matter what he says or does, it will never be your liability.
Ha ha tell him to take you guys to court as that's a full on joke, some landlords give other landlords a bad name and this is why we have the laws and rules we have coming in now!! Ask for it in writing then tell him where it's written within the contract
Pay the arrears.
Ignore the demands to pay for the other stuff - he can take you to court but without an explicit agreement from you agreeing to pay, or without an EXTREMELY difficult to prove argument that you damaged it so badly it's reasonable that you pay, he can whistle for that money.
Refuse to pay and request what you have paid back otherwise he is committing fraud. If he will not refund the money go to the council, citizens advice and the police and possibly your local councillor or MP.
Start suing.
Send him a link to this thread