lodgers dad trying to recover rent

[seduraed]

hi there folks . Let me outline the situation and see if I can get any advice .
I rentd a room to a young student he was there a few days before being taken ill .
At the end ofthe of the first month I hada communication fron his father giving one month's notice as the lodger was not returning because of illness . during the pariod he was not there I put some packing boxes in the room for a few days (ll advised I admit , but I had no one to help me move teh boxes into the loft).
The lodgers paerntsturned up to remove his things and the father went crazy accusing me of subletting the room and that i shouldn't have gone on there at all. He is now claiming that I repudiateds the contract and want over £600 back . He also clains over £100 for post and letters asnd for a an expensive sleeping bag that has not turned up .

Does he have a claim ? He's threatening court action .

[seduraed]

Re: lodgers dad trying to recover rent

BUMP admin sorry posted in wrong place

[IanM]

Re: lodgers dad trying to recover rent

Hi Sed, I doubt very much whether he has a leg to stand on.

Does he have pictures of the packing boxes in the room?
Does he have any proof that you had another tenant using the room?
Does he have any proof that the expensive sleeping bag existed? or was in the room at any time during the tenancy?

It seems that the father is angry that his son/daughter is ill and he probably paid the rent and doesn't want to feel the rent has been wasted for nothing.

Ask him to provide any evidence he has which he will use to bring a legitimate claim against you then sit and wait.

Stand your ground and see a solicitor for advice or wait until he sends a solicitors letter or county court claim.

[seduraed]

Re: lodgers dad trying to recover rent

he maintains that there were boxes in teh room and the bed had been stripped was evidence of the subletting .

[IanM]

Re: lodgers dad trying to recover rent

What he says he saw and what he can prove he saw are 2 different things!

You could say that after he informed you that the tenancy would be ended you put the bedding in the wash and provided a couple of boxes for whoever came to collect the tenants belongings if they required them.

[labman]

Re: lodgers dad trying to recover rent

Did you post this before on here?

I have read an almost identical post somewhere on here which would help if I could find it.

Anyone else remember it?

[rocket123]

Re: lodgers dad trying to recover rent

I have rented rooms to logers for decades - hundreds of them probably. Most were OK, some became friends. Then there were the idiots. This is one of them. Ignore it. Tell the father to take his child's belongings, smile sweetly, get the key and then ignore all further communication. If he comes banging on the door, call the police. Do not discuss anything, do not enter into any form of conversation. He is a prat and he is trying it on. There is no legal basis whatever for his claims. His child came, his child went. The rent was paid. Its time for them to get lost. The end.

I used to get worried/wound up about things like this, but soon learnt exactly where I stood and where they stood. I also had almost identical experience with idiot father of ex tenant. I incinerated him with some carefully crafted sentences & never heard another peep.

[seduraed]

Re: lodgers dad trying to recover rent

I was goping tIo write to the son andsay that I hadnot seen the missing sleeping bag and wish him a speedy recovery . He's a nice man . Unfortunately I cant say the same forhis dad .

[seduraed]

Re: lodgers dad trying to recover rent

Still on gong I gota letter before action today . However anothre of my lodger is friends with former lodger , and has advised that ex lodger knows nothing about these actions . Do I continue to ignore the Dad ?

[CleverClogs]

Re: lodgers dad trying to recover rent

What he says he saw and what he can prove he saw are 2 different things!

You could say that after he informed you that the tenancy would be ended you had to burn the bedding on which his filthy, drug addicted and lice-infested son had slept and provided a couple of boxes for whoever came to collect the tenants belongings if they required them or else to take that rubbish to the local tip.

IFYPFY. msl:

[PlanB]

Re: lodgers dad trying to recover rent

Still on gong I gota letter before action today . However anothre of my lodger is friends with former lodger , and has advised that ex lodger knows nothing about these actions . Do I continue to ignore the Dad ?

Did you enter into any written agreement or contract with the Dad or his Son?

[seduraed]

Re: lodgers dad trying to recover rent

The contract was with the son I have a standard contract .

[enquirer]

Re: lodgers dad trying to recover rent

Still on gong I gota letter before action today . However anothre of my lodger is friends with former lodger , and has advised that ex lodger knows nothing about these actions . Do I continue to ignore the Dad ?

if the contract is with the son, the father has no say, unless he is authorised to act on the son's behalf (which he isn't, but he might bully the son into going along with it).

In the meantime, do nothing other than deny liability. Hopefully, if he goes on to issue a claim, he will be stupid enough to do it in his own name.

A counter claim is also a possibility.

[PlanB]

Re: lodgers dad trying to recover rent

The contract was with the son I have a standard contract .

Good, so there can be no doubt what was formally agreed with the Son. You need to check what the cancellation clause says in that document because that's what you'll be relying on if you get taken to court. If Dad is seriously angry this could happen and all he'll have to do is login to MCOL and issue the county court summons entering his son's name on the POC.

Even though it's Dad not Son writing to you I wouldn't ignore his Letter Before Action. He obviously paid out the £600 for his Son's lodging and is upset at losing it even though it's not your fault. No sense in winding him up even more. Why not send him a polite letter enclosing a copy of the contract with the cancellation clause highlighted so at least he can see why he can't have his money back. It's always good to leave a paper trail as evidence in case you end up in court.

Did the "lodging" include more than just the room to sleep in but also extras such as meals provided? If you want to defuse the situation you could calculate what you haven't actually lost (i.e. a food bill) and send that back to him as a gesture of goodwill.

I'm a parent and when my daughter was at uni I picked up the bills for everything so I'm no stranger to the "Mummy will sort it" attitude of kids which is why you're hearing from the parent not the child. It might pay to do some detective work too. You say one of your current lodgers is a friend of the student, maybe find out whether he really was ill and had to leave or whether he was telling porkies to wriggle out of a contract because he was homesick or some other reason. That information would help you to decide how you want to handle this situation.

Finally, how quickly did you re-let his room? This will be relevant if it ended up in court. Judges won't allow you to charge twice for the same service. So if there was a duplication of rent at any stage you probably wouldn't be allowed to keep the profit because you won't have suffered any loss if you were paid twice for the same period.

[seduraed]

Re: lodgers dad trying to recover rent

In answer to the questions posed . There was a thrity day cancellation clause and I recieved the notice in writing . The advance payment I always take has been refunded and the check cashed . The son moved out on the friday defore his teanacy expired on the saturday night and I re-let the room on the saturday afternoon with the tenant moving in that evening . (hasving previously viewed it ). The father claims to have a written authority to act . I am advised that under the courts act 2006 to issue a money claim the claimnt either needs to be a solicitor or hold a power of attorney . The father claims to have an authority to act but I have never seen this . The lodger was definitely ill he was admitted to hospitasl from my house by ambulance two days after moving in and required emergency surgery for appendicitis.
My contact has said the the son is now fully recovered and will be returnnig to unversity in th autumn.