Landlord / tenant dispute

[johnboy]

Hi can anyone help please?

My daughter let a room in her house as a house share, when the tenant left she had done a lot of damage to the room she had used, she also left the room in a dirty state, with rubbish bags in the room. My daughter came to an agreement with the tenant about the cost of the damage, and kept about £200 from her deposit, to cover the redecorating and cleaning cost. The tenant has now issued a claim in the small claims court for the return of the whole £200 plus court costs. As far as I can tell she is not disputing the damage, only the cost of repair. My daughter has a couple of quotes from decorators and cleaners which along with a destroyed pair of curtains come to more than the £200 which she retained, also some of the stains did not come out of the carpet after it was professionally cleaned. We have pictures (digital) of the damage, but not of the room before the rental, however the agreement (which the tenant signed) states that the room "must be returned in the same clean state it was at the beginning of the agreement"

Do we have a good case? or should we just give in and send the cash? Can we counterclaim for the additional cost of the damage now the tenant has rejected the agreement for the £200?

[bwglaw]

Given the fact that the tenant has rejected your offers then you are entitled to counterclaim for any costs you are entitled to for damage and undertaking any repairs. Challenge the tenant with the quotations, present the images (without confirming when taken) and any other evidence.

The tenant has made the claim, therefore she will have to prove that your daughter was not entitled to deduct any costs for damage and repairs. As it will be allocated to the small claims track thus informal I would challenge it all the way.