Landlord trying to take some of security deposit for wear and tear (IMO)

Denalihighway

Hi
I'll make this as succinct as possible:

Just moved out of a house today. Have lived there for 1 year and my mates the 2 years before that. The house has been kept in immaculate condition and the landlord hasnt lifted a finger on it in 3 years.

I left it in excellent condition today, including getting rid of some old furniture that was there before my time to keep the landlord sweet. He even had tenants looking at it this morning who were admiring the condition.

A couple of weeks ago my housemate (an extremely stand-up Spanish guy) rang to say there was something wrong with the window and it wouldn't close. He stresses by the way, that this was 100% due to normal opening and closing. He didn't want to force it shut (he had slept in the cold for 2 nights) so I phoned landlord who sent someone out to look at it.

The window repair guy didn't have time to fix it, so he took a piece off the window so he could shut it and said he would come back and finish the job. This will be happening this week I'd say.

Long story short, landlord is trying to take the cost of repair off the window from the security deposit as he says there might be some kind of 'messing' involved. What exactly he thinks we might have been doing I don't know...

This is a guy who hasn't had to lift a finger in 3 years, has a house in walk-in condition ready to re-let and he wants to pinch money from people who don't have any - it makes me sick. He said he'll wait to talk to the window people to decide and I know he'll be talking to them 2moro and trying to get them to say they thought it wasn't normal wear and tear. I'll be having a word with them as well hopefully. But what are my rights here? There's no way he can prove he has the right to take our money is there? I say that because, simply, there is no case for him here. There was no messing involved.

I might add, there is a downstairs toilet that he's been promising to get fixed for over a year but has never done it. We gave up asking. This has been his way for the 3 years, just stay away and watch the money roll in. Well for some.

His attitude stinks, he thinks he can have all the benefits of being a landlord with zero of the responsibility. He even asked if I could clear the shed and the attic of stuff that was there from before my time - I pointed out that I didn't have the words 'refuse disposal' after my name so I wouldn't be doing it. He won't even be putting so much as a lick of paint on the place and the money will be rolling in again. He has no intention of going through the house or refurbishing etc.

My attitude at this stage is to drag him through the sh*t if he tries a stroke like this after the way we've treated his house.

Is this a small claims case or what do people think?

Any thoughts? Sorry bout the long post.

Xiney

Tell him you'll take the case to the PRTB - I'd put money on him not being registered.

Denalihighway

I doubt it too, there were no leases signed or anything.