Hi, my tenant has left my property with a lot of damages to the carpets including holes and marks on them, without much cleaning and with items missing. The full deposit was not enough to cover all the damages. I would like to go to the small claim court to claim the remainder. Does someone know if I can use quotations from tradesmen instead of receipts to calculate the amount to claim at the court?
Get some guidance from NRLA on this. Ive heard that where the claim exceeds the deposit it may be better to go to court for the whole amount but to ask the judge to award the deposit in part payment.
I wonder if the court will accept quotations instead of the actual receipts when calculating the amount to claim. I have done all the jobs by myself, hence do not have any receipts. The tenant said I can only claim from her if I have actual receipts.
My gut feel is that you will only be able to claim for materials (with receipts) but not your time/labour. I’ve heard of similar issues with insurance claims where claiming against quotations has resulted in a payout less VAT if proposing to do the work yourself.
You can make a claim for your time and materials if you are making repairs, but it has to be reasonable, and you should get some advice on hourly rates etc.
For items that need to be replaced, you dont claim for the cost of the new item, you claim for the loss in value of the original. You have to have the original purchase price and then deduct for age and wear and tear.