Info on the Area

We moved into the flat in 04-2014, initially there were no problems but in 06-2015 the kitchen had major leak issues and needed to be redone (see pictures) - we had to move out for 3 weeks so that works could take place. There was a burglary in 12-2015, burglar broke in through the rear door (see pictures of the lock broken and bedroom after the burglary). We were devastated and always felt unsafe - instead of getting the repairs done to the rear door, this was sealed for weeks - as this was a basement flat and the inability to open this door caused lot of discomfort for ventilation purposes - we finally decided to leave and hoped that the landlady would give us our deposit back - but Landlady is looking to make deduction of £175/- for cleaning in spite of the house being cleaned professionally + £200 for decoration (compensation) as there are 2 pen marks on the wall plus one of those sticky hooks. We left the house on 5th of Feb which was 13 days earlier than 2-months notice period - given the circumstances we should be allowed to do so as its difficult to stay in a burgled house with doors sealed off- Landlady is also claiming rent for these 13 days which is £800/-


We lived in the house without being able to open the rear door for weeks, had issues with dead ants between the floor in the summer which was grouted over, experienced condensation which was never resolved, got burgled and lost a fortune, moved out for 3 weeks so that landlady can carry out repairs and after all this inconvenience we are not being returned our deposit fully. We always paid our rent (£1700 a month) on time for this basement flat, took great care of it and deserve better treatment than this.

We have now submitted a claim that we will not pay £375/- deductions from deposit and £800/- rent for 13 days as we never claimed rent compensation when landlady was repairing the kitchen and we had to move out for 3 weeks. We are awaiting the response.

To summarise - one wrong renting decision can affect your life for years, tenants need to be very careful and share information on properties they rent to avoid mistakes being repeated by multiple tenants. I wished i could have shared all this information to tenants who were coming to view the property but i could not as they were with the agents and there was no opportunity to warn them.

I never knew Richmond and my street had burglaries which this website tells me. Had I known this I would asked for and got an intruder alarm installed plus a rear safety light.