Tenant group Acorn has protested outside a landlord’s shop after he refused to return a former tenant’s deposit in a dispute over a leak.

However, Sirfan Hussain told Bristol Live that he had already agreed to pay it back.

The protest was prompted by tenant Aelisha Dickson, who was paying £1,300 a month for a basement studio flat in Bristol but left the property two months ago after Hussain failed to fix a leak.

“The carpet was so wet I couldn’t take my shoes off in the house,” explains Dickson, who discovered a leak a month after moving into the flat.

She also complained about missing skirting boards and hot water that wasn’t working, while a fridge-freezer was full of mould. She decided not to pay her rent, adds Dickson.

“He said that rent will be coming out of the deposit, and I told him that was illegal and that I have withheld the rent for a very valid reason.”

Return deposit

The landlord says he had already agreed to return her deposit and would pay compensation to her after she bought a dehumidifier and wet vacuum to deal with the problem. He claims the only reason he had not given Dickson the money back before was because he was unable to get in contact with her.

Hussain, who has been renting properties on Jacob Street in Bristol for the past five years, insists he has never had problems with other tenants but when he did, they were able to resolve them without the situation escalating.

He adds: “Leaks occur, and I don’t have control of that. I was busy but I said I would try and sort the leak out but then she made a decision that she was going to leave and I said that’s fine".

Pic credit: Reach UK/Bristol Post