By Daily Sunrise

“Tenant Justice is where we speak truth to rented power. If it happened to you, or almost did, this is your space.”

You rent a room/house/flat, not to start a war, but sometimes the battle finds you anyway.”

This is her story, and a lesson for every renter in the UK.

The Room She Never Really Owned

The faux leather bed was already flaking and showed cracks that would soon peel. The wall-mounted tiny table by the bed sagged like it hadn’t held anything heavier than a mug for a decade. The heater was rusted. And the mattress? Infested, her skin bore the marks long after the fleas were gone.

Still, she accepted the room. She would soon find cover for the head and foot-boards from Amazon. This way, the eye-cracked faux leather visible from the day of viewing would not fall everywhere. She needed the internet because of work-from-home options. The landlord assured her the furnishings were “old but fine.” The internet is stable and inclusive. With London a long commute away, this was what was affordable, and so she took the room. She believed, as the landlord was obviously aware, there would be no future problems about who caused what damage.  How wrong she was!

But the cracks in the furniture weren’t the only things starting to show.

Internet cut off, details changed, and withheld

The internet cut out suddenly and stayed down for two days. The landlord had replaced the router without notice. He delegated its setup to another tenant. Additionally, he neglected to give the new login details. Twice, when contacted, he offered vague reassurance. She pushed multiple times. On the third try, she noticed the router looked different. Then the Landlord admitted, “Oh, sorry, I forgot to tell you.” For two days, even when she was inquiring about logging on!

She missed work. She lost wages. She gave just over a week’s notice and left to protect her job. The landlord called it a breach of contract. He withheld her deposit for not giving 28 days’ notice after his stunt. He also withheld it for damages already found on moving in.

What were his claimed “damages”?

• The very faux leather bed he acknowledged was crumbling from the start.
• The heater was already rusty when they moved in. He falsely accused her of drying her clothes on it. There was a dryer, and she never used the heater.
• A scratch appeared on a fragile, unusual, suspended side table. It had barely survived gravity. The table was so unstable that she never used it. On moving in, the landlord told her the earlier tenant was careless with it. The tenant did not handle it with care. He added that the window “was damaged as the earlier tenant always opened it too wide”. She opened the window on viewing. This revealed the damage. Without this action, it would have been another item put on the list of damage accusations.

The Law Is Clear, Even When the Furniture Isn’t

• Under the Housing Act 2004, wear and tear is not damage.
• Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, one-sided contract terms are unfair.
• Under common law, a tenant has the right to quiet enjoyment of their rented space.
• And under basic fairness, you don’t charge someone to replace what they never broke. The tenant’s deposit is not for upgrades or general landlord repairs. It is for fixing the damage the tenant has done during their tenancy. If there is no damage, the deposit should be returned with interest.

Who Gets Silenced – and Who Speaks

The landlord informed that for 25 years of being a landlord, he had no issues with deposit disputes. But in Daily Sunrise’s experience, many tenants stay silent. International tenants, in particular, who the landlord appears to specialize in as customers, fear immigration implications or retaliation. Others are simply exhausted. Some accept deductions. Others fear confrontation.

SHEELAINE didn’t.

She wasn’t leaving her deposit behind and knew her rights. The landlord had never had any tenant standing up for their deposit before, and called it bad character.

She gathered evidence. She submitted a formal dispute through the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS). Now, she shares her experience to help others do the same, legally, respectfully, and with clarity. One of the most critical decisions she made was documenting the property thoroughly. She did this with her own photos and videos on the day she moved in. The landlord was unaware of this step at the time.

Now, she urges all tenants to create their own inventory records. These records should be independent of the landlord’s. This protects against false damage claims. As Sheelaine warns, some landlords try to withhold deposits to fund property upgrades. Nevertheless, they must uphold habitable, safe living conditions. Fairness begins with preparation, and in renting, documentation is self-defense.

This isn’t defamation. This is documentation. This is the lived truth evidence.

If You’re a Renter, Know This:

• If your tenancy includes Wi-Fi, a landlord can’t unilaterally cut it off.
• You can’t be penalized for pre-existing defects, age-related damage, or refusing to pay for repairs you didn’t cause.
• Your landlord must prove any deduction from your deposit. You do not have to prove your innocence.

If your landlord creates conditions that force you to leave, that’s not abandonment. It is constructive eviction.

New Keys, New Chapter

SHEELAINE now lives in a new flat with a stable connection and full dignity intact. She used her voice and her evidence, and now, through Daily Sunrise, her story serves as a beacon for others.

If you’ve experienced something similar, know this: your silence is never the price of your shelter. And your rights don’t disappear with the keys.