Playwright wins court fight with London landlord over 'cat pee' claims

Playwright Polly Stenham MBE has won a court battle against a landlord who accused her of 'trashing' a £5,000-a-week flat and letting her cat pee all over the furniture.

Ms Stenham, author of the Olivier-nominated play That Face, was accused by media lawyer landlord Elio Cassandro of leaving his Notting Hill flat with a 'pungent odour' after she moved out - and marker pen stains on his sofa.

He also claimed she left scuff marks all over the floor with her wheelie suitcase. In all, his compensation claims, lodged at Central London County Court, totalled £10,000 - and prompted bitter exchanges in court between the pair.

However, Mr Cassandro, 45, failed to win any compensation after a judge ruled that the minimal damages he agreed could have been caused by the playwright were covered by a pricey security deposit she had put down at the start of the tenancy.

Ms Stenham, now 38, found fame at just 19 with That Face - which premiered in the West End with a cast including Lindsay Duncan and Matt Smith. 

In court documents, Mr Cassandro said he had paid over £2,500 to have his sofa reupholstered, over £3,200 to replace carpets and more than £800 to have the hallway floor sanded after the tenancy ended.

The writer had also let £150 of house plants die alongside the other damage, he claimed.

He alleged the playwright's cat had 'urinated across the sofas, the carpet and the pillows,' adding: 'I am fed up and would like to be compensated for the damage she has caused and the losses I have incurred.'

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But in her written defence, Ms Stenham pointed out that she in fact paid for a professional clean of the property after her exit, also insisting that her landlord had 'exaggerated his claim'. 

She had denied the claims of damage, but acknowledged her cat may have urinated outside the litter tray 'on occasions', adding: 'On the occasions that the cat had urinated outside its litter box and it was discovered, the spot was cleaned.'

Judge Morayo Fagborun Bennett, sitting at Central London County Court, rejected Mr Cassandro's claim after a trial.

The judge found Mr Cassandro had 'proved his case' over £544 worth of damages for five missing forks, a damaged dishwasher, and a damaged rug - although not caused by the cat.

But she rejected his other complaints and refused his claim overall, saying that the £544 was covered by a £2,000 rental deposit put down by Ms Stenham.

The court heard the playwright rented Mr Cassandro's 3-bedroom flat in Notting Hill, west London, at a rate of £775-a-day, for nearly two months.

'Ms Stenham rented my flat furnished for two months,' the landlord said in his court submissions.

'During that time she trashed the place. She also kept a cat there. The cat...urinated across the sofas, the carpets and the pillows. She ruined the sheets. She treated the place in the most disrespectful way possible.'

He also complained about alleged damage caused by her writing pens to his sofa, telling Judge Fagborun Bennett he was particularly upset as 'normally this is my home'.

'This wasn't just about wear and tear,' said the lawyer, representing himself in court.

'I had no issue with the cat, but it was implied that if the cat caused damage, in this case by urine stains on the carpet, then it would not be for me to pay for it.

'In the same way, if Polly was negligent and caused damage to the sofa, such as the black marks which are there on the sofa, then it would be for her to remedy.'

Mr Cassandro told the court he tried to get the pen marks removed by professional cleaners, but that it did not work, leaving re-upholstery as the only option.

'If I'd wanted a black and blue sofa I would have bought a black and blue sofa,' he told the judge.

'The cost of putting right the sofa is £2,500 for re-upholstering it.'

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In her defence to the claim, lawyers for the playwright said: 'It is admitted the defendant kept a cat at the property and on occasion the cat urinated outside its litter box.

'On the occasions that the cat had urinated outside its litter box and it was discovered by the defendant, the spot was cleaned.

'It was within the contemplation of the parties that a cat would be staying at the property and the claimant required a deposit for damage if any resulting.

'The defendant arranged for the property to be professionally cleaned on her departure, although not contractually obliged to do so.'

Cross-examining his former tenant in court, Mr Cassandro asked her: 'Did you use a marker pen on the sofa when drawing or writing? Did you use a permanent marker pen?'

'I have never done deliberate damage. My job as a writer involves having pens in the house, but anything that happened would have been entirely accidental,' insisted Ms Stenham.

Giving her ruling, the judge said Mr Cassandro had failed to prove that Ms Stenham's cat left urine marks and dismissed suggestions that the flat had been left smelling of cat urine.

While Ms Stenham may have accidentally left ink marks on the sofa, there was no need to spend £2,520 re-upholstering it, the judge ruled.

'It doesn't appear to have caused any diminution in value and the claimant is not entitled to £2,520 in respect of the damage caused,' she said.

Nor could the demise of Mr Cassandro's house plants be blamed on Ms Stenham, she said.

'Ms Stenham's case was that there was no obligation to look after these plants,' she added.

'Mr Cassandro's case was that using the property in a tenant-like manner involved doing little jobs like watering plants.

'But I find he has not proved that she took on any responsibility for looking after or keeping the plants alive.'

The judge also threw out claims that the flat needed an intensive deep clean after the tenant moved out, plus a compensation claim based on scuff marks in the hallway caused by Ms Stenham's wheelie suitcase.

Mr Cassandro's damages claim totaled £10,303 including interest, but the judge rejected it because the £544 for damage done was already covered by Ms Stenham's £2,000 deposit.

'This deposit was sufficient to cover all these bases and so therefore I dismiss Mr Cassandro's claim,' she concluded.

Writer Ms Stenham won the 2007 Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright for her play 'That Face,' starring Lindsay Duncan and Matt Smith, with one critic labelling it 'one of the most astonishing debuts I have ever seen'.

She went on to pen a series of subsequent plays at the Royal Court - including Tusk Tusk and No Quarter - while also enjoying a career as a TV and movie writer, scripting films including the 2016 psychological horror flick, The Neon Demon.

On top of her work as a writer, Ms Stenham also opened the Cob Studios art gallery in Camden, north London, and was awarded with the MBE for her services to theatre and literature four years ago.