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I have zero experience in legal terms (plus I am French). But from my research, it seems that you do not need any legal help.Just generally when going to court, you must supply all evidence to both the court and the respondent prior to the hearing. (sometimes known as your 'bundle').
It is fairly straight forward, by court standards. But it's not you turning up on the day with some papers. You need to have a clear case, with evidence and the evidence be accessible:
E.g. My tenancy agreement (Apendix 1.A) confirms by deposit.
Print outs (Apendix 1.B,C,D) from the 3 recognised protection schemes show....
Etc. Etc.
If you don't file a discontinuance, then you must go to court.
- No I have never sued a LL, but I have been to court on other matters. I produced my own witness statement, my solicitor tidied this up, including putting it court format. (mine was sufficient so as to not get charged extra on top of a hearing fee - the solicitor was impressed with what I had done) - it took me 4 hours and I have a reasonable working knowledge.
For this case, it is fairly straight forward. You attach(again from shelter's website):
- a copy of your tenancy agreement
- evidence that you paid a tenancy deposit and when it was paid
- letters and emails to and from your landlord about your deposit
- details of enquiries you made with the tenancy deposit schemes (plus I have their confirmation by email of the dates she received the deposit and when she paid it in the DPS, ie 33 days)
- photos showing the condition of the property (I have professional check in and out inventories)
I will also include the report for the result of the deposit dispute we had.
I will also write a statement explaining the situation, as objectively as possible pointing out the faults of the LL.
Again, these sort of cases are pretty straight forward and the law is clear about deadlines, and what LL must do do abide.
It is only a matter of providing proof of tenancy, deposit payments, dates etc.0 -
Jerome_TFB wrote: »I have zero experience in legal terms (plus I am French). But from my research, it seems that you do not need any legal help. - Feel free to disregard my advice, but it is correct, and if your bundle isn't straightforward a judge will not be happy with you. (and may not award costs)
For this case, it is fairly straight forward. You attach(again from shelter's website):
- a copy of your tenancy agreement
- evidence that you paid a tenancy deposit and when it was paid
- letters and emails to and from your landlord about your deposit
- details of enquiries you made with the tenancy deposit schemes (plus I have their confirmation by email of the dates she received the deposit and when she paid it in the DPS, ie 33 days)
- photos showing the condition of the property (I have professional check in and out inventories)
- Correct, but what do you attach it to?.... (the witness statement / statement of truth)
I will also include the report for the result of the deposit dispute we had.
- Include it, but it's secondary evidence.
I will also write a statement explaining the situation, as objectively as possible pointing out the faults of the LL.
- So you will write a witness statement (AKA a statement of truth?) - now i'm confused
Again, these sort of cases are pretty straight forward and the law is clear about deadlines, and what LL must do do abide.
It is only a matter of providing proof of tenancy, deposit payments, dates etc.
Follow my advice or don't, I have nothing to gain or lose.0 -
No no, I do value and read what you are saying, and I guess what I call "statement" is what you call "witness statement", where I explain the situation, and why I seek penalty. Basically the explanation of the situation.Follow my advice or don't, I have nothing to gain or lose.
I understand that some of the things will be secondary evidence, but I was told that the court like to draw "a profile" of the landlord to sort of gauge what type of person they are. So I need to make it clear with fact without getting too emotional about it.
Thanks for your help.
I think we are on the same page when it comes to the witness statement.
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So going back to your evidence:- she never sent us any info (I only knew that the deposit was protected when I received the confirmation from DPS that our deposit was protected.
- she sent our deposit 32 days after receiving the money (the law doesn't state "working days")
Are you absolutely sure of this? As you say, it should be protected 30 days from the time it was received by her. Did you give her the money in cash? If so, do you have a receipt? If it was done by bank transfer, how do you know that it didn't take two days to reach her account?
- she lied on our tenancy start entering the date as 15/05 instead of 18/04. I assume this was an attempt to disguise the fact that she sent the money late.
What difference does this make? It's nothing to do with when the tenancy started but as you've said above, it's about the date she received it which you will need to evidence. Since we are talking two days only, she might have a legitimate defense to show it was received two days after you sent it (if that's the date you are going by).
As for the prescribed information, again, could she claim that it was posted through you door? How are you going to prove beyond doubt that she is lying?
Playing devil's advocate, but you seem extremely confident of the outcome which seems to stem from your desperation to seek revenge.0 -
I am extremely confident because she is clearly in the wrong.So going back to your evidence:
Playing devil's advocate, but you seem extremely confident of the outcome which seems to stem from your desperation to seek revenge.
To answer to some of your questions / comments:
I paid the deposit by bank transfer. DPS confirmed that the money was received on the 17/04, and paid to them on the 19/05, which is actually 33 days later (not 32). I have an email from DPS confirming this, and I can show when I transferred the money from my bank account.J wrote:- she never sent us any info (I only knew that the deposit was protected when I received the confirmation from DPS that our deposit was protected.
- she sent our deposit 32 days after receiving the money (the law doesn't state "working days")
Are you absolutely sure of this? As you say, it should be protected 30 days from the time it was received by her. Did you give her the money in cash? If so, do you have a receipt? If it was done by bank transfer, how do you know that it didn't take two days to reach her account?
True, it is not related, however, in the articles (links I posted yesterday) I read, deposit protection schemes charge an extra fee for late payments. I assume that she lied on the date to avoid this. It is irrelevant to the matter at hand, but the court will probably see through this. I will let them come to that conclusion.
What difference does this make? It's nothing to do with when the tenancy started but as you've said above, it's about the date she received it which you will need to evidence. Since we are talking two days only, she might have a legitimate defense to show it was received two days after you sent it (if that's the date you are going by).J wrote:- she lied on our tenancy start entering the date as 15/05 instead of 18/04. I assume this was an attempt to disguise the fact that she sent the money late.
All of our communications were either by phone, face to face or by email.As for the prescribed information, again, could she claim that it was posted through you door? How are you going to prove beyond doubt that she is lying?
She could claim it was posted through the door, but she would have to prove it (ie receipt). Also, again in the links I posted yesterday, they tell landlord to get a proof that they sent the info (by either getting tenants to sign a form acknowledging the receipt of the info). Or to be on the safe side, email it, and then you have a trace of it, dated etc.
Some info required is included in the tenancy, however it is a generic tenancy agreement, not dedicated to DPS. So some of the info required is missing.
Anyway, if she did send the info:
1) I would have kept it (I still have some deposit info from 2 tenancies ago in my archives!)
2) I wouldn't go to court lying. No way.
I am not a dishonest person, and would not try it to get a quick buck.
I am just trying to apply my rights as a tenant, and penalising what is a terrible landlord. I think people need to stand up to landlords, it will only improve the quality of the service they provide. Some landlords agree with me.
I am not saying get at their neck as soon as they do something wrong; again, if my landlady had been good, and nice, and not try to rip us off our deposit (she did lie and try it), I wouldn't dream of taking her to court for this.
One of my previous landlords never protected my deposit, or gave me any info (I realise now). I am still in the 6 years period, so technically, I could go after him, and get 3x my deposit (about £3K / £4K). But he was a nice guy, and a great landlord. He always fixed stuff, and he gave me back my deposit, no questions asked, as he was happy with me and the state of his property at the end.
So it is not about money... It is about doing the right thing.
If I was to let this go, that woman would do the same, or even worse! She was very threatening, etc and an impressionable person would have done all she asked for, costing them £££.0 -
Sadly it appears you feel the world (or your landlady) owes you.......
Why not use your intelligence and energy to earn money, save a deposit and buy your own house..... then you will not be beholden (or jealous) to anyone!100 -
Sunshinemummy wrote: »Sadly it appears you feel the world (or your landlady) owes you.......
Why not use your intelligence and energy to earn money, save a deposit and buy your own house..... then you will not be beholden (or jealous) to anyone!
It may surprise you, but home ownership isn't what everyone aspires to0 -
Parliament has passed laws granting tenants the right to sue for this money. They are as entitled to do so as any other lawful action.0
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Whether the your previous landlords were nice or not should be discounted. Take the emotion out of the issue and look at the facts.
The landlord has failed to do what they were supposed to do under the law. You're entitled to claim, therefore claim. This is a MoneySaving website and the advice is to claim what you're entitled too.
It can also have the knock on effect of driving up standards as that landlord will think twice about not getting the next tenants deposit sorted out pronto.
You've satisfied the requirements as a tenant, now it is time they do the same as a landlord.0
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