Landlord trying to sue my son

Captain_Mainwaring_2

Zandoni wrote: »

If you think about it, if the landlord wins this he will be setting a legal precedent. It will be illegal to give negative feedback on ebay and the newspapers could only report on good stuff.

Not quite.

To be honest with you while your son was possibly correct in what he said, he would have been far better to have just kept stum. Whilst I don't frequent UK four ale bars, I understand that the vast majority of case of people getting a punch up the throat are because they don't stay quiet.

As for letters from letting agencies, they would soon rescind any advice if they though it would get humpty, stick to fact.

In reading the contents of the writ, it would seem that the LL is a bit of a bell-end though, but it just isn't worth getting involved. Yes, you son can say what he wants within reason (so long as it is true), but i'd also suggest that if he is big enough to get involved, then it should be him posting here, not getting his mum to do it.

Captain_Mainwaring_2

tbs624 wrote:

On this related point : if your son is in Eng or Wales then the LL/LA should have scheme-registered his tenancy deposit and given him the "prescribed information" within 14days of them receiving the deposit. Was this done?

Your son can check with each of the schemes himself via the links here, and if the answer is "no" then he needs to write to the LL asap asking him why this was not done ( a LL can be ordered by a court to immediately repay the deposit to the tenant or scheme register it straight away and there is also the possibility of claiming 3x the deposit if the LL has actually failed to do either of those things prior to a court hearing.)

The other important thing is that your son should not simply ignore the summons.

Might have guessed.

So, what you are really saying is that if the landlord registers the depost after summons but before the hearing then it's all a waste of time, and that at last this half witted compensation rubbish has gone out of the window?

Do have have any notes regarding costs in these cases? does the tenant ever get awarded costs if the deposit is protected? or does the LL get the chance to apply for costs too?

Talk about taking a good idea (TDS) and ballsing it up by adding possibility for the tenant to get a bonus, rather than any fine going to make the scheme free to administer.

Zandoni

Captain_Mainwaring wrote: »

Not quite.

To be honest with you while your son was possibly correct in what he said, he would have been far better to have just kept stum. Whilst I don't frequent UK four ale bars, I understand that the vast majority of case of people getting a punch up the throat are because they don't stay quiet.

As for letters from letting agencies, they would soon rescind any advice if they though it would get humpty, stick to fact.

In reading the contents of the writ, it would seem that the LL is a bit of a bell-end though, but it just isn't worth getting involved. Yes, you son can say what he wants within reason (so long as it is true), but i'd also suggest that if he is big enough to get involved, then it should be him posting here, not getting his mum to do it.

If we all kept stum in this world then, I wouldn't want to live here.

The letting agents letter also gives the name of the heating engineer that visited his property.

My son doesn't know that his DAD is posting here. Perhaps you don't care about your children but I do.

blue_monkey_2

Surely no court would find in a landlords favour because he told someone about a problem with a faulty boiler. That is madness. If the LL was decent enough to fix the problems then there would not be any problems with potential buyers.

I'd send all the paperwork with the court papers. Sounds like the Letting Agent could not rent the property and so has made some lame excuse. Is there anyway on the form there can be call for a 'witness' and get him involved in telling the truth?

The point here is why should the OP's son sit and quietly say nothing while other people might get ripped off by shoddy landlords sitting in houses that landlords will not repair despite being asked numberous times. That is just wrong in my opinion.

I'd also suggest your son seeing a solicitor and getting a free half an hour as well if there are ludicrous claims such as 'you will go to prison' on it. I am sure the person typing up that money claims on-line thing was having a right old laugh to themselves.

However, your son must not ignore this else they will fine in his absence and the claimant will win by default!! Get the defence claim sent in, along with the evidence and in the meantime go get some representation.

PS. CM. Maybe the OP's son does not have internet access so cannot post and his dad is posting for him. Not everyone has internet access, I know quite a few people who do not have it - madness I know, who can live without the internet.....

olly300

ts_aly2000 wrote: »

Sounds like a BTLer that is desperate to pay their ever increasing mortgage.

Frankly, your son can say what he wants within reason. Let's hope this bloke never rents to students, as he'd be a very busy boy indeed.


Oh well that sets the scene. The bloke is an complete idiot. If this was eBay then we'd give him the label of TSFE.

Simply ignore.

OP don't ignore the summons whatever you do as if it's a small claims the landlord can get a default judgement against your son.

Zandoni

olly300 wrote: »

OP don't ignore the summons whatever you do as if it's a small claims the landlord can get a default judgement against your son.

Thanks, he will definately be offering a defence.

Debt_Free_Chick

Your son must be sure that he can answer these questions honestly ....

Zandoni wrote: »

The wording on the claim form is as follows:

You have been coming out and telling would be tenants not to take the house because of problems with the boiler.

Did he at any time state that any prospective tenant should "not take the property"?

You have told (name) of (another letting agent) that you intend to do this with all would be tenants you see.

Did he tell the LA this?

I claim from you loss of rent not to exceed £5000.00 and interest at the county court rate.

Noted - that the LL is claiming a loss "not to exceed" £5k .. the actual amount could be less. The award would only be made if the Court was satisfied that your son's actions were responsible for the loss of rent and the LL's claim would be limited to the actual rent lost, plus (probably) his costs of bringing this action.

If you wish to settle this claim it must be on the basis of a court undertaking not to repeat your actions.

I'm not sure that the CC has the power to make this award. This is, effectively, an injunction. AFAIK, this must be specifically requested and action needs to be brought in the High Court. Anyone else confirm this?

Failure to do so will result in my applying for an injunction and if you break this you will go to prison.

Ah - the LL is seeking a voluntary undertaking from your son not to talk to prospective tenants about the hot water problem. And then, if your son breaks his undertaking, the LL will go for an injunction. The comment about prison is complete and utter bollox, however.

I am very confident that this action is all the LL's own work and has NOT been done under guidance from a solicitor. It sounds like it was done out of temper - a hissy fit, if you like

From your first post

Last week he was entering his house when he noticed a young couple leaving next door; he struck up a conversation and found out that the house next door belonged to the same landlord. The letting agent accompanying the couple asked why my son wanted to know who the landlord was, he said the same landlord owned his property and explained that he had trouble with the hot water system since the day he moved in 5 months ago. He told them that had repeatedly requested its repair but each time they refused to accept that it was faulty. He only mentioned it because he was concerned that next door might have the same very common problem and he felt that if they were going to take the property they should have it repaired before signing the contract.

If this is all your son did - and he has not missed out any detail that might implicate him - then I'd be inclined to tough this out and go to Court. I would truthfully tell the Court that my comments were truthful - the LL/LA had failed to deal with an issue relating to the supply of hot water, but that the comment was made during the course of a casual conversation. If a person utters the truth, it cannot be slanderous. Slander only deals with untruths or opinions that cannot be proven.

If the summons has been issued, it's important that he responds. He cannot ignore the summons and hope that the LL "gets cold feet". Your son MUST respond - see the summons for details of how to do this.

When he responds, he must be unemotional and stick to issues. Don't be tempted to branch out into .... "and another thing, the LL .... blah, blah, blah ...". Just stick to the issue, which is the faulty hot water supply and what was said to the prospective tenants.

How does your son feel about defending the summons in a County Court?

olly300

blue_monkey wrote: »

Surely no court would find in a landlords favour because he told someone about a problem with a faulty boiler. That is madness. If the LL was decent enough to fix the problems then there would not be any problems with potential buyers.

I'd send all the paperwork with the court papers.

You can't do this with claims.

You need to make a statement which you send of first, and then if the case goes any further you then need to send the other party the evidence you are going to rely on.

This is why I stated pick up at least 3 copies of those estate agency newspapers with rental properties available at various dates, so you don't have to photocopy entire newspapers.

blue_monkey wrote: »

Sounds like the Letting Agent could not rent the property and so has made some lame excuse. Is there anyway on the form there can be call for a 'witness' and get him involved in telling the truth?

Doesn't need witnesses.

Paperwork is just as effective particularly:
1. It shows the landlord contradicting themselves in their statement.
2.If there are letters from "experts" like environmental health officers
3. You can show it's likely the claim has no basis in law

blue_monkey wrote: »

The point here is why should the OP's son sit and quietly say nothing while other people might get ripped off by shoddy landlords sitting in houses that landlords will not repair despite being asked numberous times. That is just wrong in my opinion.

I agree.

However the son should be careful in stating why he confronted the estate agent in front of the would be tenants. As long as he states something like it was the only opportunity I had to talk to the estate agent face to face as I had tried contacting them by telephone and letter, then he should be all right.

blue_monkey wrote: »

I'd also suggest your son seeing a solicitor and getting a free half an hour as well if there are ludicrous claims such as 'you will go to prison' on it. I am sure the person typing up that money claims on-line thing was having a right old laugh to themselves.

You are suppose to be able to do small claims with out the use of a solicitor and the maximum you can claim is £5,000.

I personally would see if you are in a union or have anything else to see if you can get free legal advice, but to be honest the best thing to do is get a well drafted defence statement, which shows:
a. the landlord is talking out of his behind
b. you know what you are doing and have evidence to back it up anything you state.

One thing I've noticed is that the landlord's claim is very woolly and imprecise. For example there are no dates mentioned. The way the statement is drafted it tries to make it look like the son was telling lots of tenants at different times when in fact it was one group of tenants. So if you don't have a well drafted defence statement don't be surprised if he lies.

Zandoni

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

Your son must be sure that he can answer these questions honestly ....



Did he at any time state that any prospective tenant should "not take the property"?



Did he tell the LA this?



Noted - that the LL is claiming a loss "not to exceed" £5k .. the actual amount could be less. The award would only be made if the Court was satisfied that your son's actions were responsible for the loss of rent and the LL's claim would be limited to the actual rent lost, plus (probably) his costs of bringing this action.



I'm not sure that the CC has the power to make this award. This is, effectively, an injunction. AFAIK, this must be specifically requested and action needs to be brought in the High Court. Anyone else confirm this?



Ah - the LL is seeking a voluntary undertaking from your son not to talk to prospective tenants about the hot water problem. And then, if your son breaks his undertaking, the LL will go for an injunction. The comment about prison is complete and utter bollox, however.

I am very confident that this action is all the LL's own work and has NOT been done under guidance from a solicitor. It sounds like it was done out of temper - a hissy fit, if you like

From your first post

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If this is all your son did - and he has not missed out any detail that might implicate him - then I'd be inclined to tough this out and go to Court. I would truthfully tell the Court that my comments were truthful - the LL/LA had failed to deal with an issue relating to the supply of hot water, but that the comment was made during the course of a casual conversation. If a person utters the truth, it cannot be slanderous. Slander only deals with untruths or opinions that cannot be proven.

If the summons has been issued, it's important that he responds. He cannot ignore the summons and hope that the LL "gets cold feet". Your son MUST respond - see the summons for details of how to do this.

When he responds, he must be unemotional and stick to issues. Don't be tempted to branch out into .... "and another thing, the LL .... blah, blah, blah ...". Just stick to the issue, which is the faulty hot water supply and what was said to the prospective tenants.

How does your son feel about defending the summons in a County Court?

He didn't tell the prospective tenants not to take the property.

One point that I forgot to mention was that the couple viewing said that they knew someone who also had problems with this landlord.

He was asked by the LA if he intended doing this again and he didn't reply.

He is not keen about attending court, but I'm pretty good at this sort of stuff, although never been to court before.

olly300

Zandoni wrote: »

He didn't tell the prospective tenants not to take the property.

One point that I forgot to mention was that the couple viewing said that they knew someone who also had problems with this landlord.

He was asked by the LA if he intended doing this again and he didn't reply.

He is not keen about attending court, but I'm pretty good at this sort of stuff, although never been to court before.

Glad to hear it.