Landlord trying to sue my son

Zandoni

tbs624 wrote: »

And the EHO couldn't get the LL to do a repair for this "faulty" boiler?

Post 10 explains the fault with the boilermate.

The EHO said that it would be a long drawn out process if thet went to court because there is some hot water.

Unfortunately there is not enough to actually run a bath when the system is in emergency mode. Also it's using peak time electricity which is making it very expensive to run.

The rental contract states

We agree to do the following:

Keep the heating and hot water systems in proper order.

meester

tbs624 wrote: »

Thanks for responding on behalf of ts_aly2000

:think: ....and :rotfl:

I think your own phrase “the work of a ranting moron” is a pretty apt description of much of your post(s)

Ah, how delightful, can't put together a coherent argument, resort to abuse instead, charming.

:rolleyes: Here you go again - do stop making assumptions: it’s not about "defending" an unknown LL - it’s about posters who jump to conclusions after reading a small part of one side of the story.

This thread is entitled "Landlord trying to sue my son". If there were a cause of action and something approaching a coherent case, it might be worth examining the rest of the story. As there clearly is not, it is an utter waste of time to do so.

meester

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

You should give those parts of the story that are relevant to the claim. Effectively, the LL seems to be claiming that your son's comments were slanderous i.e. defamation. In law, you can only claim damages for slander if they lead to a financial loss.

But you have to institute defamation proceedings in the High Court, not the County Court, and it costs thousands in legal fees to even get started.

Comments that are true are not slanderous - so your defence should only relate to evidence that supports the comments your son made. Don't muddy the waters by adding "and another thing ......". Just stick to those things which back up the comments made by your son.

Why would he defend a claim that hasn't been made? (Proceedings for slander have not been initiated.) Moneyclaimonline is restricted to claims for a fixed amount of money, this claim should be struck out. The defendant should contact the court and ask for their help on getting this done, given that the landlord can't possibly have suffered the losses claimed (a number of months lost rent that hasn't even elapsed yet), hasn't lost a fixed amount of money, as required, hasn't indicated any basis for action (either breach of contract or some tort), and is wasting everybody's time

If his comments were true and supported by evidence, then they were not slanderous and the LL is likely to lose.

In fact proving that actually would cost a fortune in legal fees, in the event that the landlord had actually instituted High Court defamation proceedings, but instead he has abused moneyclaimonline with no valid cause of action, so there is no reason at all to engage in his childish games. I would act to get it struck out with the minimum of fuss.

Zandoni

Thanks meester, the problem seems to be that MCOL is just some sort of admin centre, they don't read the claims or the defence they are just passed to the county court. Probably best to submit my defence and then talk to the county court once passed to them. You can "contest jurisdiction" not sure what that means I will do some research.

blue_monkey_2

Hi Z, I believe that you can ask for the hearing to be held in your own County Court rather than at the Northampton one where the claims are done. Usually this is a pain, say a claimant is in Plymouth and the Defendant is in Manchester as the defendant can ask for the hearing to be held in Manchester. I am guessing the LL is local to you already so that would not make a lot of difference, if so then he will have to travel to the hearing which you can request to be heard at YOUR county court.

Someone will correct me if I am wrong of course. Just thinking to when I had to do mine for non-payment of Mobile Cashback. In that case it was handy, in your sons case the LL is clearly doing it out of spite but he clearly has money to throw at MCO - or his business does because of course he will put it through the books!

meester

blue_monkey wrote: »

Hi Z, I believe that you can ask for the hearing to be held in your own County Court rather than at the Northampton one where the claims are done. Usually this is a pain, say a claimant is in Plymouth and the Defendant is in Manchester as the defendant can ask for the hearing to be held in Manchester. I am guessing the LL is local to you already so that would not make a lot of difference, if so then he will have to travel to the hearing which you can request to be heard at YOUR county court.

Northampton is just the court designated for processing claims, the case will be routinely transferred to the claimant's local court.

neverdespairgirl

Incisor wrote: »

To be fair, there is not necessarily any conflict here. Most gas appliance failures which stop heating will tend to be of the failsafe variety, so will not prevent the issue of a gas safety cert. .

That happened when our last cert was issued - there was something wrong with the pressure switch, and the chap had to come back the following day with a spare part, but he issued the safety cert even when it wasn't working.

blue_monkey_2

meester wrote: »

Northampton is just the court designated for processing claims, the case will be routinely transferred to the claimant's local court.

Oops, sorry. I got it the wrong way round.

Zandoni

I have just filed an acknowledgement of service, while I get some advice. But I've just had a thought. if my son was to lose in some way would he have a CCJ?

Captain_Mainwaring_2

"
This section contains information on how a county court judgment can affect your credit status and what you should do.
If a county court has ordered you to pay an amount of money (called 'having judgment entered against you'), details of the judgment will usually be entered on the Register of county court judgments (called 'registration').
If the debt is paid within one month of the judgment the registration can be cancelled. If the debt is paid after one month, it is possible to apply for the entry in the Register to be marked as ‘satisfied'. Applications to cancel registration or have the entry marked as satisfied must be made to the county court and must be accompanied by proof and payment of a small fee.
Most entries stay on the Register for six full years."


If I was your son, I'd try and nego with the LL ( without admitting any liability - "without prejudice negotiations"), before this all gets out of hand.

Something along the lines of "it wasn't me, I didn't say it and I won't say it again".

Your son is remarkably relaxed about this, letting Dad do all the running around on the 'net asking advise, I recall your last "that's my boy" speech, and realise how precious he must be, but does he have a broken leg now that he can't do some finding out himself - after all, he got himself into this mess.