TDS non compliance action – tenancy ended action started but deposit now protected

groupoffour

Firstly, thank you to everyone who responded, secondly: we were successful! Up to a point…

We are now creditor of a small claims county court judgment (CCJ) for money owed for which we are responsible for enforcement. Therefore, we are now looking at the different ways and means of getting our money and would greatly appreciate any advice offered.

The judge found automatically in our favour due to the defendant’s (landlord’s) non-attendance at the hearing, further, the defendant’s counterclaim was struck out and the judge made reference to the DPS law seemingly to legitimise our case. The hearing was not adjourned but the judgement was not final due to the defendant’s non-attendance. The defendant can request a retrial if he provides a valid reason for not attending the first hearing which would be granted the original ruling overturned but according to two sources I have read, the request-for-retrial-with-valid-reason period of two weeks has well expired.

As regards the next step and enforcing the small claim and getting the sum payment, I was hoping to get some recommendations about the best/most recommended enforcement method of the 5 that appear to be available to us. I realise the method depends on the debtor’s assets, in this case the landlord of the house and the apparent owner of the letting agency which manages the house.

At this stage we are trying to ascertain which route would be most appropriate and how to access the information that would enable us to decide this. So far we have checked on the Companies House website:wck2.companies...house.gov.uk to try to conclusively ascertain the business type and its current status but the details of the debtor company's registration number were not apparent.

Next it seems we would need to find out what assets the debtor has, the address of the debtor and whether any addresses we have for him are office/business or home addresses.

We’re not sure whether to continue this thread here or switch it to one concerning enforcement; we don’t want to be seen to be flouting forum rules or convention so advice would be appreciated. Best wishes.

tbs624

Well done for pursuing the case and getting a judgement.

Can I just clarify - is the LL of the house also the sole owner of the property and of the Letting Agency?

Have you checked the property address at the Land Registry - couple of quid to do so - to see who the registered owner of the house is, and to which address s/he is registered?

theartfullodger

In my humble experience your best approach is to write to him & request the money (nah, I don't think he'll pay either...) but give it a chance..

Try & find out if he has a "normal" job (paye, employer, wages dept..) and if so go for "Attachment of earnings" and the money will come out of his wages..


See...

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/infoabout/enforcement/ae/index.htm

&

http://www.payplan.com/debt-library/court-orders-attachment-of-earnings.php

Well done!! Glad to hear right triumphed (and I'm a Landlord)

Lodger


Other approaches tend to be more problematic.

terryw

For what it is worth,I would be inclined to obtain copies of papers from the Land Registry of this property and any others that he is connected with. It can be done on-line from the official Land registry site and only costs a few quid. This will warn you about mortgages and the interests of anyone else in the properties.

terryw

Oops, apologies tbs who beat me to this!

tbs624

theartfullodger wrote: »

I...Try & find out if he has a "normal" job (paye, employer, wages dept..) and if so go for "Attachment of earnings" and the money will come out of his wages..

Unfortunately, if the LL is classed as self-employed then an Attachment of Earnings Order can't be applied.........

groupoffour

tbs624 wrote: »

Well done for pursuing the case and getting a judgement.

Can I just clarify - is the LL of the house also the sole owner of the property and of the Letting Agency?

Have you checked the property address at the Land Registry - couple of quid to do so - to see who the registered owner of the house is, and to which address s/he is registered?

We believe him to be so, yes. We plan to check but should have confirmed that before bringing the case. Hopefully it will not harm it.

theartfullodger wrote: »

In my humble experience your best approach is to write to him & request the money (nah, I don't think he'll pay either...) but give it a chance..

Try & and if so go for "Attachment of earnings" and the mofind out if he has a "normal" job (paye, employer, wages dept..) ney will come out of his wages..


See...
[removed]

Well done!! Glad to hear right triumphed (and I'm a Landlord)

Lodger


Other approaches tend to be more problematic.

I think to write to him & request the money would be futile for the reason that he had already gone to great lengths to avoid repaying the original deposit. I think course is the only way.

Although we believe him to be the sole owner of the letting company, how can you advise would we find out if he has a "normal" job?

Thank you for your support!

terryw wrote: »

For what it is worth,I would be inclined to obtain copies of papers from the Land Registry of this property and any others that he is connected with. It can be done on-line from the official Land registry site and only costs a few quid. This will warn you about mortgages and the interests of anyone else in the properties.

terryw

Oops, apologies tbs who beat me to this!

We intend to check the Land Registry regarding the rented property but how could we also check any others that he is connected with? Does that info show up on the website automatically?

Many thanks.

tbs624 wrote: »

Unfortunately, if the LL is classed as self-employed then an Attachment of Earnings Order can't be applied.........

I was thinking that would be our least likely route to enforce.

terryw

Great stuff about obtaining the judgement but you now, as you know, have the task of enforcing this. This is not always easy, and I think this person will be quite slippery to pin down.

If I was in your shoes, I would obtain copies of the LR details on the rented property and any other properties that this person is connected with. Perhaps the office that he works from or his home address if you can find this out. The LR stuff might just throw up some helpful information.

Also seriously consider an "Order to obtain information". Here's a link
https://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/infoabout/enforcement/information/index.htm

Ok, this still wont get your money, but sooner or later he will have to appear or risk imprisonment. This will concentrate his mind, believe me! Having obtained the answers to the questions asked, you should be in a better position to decide on the method of enforcemnt to follow.

bw

terryw

groupoffour

terryw wrote: »

Great stuff about obtaining the judgement but you now, as you know, have the task of enforcing this. This is not always easy, and I think this person will be quite slippery to pin down.

If I was in your shoes, I would obtain copies of the LR details on the rented property and any other properties that this person is connected with. Perhaps the office that he works from or his home address if you can find this out. The LR stuff might just throw up some helpful information.

Also seriously consider an "Order to obtain information". Here's a link
(removed)

Ok, this still wont get your money, but sooner or later he will have to appear or risk imprisonment. This will concentrate his mind, believe me! Having obtained the answers to the questions asked, you should be in a better position to decide on the method of enforcemnt to follow.

bw

terryw

Thanks very much Terry. We will most likely take the "Order to obtain information" route but for now there seems to be a more pressing issue: belatedly ascertaining if the landlord (the name on the tenancy agreement, at least) or the letting agency or some other entity is liable (please see below).

kind regards.

groupoffour

I wasn't sure whether to continue this thread or start a new one because our situation has now changed a lot from the original problems, but since it is a continuation of the same case and for fear of potentially breaking 'netiqutte' I have continued:

We, the four previous tenants, are now creditor of a small claims county court judgment (CCJ) against the defendant, who we understood to be our landlord (the person who countersigned the tenancy agreement that we signed and the person we most often dealt with) and the apparent “boss” of the letting agency which managed the house.

In our ignorance we had proceeded with our TDS non-compliance case before confirming the director of the company and owner of the house. The judgment concerned non-compliance of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS). The CCJ requires the defendant to pay us back our deposit plus its value another 3 times plus court fees. Although the defendant initially defended our claim and launched a counterclaim, on the day of the hearing the defendant did not appear before the judge and we won the decision.

In the hope of successfully enforcing the CCJ, our subsequent investigations (Companies House) have since found that the person who countersigned the tenancy agreement (now the creditor of the CCJ) may not actually have been the director and secretary of the letting agency. The name of the “Consent signature” is different to that on the tenancy agreement and business card: what appears as his surname on the tenancy agreement actually appears as his first of three forenames on the Companies House appointment of director document. In fact the name we recognise as the counter sign on our tenancy agreement appears in the section: “director, secretary etc must sign the form below”. Within my limited knowledge, this appears to mean that the “consent signature” is the ‘acting director and secretary (for whom an a residential address is provided) and the name below is a (or the main?) director. Apologies for this lack of clarity but I have no experience or expertise reading such documents; does it sound as though the CCJ was made against the correct individual?

A further complication appears to be the fact that the letting agency is stated as being “dissolved... struck off the Register under Section 652(5) of the Companies Act 1985 on 28 August 2007 and dissolved by notice... dated 4 September 2007”. This is despite the date of appointment, in the above section being 16/02/2007. Assuming the CCJ was made against the right person, how might the dissolution of the letting agency affect our potential enforcement?

Finally to enable us to make an enforcement against the correct person by the best route, we found that the property where we were tenants is owned by a third party couple from the local area and presumably was/is only being managed by the letting agency. I imagine in this case the house we would not be able to be involved in any potential enforcement route.

Sincere thanks in advance for any time and advice offered regarding our situation.