Return of Deposit - going to court

Troubled_Joe

silvercar wrote: »

Whenever I hear this I just groan. It means you can't see the wood for the trees.

Assuming you are in the right.

You incur court costs, you have the hassle and cost (even if its only travelling and parking and not losing any pay) of going to court.

You risk losing your court fees, that the judge deducts more of the deposit, that you get judgement but have further hassle to get the money.....

When you could have most of the money sitting in your bank account.

Its annoying to lose money, its aggrevating to be swindled, but sometimes it is easier to feel aggrieved and give up than tie yourself to your principles.

Litigants with principles - every solicitor's dream clients

Lady_Annabel_Aardvark

Troubled_Joe wrote: »

Litigants with principles - every solicitor's dream clients

I actually do agree with you there but we aren't employing a solicitor.

As an example of this man's arrogance, he has demanded that my husband phone him this evening and stated what time the call should be made. My husband has nothing more to say to him so sent both him and his wife a text saying that the deadline for the amount we asked for has passed so we are proceeding with the court case. He has now had a text from the wife saying her husband is expecting the call this evening as agreed.

RAS

You really should not be dealing with this man on the phone, unless you are recording the calls and have advised him of this.

And certainly do not phone him tonight. it is not his right to dictate that you phone him or when you phone him.

Fred1_2

There's more than money at stake here. This man sounds like a bully and you just have to stand up to bullies.If you let him get away with a couple of hundred quid he'll try it on again with others. I'd like to think the new tenancy deposit legislation would stop him, but from what I've seen of the implementation of it so far, I'm not convinced

The amount is within the scope of the small claims court. This site has some useful info http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/infoabout/claims/index.htm

Disclaimer - I have no experience of this, for all I know I could be talking rubbish.

Meatballs

Can't you bank the £1100 and continue to pursue him for the remainder, firing off a letter saying thankyou for deposit returned so far, but we dispute the full amount and will not be happy until it is paid?

I don't see why you should leave yourself £1100 down until the court procedings go through.

Lady_Annabel_Aardvark

Meatballs wrote: »

Can't you bank the £1100 and continue to pursue him for the remainder, firing off a letter saying thankyou for deposit returned so far, but we dispute the full amount and will not be happy until it is paid?

I don't see why you should leave yourself £1100 down until the court procedings go through.

I'm not sure about that. I think if we do it it would mean that we accepted his offer. I'd be glad of other opinions on that though.

prudryden

Basically, it is really only £100 at issue. You told the agents to pass on a message that £1200 you would probably have accepted. The potential defendant offered £1100. The Judge will probably settle for £1150 and you pay your own costs. Doesn't sound like a very difficult case for the Judge. I think it will be very quick.

Lady_Annabel_Aardvark

prudryden wrote: »

Basically, it is really only £100 at issue. You told the agents to pass on a message that £1200 you would probably have accepted. The potential defendant offered £1100. The Judge will probably settle for £1150 and you pay your own costs. Doesn't sound like a very difficult case for the Judge. I think it will be very quick.

They owe us £1,350 and we will accept £1,200 to keep it from going to court. He isn't making a compromise as he owes us the full amount. If it goes to court we will be going for the full amount which has now been outstanding for almost three months.

So you think the judge will favour someone who lies and intimidates in order to cheat us out of our money? You think we should come down to whatever sum he decides he wants to pay? His first offer was £675, then £850, then £1,000, now £1,100. He is 'offering' us £1,100 of our own money back and hasn't even attempted to prove (other than by false quotation) what he has spent the rest of it on. His (untrue) story is that we have ruined a 15 year old carpet. It's a pretty poor system of justice if this goes into court and he is allowed to keep £200 of our money for no reason other than he's decided that's what he's going to do.

prudryden

Do you know if the LA passed on your offer of £1200? Your husband should call the LL as requested. It could be a positive call. He may have decided to accept the £1200. Your initial question was at what point is it not worth going to court - I think you are very close. I'm fairly certain unless there is convencing proof from one side or another that the easy decision for the Judge is to split the difference. £1150 with each party paying their own court costs.
Just as you will go for more than your offer, you can be fairly certain the LL will as well - probably the entire lot

Lady_Annabel_Aardvark

prudryden wrote: »

Do you know if the LA passed on your offer of £1200? Your husband should call the LL as requested. It could be a positive call. He may have decided to accept the £1200. Your initial question was at what point is it not worth going to court - I think you are very close. I'm fairly certain unless there is convencing proof from one side or another that the easy decision for the Judge is to split the difference. £1150 with each party paying their own court costs.
Just as you will go for more than your offer, you can be fairly certain the LL will as well - probably the entire lot

LL asked why we hadn't banked his cheque. His conversation implied that he didn't know about the offer. He also said it had nothing to do with the LA which it hasn't as the agent doesn't manage his properties, just introduces tenants.

How can the LL try to keep the lot? We did no damage to the property and left it in cleaner condition than when we moved in. He has to prove that we caused damage and has to provide receipts showing how he spent our money. He can only do this be deceit. Why should our money be used to upgrade his property and provide a new carpet? How could a judge justify allowing him to keep our money?