Deposit being held (Scotland)

hennypenny007

To cut a long story short... (this is the short version!)

Mother in Law (MIL) moves out of a house in Jan 09. Had a £2k deposit down, only got £1k back. landlady said the carpets need replacing & there's a broken window pane & is holding the other £1000 to pay for this (we accept the window, but carpets were worn due to wear & tear & a potentially fatal gas leak that resulted in carpets being lifted to find the source!!). Despite numerous calls from MIL to LL, they are no further foward in getting even a proportion back.

Have sent LL letter saying that if payment of £900 (less window pane payment) wasn't recieved by 15/06/09 we'd take her to small claims court. Obviously she didn't pay up & we are now stuck.

Twist in this is she lives in Italy & we've been told by CAB that there's not much we can do because of this - also (according to MIL) the Sheriff Court have told her that it's unlikely she'll get it back either...

No-one can afford to loose £900/£1000 just now esp. not her & I am really stuck as to what to do now!!!

PLEASE can anyone help???!

HP:mad:

Jowo_2

Speak to Shelter Scotland and have a look at their website. Though CAB are correct that it is a waste of time persuing legal action over national borders, see if you could get redress through getting a Notice of Liability placed against the property which lasts for 5 years so presumably has to be renewed. You should also find information on the Registers of Scotland site. may require a solicitor to do this which could be expensive.

Notice of liability - This means that if the owner sells it, there is a note against the deeds that you are a creditor and either the owner or the buyer has to settle it. Obviously this is not a short-term measure and will only kick in when/if the property is sold.

Do they still do warrant sales in Scotland?

hennypenny007

Thanks for that, I've called Shelter & the guy was really v. helpful - wouldn't have thought to call them!

He's advised us to pursue the Small Claims court as she's still under Scottish Law & would have to either settle up before hand or get her srawny backside back to Edinburgh to face me (the probably by then very grumpy 8 month pregnant representative!!) haha. My MIL wouldn't hold it together in court!

I've emailed a solicitor for a bit of cheeky advice, but am awaiting their reply...

thanks though in the meantime!!