New deposit laws

chili2001

sequence wrote: »

What if the cheque bounces ? Could it be a ploy to get you to abandon the legal process ? I wouldn't trust this landlord.....:eek:

If it bounces then I still take him to court for my deposit back, can only strenthen my case surley? Will bank it on Monday so shall see...

chili2001

Amazing, we had cashed the cheque and forgotton all about this when a solicitors letter turned up on sat saying we own him £3500 for damages and legal fees!
My girlfriend is really worried but as far as i'm concerned he still cannot prove we caused any damage (as we didn't). He enclosed a load of grainy photo's showing dirt under the oven and freezer. Seriously, did he really think we were going to move the household appliances that had never been moved to clean underneath them!!?
My question is if we do end up getting a summons, am I able to counterclaim for my original post of the unprotected deposit? Even though our full deposit has been returned I can prove he broke the law and try and claim the 3x deposit + interest. Now i'm not stupid, I realise that this would probally be extreamly unlikely to be awarded to me but he is only doing this because we threatened him with legal action in the first place when he tried to steal our deposit and it backfired on him. A very petty man with more money than sense. In counterclaiming, if possible, I just wanted to throw a spanner in the works!

N79

chili2001 wrote: »

Amazing, we had cashed the cheque and forgotton all about this when a solicitors letter turned up on sat saying we own him £3500 for damages and legal fees!
My girlfriend is really worried but as far as i'm concerned he still cannot prove we caused any damage (as we didn't). He enclosed a load of grainy photo's showing dirt under the oven and freezer. Seriously, did he really think we were going to move the household appliances that had never been moved to clean underneath them!!?
My question is if we do end up getting a summons, am I able to counterclaim for my original post of the unprotected deposit? Even though our full deposit has been returned I can prove he broke the law and try and claim the 3x deposit + interest. Now i'm not stupid, I realise that this would probally be extreamly unlikely to be awarded to me but he is only doing this because we threatened him with legal action in the first place when he tried to steal our deposit and it backfired on him. A very petty man with more money than sense. In counterclaiming, if possible, I just wanted to throw a spanner in the works!

I agree that it is unlikely that a court would make the award but there is no reason why you should not try, especially if your LL is dumb enough to push this to court anyway. You never know, if your LL comes accross in court as an unreasonable, money grabbing !!!!!!! then there is every possibility that the judge will stretch the deposit protection regs to breaking point to teach him a lesson!

chili2001

Many thanks. Just wanted to check if I was still able to do this. I will write a letter back to the solicitor refuting all damage claims and threaten with the counterclaim. Must be a pretty bad firm to give him this advice if he wants them to push this to court without proof.

N79

chili2001 wrote: »

Must be a pretty bad firm to give him this advice if he wants them to push this to court without proof.

For all you know the solicitor may have advised the LL that they have little chance of being successful. Their client (your LL) may have instructed them to proceed anyway - emotional people often ignore the advice from their solicitors.

So I would be wary about making judgements about the competance of the solicitor.

lizziebabe

Hi - chili. Have read through the thread, I can't help you in terms of the law but I would recommend that in future it might be a good idea to take photos of all the rooms after they have been cleaned. My daughter has just moved into a flat and there were some issues (that have now been sorted) but they took photos as they moved in and will do so when they move out as evidence of how they have left the flat.
I know it is too late for you now but might help in the future.
Hope this gets sorted for you as it sounds like a horrible business.

chili2001

N79 wrote: »

For all you know the solicitor may have advised the LL that they have little chance of being successful. Their client (your LL) may have instructed them to proceed anyway - emotional people often ignore the advice from their solicitors.

So I would be wary about making judgements about the competance of the solicitor.

Fair point! He probally will.

RabbitMad

how did he get £3,500 in damages - does he claim you smashed the place up?

I would also wonder whether you could get any case he raises struck out on the basis that he has already returned your deposit. Did he say anything other than here's your deposit when he returned it? As far as I can tell this is the story so far

1. LL retained your deposit claiming damage
2. you disputed this and initiated pre-action protocols (writing saying you'll sue unless he returns your deposit)
3. The LL returns your deposit in full and final settlement (i.e. effectively saying that your even)
4. The LL then tries to sue you for alleged damage they've already agreed had been settled as they returned your deposit?

worth looking into prehaps?

chili2001

RabbitMad wrote: »

how did he get £3,500 in damages - does he claim you smashed the place up?

I would also wonder whether you could get any case he raises struck out on the basis that he has already returned your deposit. Did he say anything other than here's your deposit when he returned it? As far as I can tell this is the story so far

1. LL retained your deposit claiming damage
2. you disputed this and initiated pre-action protocols (writing saying you'll sue unless he returns your deposit)
3. The LL returns your deposit in full and final settlement (i.e. effectively saying that your even)
4. The LL then tries to sue you for alleged damage they've already agreed had been settled as they returned your deposit?

worth looking into prehaps?

I will add that to the letter i'm writing to the solictor. I almost want him to go through with the court action to explain to the court why he gave me my deposit back... and then wants it back again!
The £3500 includes "legal" fees but looks as if he has made up some of the work reciepts as well, ie £200 to clean the oven! The oven was old and worth about £30.