Please help re flat deposit

furndire

Did you have any friends/parents round visiting while the building work was going on, who would be able to state what upheaval you had ~ how dirty it was?

EagerLearner

May have done but can't remember - was such a long time ago now. I do remember that she knew I liked the idea of a shower from the word go (as it was only an old bath and I love showers) so she purposely did not install the shower until we had left, just left the electrical cable waiting for the shower. 1.5 weeks after installing everything else, the shower was not done, it was so mean.

barnaby-bear

EagerLearner wrote:

I am not sure we have to bring in extra aspects like the £80 increase in rent as that was all done verbally, it depends if she brings it up really. We have no written proof of it.
....

oooohhh goody, so your paperwork (original contract) says £xxx a month and your bank records show you paying £xxx+80, sounds like you 'accidently' overpaid and need to mention that :cool:

(also sounds like tax avoidance on her part - AGAIN :mad: )

zebulon

EagerLearner wrote:

I am not sure we have to bring in extra aspects like the £80 increase in rent as that was all done verbally, it depends if she brings it up really. We have no written proof of it.

I would get this prepared anyway - A rent increased asked from LL without her/him providing any paperworks etc etc.
That just show some ways of dealing with things...

That would go in the pile of 'other things' (like not installed shower, address mess, etc)
Does not mean you have to use this - but it will be there and I think that's good.
Even if you first focus on everthing relating simply to:
- 'wear and tear' = no deposit deduction
- cleaning = work on bathroom (weeks, not days)
- cleaning = small deduction [if any cleaning was justify anyway!]

EagerLearner

Thanks BB & Zebulon - BB just to clarify - we never got to pay her the extra £80 a month because she ended up getting us out and a private tenant in. We paid £560 a month up til June 5th when we left. The rent had been £540 until a few months earlier - she increased it from Jan 06 to £560. Then tried to get another £80 a month from us if we wanted to stay on past June - this was when our property purchase had fallen through, saying it was because if she kept us on she would lose out on the higher rent potential from a private tenant. She said that if we stayed on, we needed to cover the losses between what the letting agent charged and the private rental potential. Effectively, the £80 was to cover her monthly fees to the agency because she was 'letting us' stay and it meant she was still tied to the letting agent, which she made clear she wanted to get out of. This extra £80 she never got as we moved out.

Z - I see what you mean, we will keep those things at the back of our mind then as the only paperwork we can rely on is Lewes electoral rol confirmation of address, and even then she will no doubt bring up the fact that we should have written to her c/o the letting agent, as shown somewhere in the tiny print of the contract. However, does not explain her lack of comms, nor the fact that letters we sent to her at the contractual address got rejected, whilst letters the letting agent sent to her from Aug - December 06 did not.

Benny24

Keep your chin up EL, you are doing so well, stay focussed, be positive, and blast that witch out of the court!!!

EagerLearner

Thanks Benny24 - great to have an extra supporter on board! I am going to call a landlords association today to see if they have heard of her and ask their advice, as well as if they know of any decent landlords who want good tennants for a 1 bedroom flat in Brighton...

Voyager2002

Hi EL,

I do not advise you to go to mediation. Obviously it is about finding some kind of compromise, whereas all your evidence is about you being right and LL being wrong. I mean, mediation might end up with the suggestion that since she calims you owe her money and you claim she owes you money, the fairest is to call it quites, shake hands and walk away. And if you decide not to accept something like that, it will be a disadvantage in court. No, I think a court hearing offers your best chance of justice.

Several people have given opinions about what documents you have to produce, and by when, if they are to be used in court. Please ask the court officials, and make sure that you meet the deadline.

Keep all the papers about her address in a separate file, but be prepared to use them. When she starts trying to recover the legal costs for when you sued the agent, explain briefly why you had to do so because she was concealing her address. At that point you will need (some of) these papers.

EagerLearner

Thanks Voyager - will def keep 'address' info separately, including the letter the letting agent sent to her contractual address in December 06, next to our 3 x returned letters in August 06 to same address. Latest from court officials is to wait for next step from court, then send paperwork.

irishwench69

Good luck with it all EL - when are you next in court?

Any luck with finding somewhere to live yet?

This thread just keeps on growing :eek:

IW x