Please help re flat deposit

EagerLearner

irnbru wrote:

The agent is acting as an escrow.

However, from what the OP has posted:

1. The LA is wholely accepting the LL's costs without dispute.
2. The LA has not put forward the OP's dispute to the LA.
3. The LA has not provide a bona-fide address for the LL.

1 - Yes, LA said they give no advice on what can and can't be claimed as they were not managing the property. But even they verbally agreed that charging for anything more than a cost towards blinds and a cost towards carpet seemed high but they wouldn't comment.

2 - The landlord and the letting agent know our response to her claim for nearly £700 as we wrote to them both. We sent this 3rd letter to the landlady twice - once via Registered Delivery (which she rejected) and another via normal post, which we assume was received but ignored. This 1st class one said 'NOTICE OF COUR' through the window in bold underlined, I am sure they saw tht letter.

3 - Letting agent told us landlord can have any address as the address to serve legal documents and invoices/property related letters to. The address we were given is the address of her long term decorator. *Amazingly*, her long term decorator is one of the 'invoices' being claimed against our deposit for decoration - £230 I think (she repainted the whole flat).

EagerLearner

pbradley936 wrote:

You can serve it at her last known address. I just copied this from the Civil Procedure Rules part 6 see for yourself at https://www.dca.gov.uk

6) Where –
(a) no solicitor is acting for the party to be served; and
(b) the party has not given an address for service,


the document must be sent or transmitted to, or left at, the place shown in the following table.


(Rule 6.2(2) sets out the statutory methods of service on a company)
Nature of party to be served Place of service
Individual Usual or last known residence.

Proprietor of a business Usual or last known residence; or
Place of business or last known place of business.

Individual who is suing or being sued in the name of a firm Usual or last known residence; or
Principal or last known place of business of the firm.

Thanks P - but if she ignores the notification of court action at the decorators address, Bailiffs attend and if they can't find her in person, the court then get the claimant (us) to present it to the defendant (landlady) in person? Which we can't do if that stage arrives... £80 down the drain...

Mrs_pbradley936

I would not let this go. I will give you something towards your £80 and I bet I am not the only one. Another thing you can do, is find out if she has a mortage on any of her properties (land registry £2, tells you the legal owner, date of purchase, if mortgaged and lots of other bits) and if so write to the mortage people telling them you intend to put a charge on the property. Then see what happens.

Mrs_pbradley936

Just found this.

Charging Order If your opponent owns property you can apply to the court to "Register a Charge" at the "Land Registry" against your opponent's property to show that you have an interest in the sale proceeds of the property. This forewarns any person intending to buy your opponent's property.

If there are any other Charges registered before you on the Land Register then those Charges will be paid first before your Charge. For example, if there is a mortgage registered against your opponent's property then that mortgage will be repaid first from the proceeds of sale.

Once you have registered a Charge against your opponent's property then you can apply to the court to Order that the property is sold so that your Charge can be paid as soon as possible.

Mrs_pbradley936

If you think you £80 will be wasted sending her a summons spend it on registering a charge. You have to file a "statement of truth" which can include all the problems you have had in trying to find her, it's her own fault for being so evasive. Anyway she might be able to disappear but property cannot.

EagerLearner

Hi P - thanks for your kind posts - the address I PM'd you (where we used to rent) contains 3 flats and only the ground floor one is not hers - so she owns B and C, but I could only find a title register for the ground floor which is irrelevant.

I know of another property she rents out in Shoreham I think and have that address which I will bring to work tomorrow to give you - what process would I follow for registering the charge (baby steps please)? If she doesn't plan to sell that for years maybe we are better of filing the court papers, just have to gamble on which address to do it at I guess.

Mrs_pbradley936

Basically, it is similar to filing a claim - just a different form. Found this online;

To apply for a "Charging Order" you must prepare a Statement of Truth or an Affidavit (see Case Examples) saying why your opponent has not paid the debt and that it is still owed and also say how much is owed. You should give the name and address of your opponent and any other people that your opponent owes money to (if you know this information).

You must give details of your opponent's property (i.e. the full address and who the owner is). For example, your opponent may be married and their partner may also own a share of the property, you must put the partner's details in the Affidavit / Statement also.

You should search the Land Registry to find out details of the owner(s) of the property you want to put a Charge on and also details of any other Charges which have already been registered. This will give you some idea of whether your opponent has any other creditors.

It is a good idea to attach a copy of the results of your Land Registry search to your Affidavit / Statement.

To apply for a search of the Register you should obtain a Form from the Land Registry which deals with the district where the property is located.

EagerLearner

Pbradley is a star and has found 2 possible addresses for me - now we'd just need to gamble on which one it is!

Can anyone recommend mobile phone tracking sites? At least we could track to see if she collects mail from the address she's 'gone away' from.

Then I could also see if she spends most of her time in Ovingdene or Horsham, thus deciding which address we would go for. Then again, it may be a poor innocent person with the same name!

I am more excited now :j

PLUS, I was overwhelmed by this landlady stuff earlier, so I didn't tell you all...

... that...

Martin :money: is going to publish my spreadsheet (below) in one of the next weekly e-mails, and it will be seen by 650,000 MSER's!!!!! :j :T :j :T :j :T

Wickedkitten

EagerLearner wrote:

Pbradley is a star and has found 2 possible addresses for me - now we'd just need to gamble on which one it is!

Can anyone recommend mobile phone tracking sites? At least we could track to see if she collects mail from the address she's 'gone away' from.

Then I could also see if she spends most of her time in Ovingdene or Horsham, thus deciding which address we would go for. Then again, it may be a poor innocent person with the same name!

I am more excited now :j

PLUS, I was overwhelmed by this landlady stuff earlier, so I didn't tell you all...

... that...

Martin :money: is going to publish my spreadsheet (below) in one of the next weekly e-mails, and it will be seen by 650,000 MSER's!!!!! :j :T :j :T :j :T

If you have a phone number for both, try withholding your number and ring them.

musey

pbradley936 wrote:

I would not let this go. I will give you something towards your £80 and I bet I am not the only one. Another thing you can do, is find out if she has a mortage on any of her properties (land registry £2, tells you the legal owner, date of purchase, if mortgaged and lots of other bits) and if so write to the mortage people telling them you intend to put a charge on the property. Then see what happens.

I'd give a bit towards the court fee also.

I have found this thread very interesting to read and have followed it closely so would dearly like to see it end positively for you.