Please help re flat deposit

EagerLearner

tomstickland wrote:

I've just read this thread from start to finish. Whatever happens, this woman has to be brought to justice. The cheak of it outrages me.

Eagerlearner, you've done brilliantly. Do not give up under any circumstances.

Thanks T - it's a looooong read isn't it! The Landlady From Hell soap opera. Of course you only have our side of the story, but we did do as we say - plus I forgot to tell you all that the oven broke down ON CHRISTMAS BOXING DAY and we had to use the hob for 3-4 weeks before she got it looked at. Luckily our guests were understanding. Landlady gave us a small camping thing to use 2 weeks after Boxing day.

We're just going to have to see - the letting agent should convince her to pay up if they want to avoid it all, but she's a very stubborn lady so who knows...

As we filed yesterday, anyone know how long it should take before she get notification now?

Love your sig by the way :rotfl:

liz545

EagerLearner wrote:

Liz545 - eeek - you have been waiting how long, and spent how much??? Oh, I'm scared now... so much for our £625 - you are waiting for far more! What is your ex-landlord trying to claim for? Is it similar items to us?

A lot of the wait is due to LL's tendency to prevaricate, and our being too nervous to rush things along - like you, we didn't want the court to think we'd filed without having exhausted diplomacy/negotiations first. And his deductions are ridiculous - around £600 for cleaning & gardening, £300 for replastering - no receipts, no proof of the work being done, and he'd sold the house when we moved out. The new owners moved in a week later and started knocking down walls! This is after living in a house which had no heat in winter, 'cos he "couldn't afford" to replace the boiler, and where the shower was disconnected after it caused the leak which necessitated the replastering. The leak also made the fridge die in midsummer. Rigsby looked good next to this guy!
London rents mean you have a larger sum to lose, and there are so many btl landlords in our area that a professional service is hard to find. Our new flat is part of a housing association, and the managing agent's so lovely, that I'm trying to look on it as landlord karma! The thing is you have to dig your heels in and show them you're serious, otherwise they'll keep fleecing people. :beer:

clutton_2

EAGER DO NOT GET DISHEARTENED !!!!! chin up - you are in the right here !

garichd

I am watching this thread since beginning. It gives me some Ideas. I am moving out of my current flat beginning Oct. I am going to make the video of flat before moving and take plenty of stills so that I can prove in which condition we left the property.

We are moving to Reading area, Any Nice Landlord/s from Reading?

Gari..

EagerLearner

Liz545 - that landlord is joking surely! No judge in the land will allow him your deposit money to better his property for a sale - what timeframe do you expect i tall to be over and done with? Has he used delaying tactics?

Gari - yes, video and photography are great weapons in the fight to keep your deposit - you cannot be too careful!

x

irnbru_2

EagerLearner wrote:

The Shoreham deeds showed another address which I asked a good friend to look into - we found out 2 mins ago that she has 2 current accounts and council bills and other bills being paid from there!

BTW, I'm sure her new tennant would be most appreciative if you give them her real address and contact details ........

EagerLearner

irnbru wrote:

BTW, I'm sure her new tennant would be most appreciative if you give them her real address and contact details ........

Oh yes, we had already planned to give the newsagents on the ground floor her address tomorrow, they will surely pass it to the new tenant if she needs it. No way this lay-deeee is escaping anyone else.

The internet is truly amazing - what if we had no access to it? Wouldn't have had the support from y'all, wouldn't have been as easy to download the deeds to the property at the address on our original contract, therefore would not have found her real address. :T

liz545

EagerLearner wrote:

Liz545 - that landlord is joking surely! No judge in the land will allow him your deposit money to better his property for a sale - what timeframe do you expect i tall to be over and done with? Has he used delaying tactics?

x

So far he's avoided responding to our letters, just like your LL. When he received the court papers he filed an acknowledgement, giving him a further 2 weeks, rather than a defence. He's now filed a counterclaim, which extends things by another fortnight (I think). We've been advised that we should get a court date before Christmas, but maybe sooner depending on how busy the court is. Which will mean we'll probably see our money back around the 1 year anniversary of vacating! It's very frustrating, but I know we're doing the right thing. I'd hoped it would be a faster process than this, but at this stage we'll be happy to see any of the money back.
One piece of advice I will give is don't contact your LL *at all* after sending the court docs. She may try to ignore them in the hope that it'll go away, but she has a short window to reply, or else you can apply for judgement in default. We made the mistake of calling our LL to see if he was prepared to negotiate, and he filed his acknowledgement with hours to spare. If we'd waited, we could've applied for a default win
I guess I'm a few steps further down the road than you are with the court thing, so I'll keep you posted of what to expect.

EagerLearner

Thanks Liz - we had no plans to contact her, although it did cross my mind to fax the LA and advise that if she and they wanted to avoid court action, they should speak to her and advise we would settle for £500 now and cancel the court process.

I guess I want this to be over as soon as possible, and thought it would offer a window of opportunity whilst she is in shock after receiving the documents. Mind you - she may not have even had them yet.

How long did your landlord take to get the notification from court?

liz545

EagerLearner wrote:

Thanks Liz - we had no plans to contact her, although it did cross my mind to fax the LA and advise that if she and they wanted to avoid court action, they should speak to her and advise we would settle for £500 now and cancel the court process.

I guess I want this to be over as soon as possible, and thought it would offer a window of opportunity whilst she is in shock after receiving the documents. Mind you - she may not have even had them yet.

How long did your landlord take to get the notification from court?

The court deems them to be served I think 5 working days after you file your papers - i.e. you file on the 1st Sept and they're deemed to be served by the 8th allowing for the weekend. They then have 10 working days to respond, if they haven't filed an acknowledgement or a defence by this time they default. However, the onus is on you to ask for a default - if the deadline was the 8th, but they file on the 12th they're still ok if you haven't asked for a default IYSWIM.

You can still negotiate after this period - basically, all the way to the courthouse door, and drop your case if you reach a settlement.
Our LL tried to stave off the action by giving us a 'settlement' cheque (against our expressed wishes) for 1/2 the sum; but then screwed up by telling us not to cash it, as he was countersuing! If you do reach a settlement, don't withdraw your suit until you've actually cashed the cheque.
HTH!