Just moved out, deposit not in scheme - need advice

princeofpounds

I guess now I'm just looking for advice on what I need to do next. How long do I give her to return it etc...?

NO TIME AT ALL.

As I said, you could have done this on day 15.

But without an address and no legal way to enforce getting an address now you are not a tenant, you cannot do what I would tell you to do otherwise:

Send the letter. Title it 'letter before action'. State that your deposit is not protected according to the deposit protection legislation, and that you will be initiating a court case for the deposit plus the 3x penalty if the deposit is not paid within 7 days.

A question though - are you prepared to actually go to court, given that you will win the case but may never get any money if she is truly bankrupt?

If you are lucky, she won't know much about it all and be scared into handing you the money

You need to get an address, somehow. A tracing agent could probably find her but that's more £££ and you don't want to throw good money after bad.

RAS

Ok

I am not a regular on here but I think you need so frighten her more than court orders, default notices, threats of legal action, a letter from a confiscation unit and baliffs.

You can try and get a prosecution for three times the deposit and you can go to the small claims court but there is very little chance of getting anything back since she is in such a mess as you will be low down the pecking order.

There's not much chance this way either but at least it is free and it may frighten her enough. If you send her a Statutory Demand and she does not pay within 21 days, you are legally entitled to make her bankrupt. Ok, so it would cost you £1500 to make her bankrupt, if you used a lawyer but as long as you are owed more than £750, it is an option.

You would serve it on the last known address.

gothmaz

I have a fair idea of where she works. She is a health and safety officer for private sector housing and she told me which town. Would it be wrong to send it to her place of work?
A little investigation would tell me if she's there or not?

RAS

gothmaz wrote: »

I have a fair idea of where she works. She is a health and safety officer for private sector housing and she told me which town. Would it be wrong to send it to her place of work?
A little investigation would tell me if she's there or not?

Good idea.

And given what you have told us about her capabilities as a private landlord, heaven help the tenants at her workplace!

gothmaz

RAS wrote: »

Ok

I am not a regular on here but I think you need so frighten her more than court orders, default notices, threats of legal action, a letter from a confiscation unit and baliffs.

You can try and get a prosecution for three times the deposit and you can go to the small claims court but there is very little chance of getting anything back since she is in such a mess as you will be low down the pecking order.

There's not much chance this way either but at least it is free and it may frighten her enough. If you send her a Statutory Demand and she does not pay within 21 days, you are legally entitled to make her bankrupt. Ok, so it would cost you £1500 to make her bankrupt, if you used a lawyer but as long as you are owed more than £750, it is an option.

You would serve it on the last known address.

Well I said as much to my parents and partner. She is clearly NOT bothered by the threat of legal action as everyone and their mother seems to be after her for some reason and she's clearly not dealing with any of them either. So why should I be anymore important than they are?

That is interesting about the bankruptcy option...although I fear she is heading that way anyhow. I wish I had the money to do something like that, but that's half the deposit on a new place.

Someone else did tell me that even if the court awards me the money back etc... I could get it at £20 a week or something daft if she doesn't have the funds.

As she uses my old house for all her other post, including bank etc... can I not file papers to that address?

gothmaz

RAS wrote: »

Good idea.

And given what you have told us about her capabilities as a private landlord, heaven help the tenants at her workplace!

Tell me about it! When I had the second carbon monoxide leak she told me 'I see this at work all the time. Just take the battery out of the alarm and put the heating back on!'

RAS

gothmaz wrote: »

That is interesting about the bankruptcy option...although I fear she is heading that way anyhow.

I wish I had the money to do something like that, but that's half the deposit on a new place.

You do not need ANY money to file a statutory demand

Read http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=36_dealing_with_a_statutory_demand

That is from the other side but ...

As she uses my old house for all her other post, including bank etc... can I not file papers to that address?

Yes

Go over to the bankruptcy forum and give them a brief history. Although most of the folk there are going BR, they have supported a number of folk trying to reclaim substantial sums owed by people who have gone bankrupt.

EDIT - what i think she might do is pay you the money to get the debt below £750. it would be a start.

princeofpounds

As she uses my old house for all her other post, including bank etc... can I not file papers to that address?

Would it be wrong to send it to her place of work?

You just need to make the court confident that notice has been served. You can do that in person, or to addresses, but the court will need to be confident that she received it. So sending it to the old address will not work as she will easily claim she didn't live there. Sending it to work I don't know. One for the more lawyeristic people to answer.

RAS

A more useful link -

http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/pdfs/guidanceleafletspdf/statdemand.pdf

Blacksheep1979

you sound like you're at the end of a long line of people looking for money. I don't really see much chance of you getting it but if you're willing to throw good money after bad then small claims court and if you win and she doesn't pay then it's bailiffs/charging order on the property.