Can I sue my landlord?

BitterAndTwisted

I would suggest that you spend as much time as you can in the next four days getting the property back into exactly the same condition as it was when you started the tenancy so the LL won't have any reason/excuse to withhold your deposit.

Was there a signed inventory at the start of the tenancy?

Nicolajennytrew

yeah there was. ive broken my bedroom door, but he gave me a checklist of cleaning to do and signed and agreed it that if it was all done , he would return the deposit

i think i will get my deposit back, to be honest, i just wanted to annoy him and do him out of some money for revenge. sad but true.

Nicolajennytrew

PS: The house was not cleaned when we moved in

Tenants items from before were in the house

cutlery and plates in the kitchen cupboards

a poker set in my bedroom wardrobe

a pair of boxers in a suitcase under a bed in my friends room

nothing was clean. toenails behind the sofa, pubes in the bathroom.

you name it, it was here.

But he has insisted that i clean the house to this high standard, or else i wont get my money back

in his letter he said

"I trust as you have allowed your friends and boyfriend to live in my house rent free for months you will do the decent thing and clean as instructed"

do you see why im so angry?? lol!

MissMoneypenny

Nicolajennytrew wrote: »

Thank you, I think I will leave it. This summer has been stressful enough without adding to it with this i guess. I had no idea that he had to give me 2 months notice, which is a shame. I should have looked up my right as a tenant.

I hate landlords.

You can sue your landlord, stress free, if you have contents insurance with the optional extra of Legal Liablity? If you have this, check the exclusions don't list suing or defending an action with a landlord. Just ask you contents insurance for a Legal claim form, fill it in and and wait for them to confirm in writing that they will pay for your case. You can then have a solicitor or barrister that specialises in housing law, to act for you for free and all your court costs covered up to their limit (usually about £50,000 or £100,000).

Google nearlylegal for his blog on what is happening with the law at the moment. landlords are meant to protect your deposit within 14 days of receiving it and they should also give you and any relevant person the Prescribed Information. The law states the court must award 3 times the deposit for failure to do this. Some landlords are worming out of this in court because of Labour's poor wording of the law, so it has become a postcode lottery as to whether you win in court. This has gone to the high court, but I am not up to date on if this case has been held.

Nicolajennytrew

Thank you missmoneypenny, so you are saying that I could possibly sue him for not putting my money into a tenancy deposit scheme, even if he gives the money back to me this friday??

BitterAndTwisted

So, the original inventory did not note the standard of cleanliness of the property, just what the contents were? Please, please ensure that you replace the toenail cuttings behind the sofa.

Should your landlord not return your deposit (and it sounds to me that it's highly unlikely that he will) there are a number of malicious and unreasonable things you could to to pay him back after you've issued proceedings in the Small Claims Court and retrieved you money.

Do you have a receipt for the deposit or is there mention of it in your tenancy agreement?

EDIT: I think for the moment that you should concentrate on getting your £400 back next week rather than on the (very slim) possibility that a court would award the 3x penalty if it was returned. If it's withheld, that would be time to issue proceedings for the return of the deposit PLUS the penalty. I don't believe that a single court has imposed the penalty where the original deposit has been returned.

Nicolajennytrew

we made the inventory, not the landlord. we noted what things were damaged to cover our backs. he has no idea about the house, he didnt even know where the gas meter was when we rang him a few months ago.

the deposit is mentioned in the tenance agreement

MissMoneypenny

Nicolajennytrew wrote: »

.

He has been the worst landlord in the past year, we had no heating for a month in december and nothing has been fixed.

Are the repairs still not fixed and did you you tell the landlord of his repairs in writing? If so, contact your local council and ask for Private Housing and inform them that the repairs haven't been done and that you have proof your landlord is aware of these repairs. They will be able to deal with this for you and can also inspect the house if you ask them, to see what else the landlord has not complied with. They also keep a record of problem landlords, so it is worth giving his name to them anyway.

If you go to court about the 3x the deposit, you can also ask the judge to award a sum for the lack of heating for one month too.

Has your landlord given you a valid gas safety certificate?

Nicolajennytrew

No the repairs have been made, we went to citizens advice bureau and they have a written record of what we said. They have a letter that they were going to send to him too.

The landlord gave us 60 pounds each towards the extra cost in heating bills, as he gave us electric heaters. This was after around 3 weeks of chasing him however.

I feel as though if i take him to court i am going to lose

Nicolajennytrew

yea he gave us a gas certificate after we asked him to get one