Question re. reimbursement of travel expenses and court fee in Small Claims Court

croydonrent

I am about to send the court application to the Small Claims Court and to start court proceedings against my landlord who owes me GBP 1500 for deposit return.

N79

In the small claims court you will get the court fee back if you win. You will also get reasonable costs. These will include things like photocopying costs etc but are usually very small. You may also get a small travel allowance (a few pounds or maybe a couple of 10s of pounds). You will not get flights from Germany etc reimbursed. You will not get time of work repaid at your normal salary (you might get a couple of quid etc). It is very doubtful that the court would entertain a 3 figure cost claim. This is the point of the small claims court!

If you want to be able to claim real costs then you need to use the normal claims track, not the small claims track. Then you can send a solicitor and claim their costs (provided the court agrees with the allocation - being in Germany might be enough - normally though I don't bother and just use the small claims track and swallow my solicitors costs as the delay caused by endless allocation hearings argued between two solicitors rapidly escalates costs to 5 figures before anyone gets near to the deposit hearing). You would not have to attend in person. Of course, if you lose then the LL will also be able to chase you for their real costs.

If you do the ground paperwork you may be able to find a local LL and T solicitor who would be able to represent you just at the hearing (without preparatory paperwork) for less than your travel and accommodation costs.

N79

croydonrent wrote: »

Thank you very much for your posting, this was very useful! I have in the meantime written to a lawyer whom I know and he more or less confirmed what you stated. The max. daily allowance for the loss of earnings is GBP 50 (but of course there is no guarantee that I will be awarded the max. allowance), and confirmed that the court fee will be repaid by the landlord in the case of my win. I totally agree with you that it is not worth it to go through the normal claims track as the losses and hassle might be greater than the gain. I wonder if you know - if my boyfriend attends the hearing as a witness, he would need to travel to London from Sweden do you think he might expect to receive at least some travel reimbursement to, even if it is GBP 20-50?

Your boyfriend might, like you, get a token contribution but it is likely to be in the lower end of your range (think of it as paying for the local car park charge and some limited mileage).

However, I would question if your boyfriend needs to attend at all for a deposit repayment dispute - these mostly turn on paperwork (or the lack thereof which is nearly always in the T's favour). May I ask why you think he would need to attend?

silvercar

croydonrent wrote: »

Hi, my boyfriend will definitely attend the court hearing, either as a witness or just to provide me with moral support. Event though he hasn't lived in the flat, he visited me while I was living there, so he can give a witness statement about the condition of the flat and also about all the painful communication and lack of the communication with the landlord and the agent. But more importantly my boyfriend is just as outranged as I am by the wicked and dishonest treatment I suffered from the landlord and I think he will be happy to witness the moment when the judge passes the judgement in my favour and the landlord with the agent are put to shame. It doesn't really matter whether the landlord will be requested to reimburse his travel.

You need to base your claim on facts not emotions. Deposit returns are based on the condition of the property, not on the lac of communication of the agents.

Was there an inventory when you moved in? When you moved out? Was the deposit protected?

silvercar

If (and it is a big if) the agent has agreed with the return of the deposit with DPS, then the court could rule that your claim through the courts is wasting time. Even if they find in your favour they may not award you travelling costs. Particularly from Germany.

mlz1413

I agree with everyone else that only token costs will be awarded IF you win, it is not anyones fault you now live abroad and so would not be considered a normal expense.

But do ask if it is possible to 'attend' by telephone. I've attended 3 court cases for work in the last 2 yrs and I've a vague memory of conference calling / video linking being offered/discussed.

Now this may have been in some of the fast track literature as we were claiming £,000's but all the cases were actually heard in small claims as they were all down graded by the judge (ie the value of the claim irrelavant the principle was unpaid invoices), so it's got to be worth asking.

By the way we never saw a penny from any of the cases and we won them all (even the one where we were counter-sued!)

bris

Does the dps not decide about the deposit return, is that not what it's for. Seems like the scheme is a waste of time if you still have to go to court.
I am in Scotland and never had to deal with the scheme.

silvercar

bris wrote: »

Does the dps not decide about the deposit return, is that not what it's for. Seems like the scheme is a waste of time if you still have to go to court.
I am in Scotland and never had to deal with the scheme.

The deposit schemes each have their own arbitration service as an easy alternative to going to court. In this case it appears that the amount to be returned has been agreed, so it is a question of following the DPS procedures for its return.

silvercar

Ok, but could you please clarify - if the agent agreed in writing to return the writing in an email on Nov 29 to retrun the deposit and since then has not been answering the phone or emails, what other ways of getting back the deposit I have?

Through the DPS scheme. Have you contacted them?

They also owe me GBP 175 for rent overpayment.

This won't be handled by DPS as its not part of the deposit. Has the agent/LL agreed to this?

In my opinion I have no other means of getting back the deposit then going to Small Claims Court. Regarding the travel costs I think it will all depend how symphatitic the judge will be with me and the inconvenience and stress that I suffered.

That is your opinion. If the landlord claims that you have been difficult and changed the process through DPS a number of times (as in your other thread) the judge may not be sympathetic. In any case a small claims court hearing on deposit return is not going to pay out for stress.

silvercar

And since I have got a long list of unreasonable behaviour from the part of the landlord and the agent I am sure that this will be taken into account....

This is where your emotions are interfering with your judgement. The case, if it gets to court, will be decided on the basis of the correct return of your deposit alone.

mlz1413

OP are these the only LL's you have had or have you experienced a normal or good LL?

I am just struck that you have been so badly treated as to take 2 LL's to court within 3 years.