County Court Claim against unreasonable deposit charges

princeofpounds

Should I submit such an argument to the court, is it reasonable?

Yes. If I were a judge I would easily agree, though you can never be sure. Arguments are:

- Sofa was only used in normal manner.
- Compression is of foam (photos) and therefore a result of the quality of material, not misuse.
- Sofas of similar quality are not that expensive (price some up with evidence)
- Sofa is x years old and landlords are not entitled to betterment. Normal life of cheap sofa is y years.

Reckong you will probably get zero liability, or maybe a heavily-reduced liability.

anyarella

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20th April 2011

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Dear xxxxxx,

LETTER BEFORE ACTION

Further to my e-mail dated xxxxx 2011 requesting the return. This letter relates to my repeated requests that you return the deposit that I paid on 04.09.2009 for the accommodation at xxxxxxxxxx.

I would like to formally dispute your proposed deductions from the deposit. With regards to the administrative charges of £300 for obtaining closing statements for utilities, I do not have a duty to provide you with these statements. You are not entitled to charge for this.
Second, with regards to the sunken sofa arm I dispute the amount of £449 for replacement of the sofa. The compression of the foam in the armrest is a result of fair wear and tear. The item was used for its intended purpose. Replacement is an appropriate remedy where the item is either severely or extensively damaged beyond economic repair or, its condition makes it unusable. This is clearly not the case, as a sunken armrest does not impair the use and enjoyment of the sofa.
Lastly, I request refund of the rent as to our prior agreement and your acceptance of early surrender by re-letting the property from 23.12.2011 until 4.01.2011 inclusive, amounting to £25x13 amounting £325.
Amount of the deposit: £1042.50
Amount of the rent refund: £325
Total: £1367.50

Failing a satisfactory resolve within fourteen days from the date of this letter I will place a claim to the county court without further notice.

Yours faithfully




Name xxxxxxx
Contact number xxxxxxxx




This a rough draft of the letter, all suggestions and corrections are welcome.
Thank you so much in advance for you contribution!

BitterAndTwisted

Re: Address of property here

LETTER BEFORE ACTION

Further to my e-mail dated xxxxx 2011 requesting the return. This letter relates to my repeated requests that you return the deposit that I paid on 04.09.2009 for the accommodation at xxxxxxxxxx.

We are writing with regard to your having taken the whole of our deposit of x amount lodged with (whichever deposit-protection scheme it was) despite previous assurances from you that no deductions would be made. Furthermore, you presented the deductions three months after we vacated the property which prevented us from using the deposit scheme’s arbitration process to dispute the deductions.

We are formally disputing your deductions from our deposit. We regard your administration charges of £300 for obtaining closing statements for utilities as unreasonable and not reflective of any effort expended on your part to confirm that the utility bills had been settled in full and the accounts closed. We did not have a duty to provide you with any statements as all of the accounts were in our own names, so no liability could have been imposed upon you should they have remained unsettled in any case.

With reference to the “sunken” sofa arm; we dispute the deduction of £449 for replacement of the sofa. The compression of the foam in the armrest is in our opinion a result of fair wear and tear. The item was only ever used for its intended purpose. Replacement would only ever be an appropriate remedy where the item is either severely or extensively damaged beyond economic repair or its condition made it unusable. This is patently not the case. Furthermore the sofa was not brand-new when our tenancy began in September 2009. We would have expected you to calculate a formula to arrive at the actual value of the item taking into account its age at the end of our tenancy in January 2011. The total cost of replacement in our opinion is not appropriate.


Lastly, we request a payment of the over-paid rent which you previously agreed to refund to us by email on X date. This was in view of our agreement to an early surrender and by enabling you to re-let the property from 23.12.2011 until 4.01.2011 inclusive. We calculate that amount to be thirteen days rent at £25 per day totalling £325. (You claimed in a previous post that you moved out of the property three weeks before the end of your tenancy so how do you arrive at 13 days?)


Therefore we are requesting the refund of the following amounts:
Deposit: £1042.50 (You said that £300 was claimed for utilities and £449 for a new sofa, so what happened to the balance of £293.50? Where is it?)
Rent refund: £325

Total: £1367.50

Failing our receipt of payment in full within fourteen days from the date of this letter we intend to commence a claim to the county court without further notice.

Yours faithfully



Your signature here Other tenant’s signature here

anyarella

Thanks for you suggestions. Greatly appreciated.

(You claimed in a previous post that you moved out of the property three weeks before the end of your tenancy so how do you arrive at 13 days?)

That's because although I moved out 3 weeks earlier, the property was only re-let from 23rd, so this the date from which LL started to receive double rent and therefore the date from which I was to be offered a refund as per the agreement.

(You said that £300 was claimed for utilities and £449 for a new sofa, so what happened to the balance of £293.50? Where is it?)

LL is keeping £50 for electricity but LL has attributed the new tenants bill to me. I have written confirmation from my electricity provider that my account is closed and balance is zero.

The rest of the amount is undisputed by LL.

anyarella

Dear Sir,

Premises at _______________________

With regard to my tenancy, I require you to refund to me the full rent deposit which I paid, in the sum of £_____.

Further, I require you to refund my overpayment of rent, in respect of the period from ________ (the date of the re-letting of the premises) to _________ (___ days at £___ per calendar month), totalling £_____.

If I have not received the total amount of £_____ within fourteen days from the date of this letter I will commence a claim in the county court for that amount without further notice to you.

Yours faithfully


I have been advised that the simpler the better, as the purpose of a LBA is just to inform that proceedings will be taken if money is not paid by the given date.

BitterAndTwisted

Take whatever advice you think appropriate but I would have thought that clarifying exactly what the landlord has claimed the deposit for and your objections to same would form part of your claim at court and would therefore be part of your evidence. A court reading that Letter Before Action would have no idea why you are bringing proceedings.

Also, you need to give that letter the heading "Letter Before Action"!