Sending Evidence To Court, Rent Proof?

Timewarp

olly300 wrote:

Small claims judges look at the evidence, listen to both sides and decide on the balance of probabilities.

Just submit as many documents you have to back up your claims, keep your story consistent i.e. about him refusing to view the property when you lived there and don't argue about stuff that you didn't mention in your claim.

Submit evidence to prove you used a cleaner so if you hired the steam cleaner look for a receipt or something on your bank statement to show this. If you borrowed the cleaner get the person you borrowed from to write a short statement saying you borrowed the cleaner on such and such date and get them to sign it and put their name and address on it. If you own the cleaner take a photo of it and photocopy the front part of the manual.

By the way where there no viewings of the property after you gave him notice? If there were viewings of the property it would be very odd for a landlord not to inform their current tenants to tidy something up if it really was "disgusting" and affecting him renting the property out.

Ta - good advice. The steam cleaner was my housemate's parents'.

Yes there were viewings, and plus the LL and his estate agents had full access to the property about a month and a half before the tenancy ended (so they could write the descriptions of the rooms and go through things with the LL). Nothing was mentioned to us then.

He had decided to sell the property hence our reason for moving out. We suspect he was using our deposit to fund making the house look extra good for the house sale, and not because it was in a worse state than when we moved in.

Voyager2002

Has the landlord claimed that you failed to pay your rent? If not, then you don't need to provide proof that you did. Just make sure that you provide all reasonable evidence that is relevant to what the court will be considering.

olly300

Rob_Leeds wrote:

Yes there were viewings, and plus the LL and his estate agents had full access to the property about a month and a half before the tenancy ended (so they could write the descriptions of the rooms and go through things with the LL). Nothing was mentioned to us then.

The estate agents would probably refuse to do this as they try and stay out of legal situations. If they get involved they would lose the LL as their client and they are all about making as much money as possible for themselves. So I wouldn't bother with them.

However the clause in your agreement stating the LL had to give you 4 weeks written notice of anything you did that contravened the tenancy agreement is particularly useful.

For starters I would mention the fact that the property was viewed by the LL, the EA and individuals seeking to rent the property 6 weeks before you left. You got no written complaints about the state the property was in.

Did the garden have established trees or bushes in it? If so I would mention this fact. I rented a house with a garden we were expected to keep the garden neat but not to touch/prune the established trees or bushes, or do anything to harm their roots. Established trees and bushes are v. expensive. The LL sent a gardener round but you don't know specifically why he was there. If it was to prune established trees or bushes, or to do maintenance i.e. build a fence, fix footpath then he can't charge you for this unless it says specifically in your tenancy agreement. (Even then you could argue it's not a fair term.) Stuff like mending a fence comes under reasonable wear and tear, and not allowing a tenant to touch something that is valuable is common sense.

The fact that your tenancy agreement has a lot of clauses in it helps you so I would go through the clauses and see how many of them his claiming that he has to take the deposit for cleaning/gardening breaks.

He will probably come up with new arguments so check your tenancy agreement and see if it says the reason not to give the deposit back will be explained to you in writing.

Also if you say you asked for receipts and he refused to give them, and you show evidence of borrowing a steam cleaner then who on the balance of probabilities is trying to show they are creditable?

liz545

Hi Rob,
I went through this myself, just last month. It's helpful that the AST has a provision that he must give written notice of any cleaning/maintenance that's carried out. We had a similar clause in our contract, and on this basis the court was able to overrule all his deductions for cleanining and gardening. I don't think you will need proof of paying rent, but submitting printouts should be sufficient, if you're worried that he might claim you didn't pay. You may worry about the extra costs incurred of going to court, but just think about the long term satisfaction of leaving him with a CCJ

Timewarp

liz545 wrote:

Hi Rob,
I went through this myself, just last month. It's helpful that the AST has a provision that he must give written notice of any cleaning/maintenance that's carried out. We had a similar clause in our contract, and on this basis the court was able to overrule all his deductions for cleanining and gardening. I don't think you will need proof of paying rent, but submitting printouts should be sufficient, if you're worried that he might claim you didn't pay. You may worry about the extra costs incurred of going to court, but just think about the long term satisfaction of leaving him with a CCJ

- That's very good. I hope the same happens this time!

furndire

Can't you claim back for costs for the statements etc?

Timewarp

furndire wrote:

Can't you claim back for costs for the statements etc?

I don't think so as they weren't on the original claim?

olly300

Rob_Leeds wrote:

I don't think so as they weren't on the original claim?

You can't claim back the costs of the statements if you haven't already asked for it.

Anyway the only reason to submit as much evidence as possible is because the LL will come up with another defence (story) of why he deducted money from your deposit. If you submit a lot of evidence the LL has the choice to either pay up and halt proceedings, or go to court and lose.