Suing LL - Waiting for court date.

leon91

Hi everyone.

Just wanted to see if anybody could give me some advice towards suing my LL.

Im suing for £3000 for property that was witheld by LL

The reason he kept the property is because I couldnt live there due to no gas & electric.

The reason there was no gas and electric was his fault.
He owed a supplier £600 on each - the company then knocked on the door demanding I pay the full amount or the meters would be changed to pre-pay , already loaded with the debt from his accounts.

I explained who I was, and that I have my own accounts/bills with this company and they were looking for my LL.
I explained also that I could not just afford £1200.

They then had the cheek to say 'sorry' whilst changing the meters - when i told them I had kids to keep warm and feed..

needless to say I rang the estate agent and went up the wall.
this was not my bill - i refused to put any money on those meters as Id be paying my LL debt.

I rang the company - They saw the error and promised to resolve it.. never did.

I rang back the estate agent said I would be Forced to vacate under grounds that it was not habbitable.

all the while my LL recieved a payment everymonth ( not the full rent but still £200 out of £275

I kept visiting the property to check my furniture etc and that the property was sound and secure,

however after a few months trying to resolve this all between myself,estate agent and the energy company.
I went to check up the property to find the locks changed and 6 men inside using my belongings.

I called police who advised i seek legal advice..I did
I also tried to take my property back.
I managed to retrieve a sofa before a friend of LL shows up claiming it all to be his. ( I had reciepts )
police were called - and they suggested court.

so that was that - I left with one sofa out of two
and left everything else before anything kicked off.

so here we are today - deadline for his defence.
hes counter claimed - I imagine its for the shortfall of rent.

but the fact is - he stole my property and gave it away.
he caused this mess by leaving the property without gas and electric.

where on earth do I stand.
this LL isnt a small time LL - he owns a very wealthy builders firm with massive contracts inc: Milenium Stadium, CCFC new stadium, St Davids 2 - all multi million pound contracts,
Im just one man with a low income. Im expecting to be up against hard !!! corprate solicitors. and Im scared to say the least. If i lose this case , I will have really lost everything!

G_M

Rent paid and locks changed by LL? Sounds like an illegal eviction - criminal offence.

Protection from Eviction Act 1977

Go back to police, with copies of your tenancy agreement, and insist on making a statement. Give all the facts, and take a copy of the Act with you.

police often ar hazy about the law in this area, and reluctant to intervene in housing matters (which they often claim are civil, not criminal) so be persistant and ask to speak to a superior officer if necessary.

You could try a theft claim at the same time...

As for the lost possessions, rent paid with no use of property etc, yes, that IS civil, so you will need to use the civil courts. Not sure what the limit for Small Claims Court is these days, £3K may be over the limit, meaning County Court claim.

Get legal advice.

BitterAndTwisted

It's my understanding that having the meters changed and someone else's previous debts loaded onto them may not have rendered the property uninhabitable. Therefore your apparent abandonment of the property was not the first mistake you made.

jamie11

Speak to your local council tenancy relationship officer, councils prosecute this sort of thing.

leon91

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

It's my understanding that having the meters changed and someone else's previous debts loaded onto them may not have rendered the property uninhabitable. Therefore your apparent abandonment of the property was not the first mistake you made.

This is very worrying - I have not been told of this before.
could you explain?

the problem I had was that I put £20 in say...

-£5 emergency
-£7 debt
Im left with £8 of £20
now that every week over a month for BOTH would cost me:
£160 spent on credit - I get to use only £64
that is not fair - and £60 would easily be used by a family of 4 in a month on gas and electric ( I pay near that via DD to current supplier )

Id be spending up to £90 a month paying a bill of that was never mine! how is that justified?

vax2002

If the police state this is a civil matter, point out that 97% of the work they do are Civil breaches of statute.

xoAmyox

This is not a police matter, it is handled criminally by the local housing authority. Ask to speak to the Tenancy Relations Officer.

The correct procedure of going to to court for the belongings appears to have been followed.

Why did you not write to the landlord explaining the problem with the meters, and then deduct the debt from your rent in order to allow you to stay there?

The landlord (although clearly very underhand in this situation) had the obligation to provide a supply for gas and electricity, which technically he did.

leon91

jamie11 wrote: »

Speak to your local council tenancy relationship officer, councils prosecute this sort of thing.

He was caught by the council claiming housing benefit saying I was living there nearly 3 months after I had vacated.
and whilst recieving rent from the 6 new tenants ( who happen to be slovakian and working for him )

( before im accused of being a benefit scrounger - I work
but HB tops up my income. to allow me to rent localy.)

leon91

xoAmyox wrote: »

This is not a police matter, it is handled criminally by the local housing authority. Ask to speak to the Tenancy Relations Officer.

The correct procedure of going to to court for the belongings appears to have been followed.

Why did you not write to the landlord explaining the problem with the meters, and then deduct the debt from your rent in order to allow you to stay there?

The landlord (although clearly very underhand in this situation) had the obligation to provide a supply for gas and electricity, which technically he did.

I was advised by a solicitor to do what I have done.

Looking back - I have clearly made mistakes
Mistakes that are looking like they will cost me in the end.

for a moment could i ask you to put yourself in this situation.

you are all of a sudden left with no gas/electric.
and have two babies to keep safe.

the only thing I could do was to leave.
yes i didnt even consider the outcome of all of this
and im reminded of it everyday by having lost what cost me thousands

also i did write to him. he stated he would sort it - but didnt
i kept chasing it up - but he would always fob me off.

xoAmyox

leon91 wrote: »

I was advised by a solicitor to do what I have done.

Looking back - I have clearly made mistakes
Mistakes that are looking like they will cost me in the end.

for a moment could i ask you to put yourself in this situation.

you are all of a sudden left with no gas/electric.
and have two babies to keep safe.

the only thing I could do was to leave.
yes i didnt even consider the outcome of all of this
and im reminded of it everyday by having lost what cost me thousands

also i did write to him. he stated he would sort it - but didnt
i kept chasing it up - but he would always fob me off.

Sorry to sound judgemental, but I have been in this situation with my son, it turned very horrible and I was assaulted. The landlord still has not had his compuppance, but patience and perseverence will get me there. Ultimately though, I learned, not to trust anything I was told by my solicitor, the council, environmental health or the police.

I spent hours and hours reading forums such as this and other landlord forums, and it gave me the strength and knowledge to overcome the bully (albeit only morally so far).

I do wish you the best of luck with your case, and please do update the thread, I will be reading back.

Voyager2002

I suggest you telephone Shelter, since they are the experts on housing law and give good free advice.

The court forms that you filled out should have enabled you to specify that you wanted to use the 'Small Claims' track (the upper limit for this is more than five thousand pounds). Lawyers do not usually appear in 'small claims' hearings, and in fact it would probably be a disadvantage to bring a lawyer, so no need to be frightened about your landlord's solicitors.