Landlord not using dps

Fire_Fox

alz9 wrote: »

Hi everyone, and again, thank you so much for all your feedback and advice.

I have been away for a week since my 'letter before action' expired so my previous landlord has actually had two weeks rather than 5 working days to respond and alas I've heard nothing.

So I will be moving this issue onto the courts.

But I am still unsure how this process will work and wanted to re submit my query about court payments.

I have an issue with my landlord over a withheld £50 so under normal circumstances I would open a case for this amount with a hope to get the £50 back and my court fee.

However, since it seems apparent that my landlord didn't follow the housing act laws (therefore breaking the law) the issue of enforcement of the law comes into play. The law being that a landlord who does not protect a tenants deposit could be fined between 1 and 3 times the full deposit amount which would be payable to the tenant.

Now, I still feel that it should be the court who award any fines regarding the unlawful act of non protection of our deposit and that I should only have to raise the issue of the £50; and once the court hears that the landlord broke the law then it aught to be their better judgement to fine them and make decisions on financial terms.

But at least one of the posters to this thread feels I should claim for the whole lot and therefore I can't use a small claims court.

But again, since this is a fine that can range depending on the courts judgement, surely the law isn't set up for the claimant to be second guessing the courts final decisions. Surely this should be a court decision secondary to my original claim for my deposit back.

I am really keen to get some conclusive feedback as G_M & The Pixi feel this is an open and closed case I don't want to lose out when it is in fact my landlord who has broken the law. I have followed all the steps leading up to this point and don't want to mess up my case now because of a silly error.

You'd think that surely if the law is in place to protect tenants then it should be easy for tenants to raise issues and enforce the law along with the courts.

If anyone can help with a conclusive answer then I'd be very grateful.

Thank you again,


Al

Small claims court does not exist, it is a small claims action in the county court. The small claims track is there as a relatively simple, quick and cheap method for the layman to get small amounts of money back from anyone who has 'diddled' you so you are not out of pocket. It is not there for the layman to enforce fines as the police/ solicitors/ magistrates would, nor for the layman to end up in profit nor for complex cases. If you don't like the legal system write to your MP.

Consider that if someone might be fined as opposed to simply returning/ paying money that does not belong to them they may reasonably want legal representation. If the landlord has a lawyer then the tenant might want one too and the costs escalate - the whole situation is against the ethos of the small claims track where you cannot claim against the other party for your legal representation.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/law_e/law_legal_system_e/law_taking_legal_action_e/small_claims.htm
http://www.consumerfocus.org.uk/files/2010/10/Small-claims-WEB-FILE.pdf
http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/_old/part27