Landlord refusing to repay deposit, no Inventory, no deposit scheme.

Fire_Fox

Stakkertoo wrote: »

In the back and forth communications where I responded to her list of complaints and refuted most of them, I did agree to a couple of them (stains on one carpet, and a dent in the plasterboard sustained during the move). I offered to pay for the carpet to be cleaned and the plasterboard to be repaired, the £200 which she has refused.

Would this work against me, or are you saying that it wouldn't even get that far?

I'd forget about what you have offered for now, don't deny it just don't refer to it. IIRC the lifespan of a carpet in a rental property is deemed to be five years anyway, so if they were to claim for a replacement through the DPS they'd get jack.

Stakkertoo wrote: »

Do you think the Notice Before Action would carry any more weight if it was sent from a solicitor or should I just do it myself? Bearing in mind the landlord scoffed at my threat of legal action this morning when I clearly spelled out that they were in breach of the law.

Would it be better to have the form N1 sent along with headed paper written from a solicitors point of view, "on behalf of my client etc"?

Please research the 'letter before action' templates as I suggested; IIRC the Shelter one tells you what documents to enclose. Don't make up your own system, use a tried and tested one. If you can get the solicitor's letter done for free go for it, but what is legitimate depends if you friend works for the company or is an owner/ self employed. Misusing company headed notepaper is a bad move, so they may need their boss' consent

They probably scoffed because they don't think you know your rights, you have not been using formal communication to date or they think you won't go ahead. Once you have the letter before action and associated documents they may cave or they may continue to scoff. They won't be scoffing in court unless they want the magistrate to throw an entire library at them.

martinsurrey

Stakkertoo wrote: »

The thing is, I've already mentioned the threat of legal action and got a quite 'bring it on' reply from the landlord. :huh:

not :huh: ...



It’s easy money for you, could turn out to earn you £500 an hour, go see the CAB and start filling out the paper work and collecting your evidence (tenancy agreement, bank statements etc).

You hold all the cards, it’s that simple, you had a valid AST, you paid a deposit, the deposit was not protected, you win.

Dont let them bully you, you are in the right and they stand no chance of winning.

Stakkertoo

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Please research the 'letter before action' templates as I suggested; IIRC the Shelter one tells you what documents to enclose. Don't make up your own system, use a tried and tested one.

Thank you, yes, I've been working on my Claim using the Shelter advice.

The template Letter Before Action is very spartan and just requests the rent...but as I am sending with the N1 form, does the information about the 3x penalty just go on the N1 form, thereby suggesting..."you can either give me my deposit back, or you can suffer the consequences of the legal route illustrated on the N1 form"?

[FONT=&quot]Dear X,[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]LETTER BEFORE ACTION[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Further to my email dated 18th October please find enclosed a copy of court form N1. This relates to my repeated requests that you return the deposit that I paid for the accommodation at xxxxx[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]This form will be submitted to the county court at xxx[/FONT][FONT=&quot]seven days from the date of this letter unless I receive a cheque for £1600 before then.[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]Yours faithfully[/FONT]

RAS

Stakkertoo wrote: »

The thing is, I've already mentioned the threat of legal action and got a quite 'bring it on' reply from the landlord. :huh:

Well that is likely to last just up until she takes legal advice. At which point she will be told to settle quickly or pay up more in court.

Stakkertoo

Thank you for all your helpful advice thus far, I am feeling far better about this situation now.

Just one more thing, when completing the N1 form, in the value section, how do you refer to the penalty?

Do I request
"£1600 deposit plus penalty of 3x deposit"
or is it correc to just write the deposit, plus the figure I want the court to consider as a penalty?

Fire_Fox

Stakkertoo wrote: »

Thank you, yes, I've been working on my Claim using the Shelter advice.

The template Letter Before Action is very spartan and just requests the rent...but as I am sending with the N1 form, does the information about the 3x penalty just go on the N1 form, thereby suggesting..."you can either give me my deposit back, or you can suffer the consequences of the legal route illustrated on the N1 form"?

I've just checked, there are two templates on Shelter (just to confuse the hell out of you) the other is longer and better. Can't link to it as a PDF - but this is the cache version.

Isn't the Shelter template fourteen days? Remember she has to receive your letter and post you out a cheque, you need to allow two to three working days for this each way.

chris_m

Stakkertoo wrote: »

The thing is, I've already mentioned the threat of legal action and got a quite 'bring it on' reply from the landlord. :huh:

There's quite a difference between the threat being mentioned and it actually arriving in the post - she probably doesn't think you mean it, when it lands on her doormat she'll probably realise otherwise

Stakkertoo

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I've just checked, there are two templates on Shelter (just to confuse the hell out of you) the other is longer and better. Can't link to it as a PDF - but this is the cache version.

Isn't the Shelter template fourteen days? Remember she has to receive your letter and post you out a cheque, you need to allow two to three working days for this each way.

I found the original here
thanks

I'll be sure to give enough time, but to be fair, seven days should be sufficient.

Stakkertoo

Another detail, it doesn't really change anything, but wonder with regard to the claim if I should change the wording.

The original AST was in the name of my ex-girlfriend whom I lived there with, between 2007 and 2009. Another contract was drawn up in when she moved out in 2009 with mine and my housemate's names, an addendum was done 6 months ago when the housemate moved out and was replaced by the current one (who accounts for part of the deposit)

I have been considered the 'lead tenant' since 2009, should this affect anything? Should I be noting in the claim that when we moved in, in 2007, I wasn't on the AST, OR just make a claim from 2009?

The deposit has rolled over since 2007, so is covering the entire 5 years, but just wondered if the name on the original AST is an issue?

To reiterate, at no time during the tenancy has she put the deposit in the scheme.

Fire_Fox

Stakkertoo wrote: »

I found the original here
thanks

I'll be sure to give enough time, but to be fair, seven days should be sufficient.

The court may not see seven days as sufficient with post each way.

Stakkertoo wrote: »

Another detail, it doesn't really change anything, but wonder with regard to the claim if I should change the wording.

The original AST was in the name of my ex-girlfriend whom I lived there with, between 2007 and 2009. Another contract was drawn up in when she moved out in 2009 with mine and my housemate's names, an addendum was done 6 months ago when the housemate moved out and was replaced by the current one (who accounts for part of the deposit)

I have been considered the 'lead tenant' since 2009, should this affect anything? Should I be noting in the claim that when we moved in, in 2007, I wasn't on the AST, OR just make a claim from 2009?

The deposit has rolled over since 2007, so is covering the entire 5 years, but just wondered if the name on the original AST is an issue?

To reiterate, at no time during the tenancy has she put the deposit in the scheme.

Eeep, messy! So you can't prove you ever gave the landlord the deposit? Have you anything in writing that the landlord accepted the deposit was reassigned each time and has not refunded someone else? Is the deposit mentioned in all the ASTs? If your name was not on the AST you may not be classed as a tenant, were you paying rent to the landlord yourself?