Taking ME to court? please help!

sootica1976

Hi everyone thought I would give you all an update.

The Landlady received the £400 bond back from the deposit protection service a few days ago, and guess what? She is STILL going ahead with this, so she obviously wants the £700 she is trying to claim from me, while going through all my paperwork I found a letter I received from the Estate agents back in October 2012 saying that the £400 bond would be enough to cover the "damage", so surely that would prove that she doesn't need anymore money now she has received the bond back??

I filled out my defense form weeks ago and the one I received the other day about if I wanted mediation blah blah, I also put on these forms that the main reason she is taking action against me is she claims that I was ignoring all her requests to contact the deposit protection service to get the bond returned to her., I put on my defense that this is in fact wrong and the DPS can prove this by saying what date they received the first contact from me (which was months before she began this court claim), today I received a letter saying that in 10 days I will receive a date and which court this case will be going to, I am LIVID that she is still going ahead with this, even though she has the £400 back.

What I would like to know is this- what chance does she have in winning this case when I have all the evidence on my side that I did NOT ignore her and that i have a letter saying £400 bond would cover the damage ?

I am still grieving badly for my mother and this is just plain EVIL that she is doing this to me, I am incredibly stressed out about this, can anyone give me anymore advice for when this does go to court?

Thanks again in advance all!

NAR

Sounds a bit crazy that she is proceeding with case. You certainly seem to have plenty of evidence to defend your position. Good luck.

pimento

Even if she wins (which she probably won't) there's no money left of your mother's to pay so she loses anyway.

madbadrob

When you attend court take all you have mentioned with you. Make sure the judge sees these. Take any accounts you have regarding the estate as well. I disagree with some people on here who have said the debt passes with your mother because in this case the claim isnt against the estate it is against you for delaying release of the bond to cover the damage. That said with what you have said on here the Bond is going to be sufficient and therefore there is no case to answer. I would not worry myself too much because I personally believe her action will fail

Rob

sootica1976

Thanks all! You have all been so wonderful, I am going to ring the deposit protection service tomorrow and ask if they wouldn't mind putting it in writing the date I first contacted them about releasing the bond, so it would prove I wasn't ignoring her requests and so they can see the date was months before she put in a claim against me.

Mad thing is she has been TOLD by the estate agent recently that I hadn't ignored her requests and it was just because it was a long drawn out process yet she is STILL going ahead, so basically she is claiming falsely against me and knows she is- so mad!

daska

Ask the Estate Agent to put this in writing as well so there can be no doubt that the LL is aware that her claim is vexatious.

sootica1976

Another update, I rang the court today and they told me the judge has the case and has had it since last Monday, I am really hoping that he throws this out as I feel if the judge lets it through I will be worried that she may have a chance. I was told that I should hear in a few weeks if the case will go ahead, apparently I wont hear a thing if the case is thrown out and may have to ring the court to check

zzzLazyDaisy

Just to say, be prepared for the case to go ahead for the following reasons:

1 the court has the power to amend the claim to record the correct defendant, and in small claims cases like this often will do this (ie to amend the defendant to you as administrator, rather than you as an individual).

2 If the damage to the house is worth more than the bond, the LL is entitled to sue for the balance. But to do this she would have to show proof of this, and to defend the claim you would have to show proof that there is no money in the estate. If you paid for the funeral out of your own pocket, that is relevant too, because the law allows the funeral costs to be paid prior to any debts. If you did pay for the funeral yourself, this means that had you paid for it out of the estate as you were entitled to do, there would have been even less money available for creditors such as the LL.

3 The court may very well decide that it cannot make a decision to strike out the case until it has heard the evidence, which basically means you going along and talking the judge through the documents and explaining why they prove your case (and same for the LL)

4 It is a misconception that the case cannot go ahead if the claimant has failed to file a letter before action. What the failure does mean, though, is that you can ask the court to disallow her court costs if she wins, although since there is no money in the estate that is a moot point.

On a more positive note - it is in your interests to provide her with copies of all the documentation relating to your defence as early in the proceedings as possible. Why? Because she has already had to pay a court fee to lodge the case, and before the case goes to hearing, she will have to pay another fee. If she can see that you have a good defence and there is no money in the estate, she may think twice about pouring good money after bad, and withdraw the claim

It is my view that there is at least an evens chance that (as someone else has said) she has smelled blood and is banking on the fact that you will be so stressed and upset by your bereavement that you'll just pay up to make it all go away.

Let us know what happens.

Dx

ValHaller

daska wrote: »

Ask the Estate Agent to put this in writing as well so there can be no doubt that the LL is aware that her claim is vexatious.

I am not sure that the claim is vexatious. She believes she has suffered a loss and she is entitled to take her claim against OP's mother to court to have it heard. And to argue the case itself, it is a matter of comparing entry and exit inventories, arguing on betterment and so on. Her case in that sense is perfectly normal.

Where it is wrong is to direct the case against the OP. It should be against the Estate of OP's Late Mother. And for all we know, that could be a straight win. And why not if it is correctly argued on the evidence.

Now this is where is becomes a bit more tangled, in that any order should be against the Estate - or against Administrators or Executors of the Estate. It may be that OP has indeed committed a faux pas by settling some debts without regard to this dispute - thereby (albeit in good faith) depriving the Landlady of her rightful %age payout from the Estate.

If this is the case, I would still expect the court order to be against the Estate, leaving the Estate with a claim against OP (if she did not administer the Estate correctly) because we have not reached the point at which the Estate does not pay out against a court order.

madbadrob

ValHaller wrote: »

I am not sure that the claim is vexatious. She believes she has suffered a loss and she is entitled to take her claim against OP's mother to court to have it heard. And to argue the case itself, it is a matter of comparing entry and exit inventories, arguing on betterment and so on. Her case in that sense is perfectly normal.

However in this case, has as been pointed out, the bond company had looked at the damage and said that the £400 pound bond was sufficient to pay for the damage. It is unlikely that the court would award against the estate based on this point. The whole reason for forming these agents was for this very reason and to make sure that tenants received some if not all of their deposits/bonds back.

Rob