Landlord keeps stonewalling over deposit

clutton_2

if he is going to defend it - as Loretta points out - you will have to present your case and so will he before a judge.


Small claims court is just a room, with three tables, you, judge and LL. - quiet informal, nothing to get too stressed about.

Rather than waste your time now - wait till the court informs you that he is, or is not, going to defend it. If he is, then you need to create a carefully collated set of documents to take with you - a "bundle" - this will contain all the proof with regard to your case. You cannot produce docs in court which you have not previously disclosed to the court and the LL. You can send a new statement to the court if further facts come to light before the court date - but you must send a copy to the LL also.

good luck

MrChips

Thanks for all the advice everyone. When you ask "is he going to defend it?" do you mean that he has to confirm he will be turning up to argue his case? He responded officially to our initiating the claim back last Autumn to say he would be defending himself - is this what you mean? Or is he expected to re-confirm now we have a court date? He still hasn't submitted any evidence.

During the last week, I called the council to ask about the HMO registration. The guy I spoke to confirmed that they had had to put a lot of pressure on the landlord, but he had finally relented and had it licensed as of a month ago. The landlord also owns the house next door which is the same size, so I asked if this had also been registered and apparently it has not! This guy really is slack! Anyway, the really nice chap on the phone said he would be happy to send us a letter we could use in our court case to confirm it should have been licensed during my girlfriend's tenancy, but it hadn't been. He was also very grateful for the tip off What with this and the fact he hasn't been paying council tax, I am beginning to think HMRC might want to know about him too!

We met up today to talk things through and produce a list of actions before the court date. A few queries came out of this, which I am hoping one of you wise people will be able to help with!

1) What is the policy regarding expenses? If we win the case can we claim for things like half a day taken off work to attend the case, time spent preparing the case, various other misc expenses like photocopying, postage etc? I will be accompanying my girlfriend to act as a witness and for support - can they put in a claim on my behalf for time off work taken to attend?

What about if we are awarded a partial win - i.e. the judge awards us some of our deposits back but not all. Can we claim full expenses, none, or somewhere in between??

2) The amount claimed has changed since we submitted the original claim. Do we need to notify the court in advance, or shall we just let the judge know on the day? [One of the tenants got a partial deposit refund subsequently].

Loretta

MrChips wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice everyone. When you ask "is he going to defend it?" do you mean that he has to confirm he will be turning up to argue his case? He responded officially to our initiating the claim back last Autumn to say he would be defending himself - is this what you mean? Or is he expected to re-confirm now we have a court date? He still hasn't submitted any evidence.

During the last week, I called the council to ask about the HMO registration. The guy I spoke to confirmed that they had had to put a lot of pressure on the landlord, but he had finally relented and had it licensed as of a month ago. The landlord also owns the house next door which is the same size, so I asked if this had also been registered and apparently it has not! This guy really is slack! Anyway, the really nice chap on the phone said he would be happy to send us a letter we could use in our court case to confirm it should have been licensed during my girlfriend's tenancy, but it hadn't been. He was also very grateful for the tip off What with this and the fact he hasn't been paying council tax, I am beginning to think HMRC might want to know about him too!

We met up today to talk things through and produce a list of actions before the court date. A few queries came out of this, which I am hoping one of you wise people will be able to help with!

1) What is the policy regarding expenses? If we win the case can we claim for things like half a day taken off work to attend the case, time spent preparing the case, various other misc expenses like photocopying, postage etc? I will be accompanying my girlfriend to act as a witness and for support - can they put in a claim on my behalf for time off work taken to attend?

What about if we are awarded a partial win - i.e. the judge awards us some of our deposits back but not all. Can we claim full expenses, none, or somewhere in between??

2) The amount claimed has changed since we submitted the original claim. Do we need to notify the court in advance, or shall we just let the judge know on the day? [One of the tenants got a partial deposit refund subsequently].

I thought usually 14 days before the hearing your L/L would have to give the court details of his defence and send the court and you copies of all the documents he is going to present to support his defence. has any of this happened?

MrChips

No, nothing has arrived since we were advised of the date about a week ago. It is still just over 2 weeks away so maybe we'll hear something very shortly.

MrChips

After reading another thread, a thought has occurred to me regarding the council tax issue.

As it was/is a HMO, the landlord is responsible for the council tax bill, not the tenants. Can he then legally deduct it from his tenants? Certainly he can charge a higher rent to meet the cost, but I'm not certain he can reasonably tell the tenants that he is keeping some of their deposit to pay his council tax bill, even if it says he will do this in the tenancy agreement. Any lawyers out there?!

Is there any real difference between this and, say, him including a clause saying the tenants must meet his council tax bill from his own residence? Both are bills that he is responsible for...

MrChips

Well, court date is tomorrow morning, 10.30!

Wish us luck

icefall

Good luck Mr Chips!

neverdespairgirl

Good luck!

BrandNewDay

I've said a prayer for you, Mr. Chips! Report back and tell us how it went!

zebulon

10.29....ta-dah