Landlord keeps stonewalling over deposit

MrChips

He's getting on just fine, thanks for asking

We're impatient too! I even woke up this morning thinking of various ways to get more evidence against him! Something along the lines of taping a phone conversation with the council about the state of the coucil tax account! Doubt this would be acceptable though...

MrChips

We sent back our claim form to the court today to confirm we are going ahead and to let them know which dates we can't do and how many witnesses we intend to call! I'll update shortly with what we put. Meanwhile I just had to show you this email my girlfriend just remembered she had. Before she moved in she asked about how long it would take to get her deposit back after vacating the property...

Hello Miss A,
I am not prepared to alter my Agreement but I can inform you that your deposit will be returned normally within one week of the last day of your tenancy but certainly within two weeks. The law states that a deposit must be returned within a reasonable time deemed to be four weeks. Personally I think that four weeks is far too long, but I think that one week is a reasonable time.
Mr Landlord.

I can't wait to show him this in court

olly300

Thanks for the update.

The tv licenses have nothing to do with your LL so if he brings it up, ask the judge in a sort of question that you are sure under the law the occupants are liable for the TV licenses and when they move out they have the right to move the licenses to their new address or get a partial refund.

MrChips wrote: »

He's getting on just fine, thanks for asking

We're impatient too! I even woke up this morning thinking of various ways to get more evidence against him! Something along the lines of taping a phone conversation with the council about the state of the coucil tax account! Doubt this would be acceptable though...

You are not legally allowed to record someone secretly especially a third party. There are ways round recording the party you have a conflict with but to be honest with all the email evidence you have you don't need to do it. You are allowed to play voicemail messages and show texts. However you should transcript them for clarity and to ensure they are not overlooked, and take the originals with you.

BTW the LL defence:
1. for your gf's email will be that I didn't know she would do so much damage. So you need to concentrate on the damage part and the inconsistancies in his story, and the inconsistent treatment of the tenants i.e. it's a house where the tenants didn't have individual meters for gas and electricity so how can he take more money of one tenant? (I know landlords work it out on room size but you need to see what rubbish he comes out with.)

2. for the other claimant's reference he will claim that he didn't know she would run up bills. So the claimants' need to establish politely and tactfully that why would he write a reference for someone who ran up large bills as he is being dishonest.

MrChips

Hi guys - well it has been two months since the last update - high time for a new one!

Things had gone relatively quiet until a couple of weeks ago when we got a letter from the court asking for a £100 hearing fee, and instructing us to submit any documents we intended to rely on by 26 November.

This prompted a flurry of activity while we printed emails, copied documents and blew up photos etc. The result was 3 neat folders with all the relevant information and a timeline showing important dates and chronologising the events and showing where the backing documents came into play.

I delivered one to the court on Monday, and one to the landlord's house later the same day (accompanied by a friend who took a few pictures as proof of delivery). He has chosen not to submit anything himself.

My girlfriend and I also paid a visit to her old house in the hope of getting her room's new occupant to agree to make a statement that the landlord wasn't cleaning the room until 10pm on the day the new girl moved in, as he has claimed in various emails to us. However this girl has already moved out but we have a mobile number for her so are optimistic - such a piece of evidence would blow any fragments of a case he has completely as it would show he is a liar.

While we were there, we talked to one of the current occupants who told us that they had recently been written to by the council claiming that it had discovered that it was a house of multiple occupation and that the council was planning to prosecute the landlord I have now written to the council asking for some information about this we can use in our case - and to ask if my girlfriend would be entitled to 12 months rent back, as it seems to imply on their website is possbile "in certain circumstances" for residents in an unlicenced HMO.

Now we just have to wait for a court date and bide our time. Meanwhile we are trying to gather any last bits and pieces, such as the statement from the council and the girl mentioned above. We will also write to the landlord offering to settle before it reaches court for the full owed deposits plus court fees incurred to date (he will save himself the £100 hearing fee as this is refunded in full if the case is settled a month before the hearing date).

One thing I thought of recently is regarding gas safety. I think landlords are obliged to get the gas safety checked annually. My girlfriend can't recall him ever doing this - but we don't know if this is cos he didn't do it or because he had it done while she was at work. What are his responsibilities here, and should he have left some sort of certificate with the residents?

Thanks for all the tips and support so far

Guy_Montag

Thanks so much for the updates Mr Chips.

Good luck.

MrChips

Can anyone assist with the gas safety query? What is a landlord's legal responsibility?

clutton_2

a landlord must have all gas installations (fires, cookers, bolilers, wall heaters etc) checked out annually by a CORGI registered gas engineer.

Within 14 days of the inspection taking place the landlord must provide the tenant with the "Tenants Copy" of the Inspection report.

if no inspection has taken place - this is a criminal offence.

MrChips

Thanks Clutton. How often does this need to take place? Annually?

MrChips

Sorry, just reread your post (but a bit more slowly)! No need to answer that last one

Smidda

clutton wrote: »

a landlord must have all gas installations (fires, cookers, bolilers, wall heaters etc) checked out annually by a CORGI registered gas engineer.

Within 14 days of the inspection taking place the landlord must provide the tenant with the "Tenants Copy" of the Inspection report.

if no inspection has taken place - this is a criminal offence.

I guess so...

Good luck with everything btw, i remember reading this thread a few weeks or so back