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How long am I likely to wait for Landlord Court claim?
Tazocin
Posts: 7 Forumite
Hi all!
We moved out of a house we had rented for 3 years around 8 months ago now. The landlord was a private LL, we had a deposit in the protection scheme and although we never saw the landlord we got on cordially, paid rent etc. We finally decided to move after arranging a house purchase of our own. When we dropped the keys off I explained we had damaged a cpl of chairs in the house and expected we would need to pay for some of the costs.
On moving out our LL emailed us the next day saying they were unhappy with several items. they included about 6 things they were unhappy with and asked us to surrender our deposit of £1000. The items listed did not seem to add up to the deposit amount so we asked for some clear costings of exactly what they felt we should pay along with multiple quotes to prove fair pricing. When the LL replied with a list he stated he 'hadnt even bothered including a full list of the costs as the ones he included added up to over the deposit. We disputed some of these costs, for example he wanted us to pay for reroofing due to the tenuous excuse of us 'walking on the roof at some point' (why we would do that I have no idea), fully replace any items as brand new despite it being second hand when we moved in and relay an entire laminated floor that had a scratch on that I am fairly sure was not there when we moved out.
Because we disagreed he responded saying we would therefore now have to pay for a months rent (£900) on top of the mounting costs as he needed time to turn the house around ready for rental so we should pay for his lost rental time. In truth he arranged a new tenant 5 days after we moved out and they had moved in 3 weeks after we moved out.
We finally managed to obtain a full list of costs around a month after moving out. All in he wanted £3400 from us (this includes the lost rent).
We worked carefully through his costs explaining why after 3 years at the house we would expect to pay some costs but certainly not full costs. We offered to split the deposit and asked him to consider our argument and let us know. He refused to consider Deposit Resolution service. He replied at midday on a monday whilst I was at work saying if I didnt respond by 1600 (4hrs after sending) he would take me to court. Obviously I had no clue until I got home and so he has told me he is taking us to court for costs of £3400. He also warned this may not be the full and final figure. Our deposit in the scheme has been set as disputed pending court at that time.
Its now 8 months on. I sent my correspondence to him via email and special delivery hand mail. All my physical mail has been returned to me recently, never signed for and never picked up form the depot. I understand LL has property abroad and may have been there for all this time but am not sure if that is why my letters were returned. I have heard nothing from the courts over this case and have heard nothing from the landlord.
1. How long can the landlord hold this over me? Is it indefinitely?
2. Can the landlord keep adding new damages to his list of costs against me? He has a new tenant now but he added the unspecified window damage to the list after we had moved out so I cant prove it wasnt the new tenant.
3. We never signed an inventory with the LL. My partner wrote a list of disagreements with the inventory and sent it to him when we moved but he is now claiming he has my signature on an inventory. He may have forged this or may be bluffing but how can I prove anything? We only have photocopies we took of the list of changes we sent them.
4. All the research around this has made me realise the LL never did any gas safety certification during our tenancy. I dont want to threaten or blackmail but is this worth pursuing if he does try and take us to court?
5. Should I just do nothing for now?
Sorry for long ramble
We moved out of a house we had rented for 3 years around 8 months ago now. The landlord was a private LL, we had a deposit in the protection scheme and although we never saw the landlord we got on cordially, paid rent etc. We finally decided to move after arranging a house purchase of our own. When we dropped the keys off I explained we had damaged a cpl of chairs in the house and expected we would need to pay for some of the costs.
On moving out our LL emailed us the next day saying they were unhappy with several items. they included about 6 things they were unhappy with and asked us to surrender our deposit of £1000. The items listed did not seem to add up to the deposit amount so we asked for some clear costings of exactly what they felt we should pay along with multiple quotes to prove fair pricing. When the LL replied with a list he stated he 'hadnt even bothered including a full list of the costs as the ones he included added up to over the deposit. We disputed some of these costs, for example he wanted us to pay for reroofing due to the tenuous excuse of us 'walking on the roof at some point' (why we would do that I have no idea), fully replace any items as brand new despite it being second hand when we moved in and relay an entire laminated floor that had a scratch on that I am fairly sure was not there when we moved out.
Because we disagreed he responded saying we would therefore now have to pay for a months rent (£900) on top of the mounting costs as he needed time to turn the house around ready for rental so we should pay for his lost rental time. In truth he arranged a new tenant 5 days after we moved out and they had moved in 3 weeks after we moved out.
We finally managed to obtain a full list of costs around a month after moving out. All in he wanted £3400 from us (this includes the lost rent).
We worked carefully through his costs explaining why after 3 years at the house we would expect to pay some costs but certainly not full costs. We offered to split the deposit and asked him to consider our argument and let us know. He refused to consider Deposit Resolution service. He replied at midday on a monday whilst I was at work saying if I didnt respond by 1600 (4hrs after sending) he would take me to court. Obviously I had no clue until I got home and so he has told me he is taking us to court for costs of £3400. He also warned this may not be the full and final figure. Our deposit in the scheme has been set as disputed pending court at that time.
Its now 8 months on. I sent my correspondence to him via email and special delivery hand mail. All my physical mail has been returned to me recently, never signed for and never picked up form the depot. I understand LL has property abroad and may have been there for all this time but am not sure if that is why my letters were returned. I have heard nothing from the courts over this case and have heard nothing from the landlord.
1. How long can the landlord hold this over me? Is it indefinitely?
2. Can the landlord keep adding new damages to his list of costs against me? He has a new tenant now but he added the unspecified window damage to the list after we had moved out so I cant prove it wasnt the new tenant.
3. We never signed an inventory with the LL. My partner wrote a list of disagreements with the inventory and sent it to him when we moved but he is now claiming he has my signature on an inventory. He may have forged this or may be bluffing but how can I prove anything? We only have photocopies we took of the list of changes we sent them.
4. All the research around this has made me realise the LL never did any gas safety certification during our tenancy. I dont want to threaten or blackmail but is this worth pursuing if he does try and take us to court?
5. Should I just do nothing for now?
Sorry for long ramble
0
Comments
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What is the status of your protected deposit at the moment? If it's still set as "Pending court" you should contact the deposit protection scheme and explain that the court action has not happened and you've been unable to contact him for x months.0
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Currently set as 'Suspended'. I was emailed by the DPS shortly after moving out stating LL initiated court proceedings so the would suspend pending court order for release.
I haven't personally tried to chase the LL up recently (last contact was perhaps 6 months ago) as I figured small claims court wasn't the fastest moving court but now I do wonder if I should be being a bit more proactive about this. I feel we have a good argument and have had some encouragement from friends in legal trade but warned it does 'all come down to that particular day in court' and we may lose out expensively. This is why I am torn as to whether I should chase it up aggressively or play it passive and wait things out.0 -
Were you paying rent directly to the LL or to an agent?If you've have not made a mistake, you've made nothing0
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Direct to LL. When we renewed contract he just crossed out the date and wrote new dates in, sent us a copy which we signed and sent back. He provided a copy of this for us. We were never late or owing in rent.
Property was private let but advertised through an agency.0 -
This came up on a search as I'm looking for an answer to my own deposit query but wondered if you had got any further?
Also not sure why it wasn't pointed out to you but your ll does not have a hope in hell of claiming of you as there was not Inventory. You should have disputed against all charges 100% with the DPS. It's up to the LL to prove the damage was caused bayou it for you to prove your innocents0
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