Do I take LL or EA to small claims court? Or neither?!

momma2b

I'm just after a bit of advice please! I'll try and be brief, thank you so much for reading! This was a fully managed property by the way, so I have not dealt with the LL directly at all.

I moved into a flat in April, and before I signed the lease I made the agents double / triple check it would be a long term let as I had a 1 year old but wanted to be in that catchment area for the school later on.

I signed 12 month contract after getting assurances from the LL it was an investment property and he was planning on keeping it until retirement (he is professional LL with many properties apparently)

4 weeks into the let the LL asked if I would increase the rent I was paying to cover having double glazing put in, I said no. 5 weeks in to the let, he gave me notice that he was selling the property and he would be releasing me from the tenancy to leave as soon as I liked (but obviously I could have stayed the full 12 months)

I was gutted, really totally gutted, which is by the by I guess. Anyway, I complained to the agents that I would never have taken on this property had I known that it was not going to be a long term let, and I had indeed checked that explicitly before signing the lease. As such, I asked for the estate agency fee's to be returned to me (£300)

The Agent explained this to the LL and the LL offered to pay half the fee's back to me, if the agency agreed to pay the other half back to me. So £150 each.

Aprox 3 months ago £150 was put into my account. I moved out of the property a month ago. I have been chasing the other £150 with the agency ever since and was told it was on it's way / it had been posted out to me / they were on it.

Last week I chased the £150 again, and was told that the LL had sent an email to the agents saying that he was not going to pay this any more, that he thought releasing me from the tenancy was enough and I should stop asking for the other money.

I have an email from the esate agency saying the fee's would be returned to me with the LL paying half and and them paying the other half. Does this count as an agreement in writing?

I now feel I have no other option but to go to the small claims court, but would my dispute be with the LL (who won't pay) or the EA who have paid but who are the only one's I have dealt with and are essentially the ones who have said LL will pay.

Sorry this is so long, is there any thing I can do?

Thank you!!

chris_m

Five weeks into a twelve month tenancy? I'd have expected a darned sight more than £300 to leave early - and I'd have expected to receive it before vacating.

I suppose you could instigate the action against both the agent and the landlord, then they can argue between them about who should pay.

jbainbridge

Why not start with a 'letter before action' ?

You do realise that you could have legally stayed for the full 12 months? There is nothing the LL could have done about it - making it more difficult to sell the property.

I think your mistake was to move out before getting the settlement sorted - sorry.

momma2b

In hindsight I was very naive! I thought I was being cheeky even asking for the £300....

I am really broke (moving twice in 6 months has killed me!) so I can't even afford really to take them both to court for the £150 as it would be 2 sets of fee's and I don't have that.

I need to write a letter of intent (I think, having googled!) so just didn't know who to send it to really. I am really nervous I won't even win once it is at court and that I am taking a gamble, it's only fact I have the email saying they will pay that has given me the courage not to just write this off - which I think is what they are hoping for.

Thank you for replying, I appreciate it!

G_M

If you have clear evidence that your agreement to leave early was based on the agreement that this money would be paid, then yes, you can sue.

Sue the landlord (that's who your contract is with) and join the agent as co-defendant.

But you must have been mad
a) not t oask for a LOT more before leaving
b) to leave before receiving the money

As for the promise that it would be along term let - sorry, it was a 12 month tenancy so that's as long as was guaranteed. Though the fact that you agreed to leave so early makes me wonder just how committed YOU were to a long term let.

G_M

momma2b wrote: »

I

I need to write a letter of intent (I think, having googled!) so just didn't know who to send it to really. I am really nervous I won't even win once it is at court and that I am taking a gamble, it's only fact I have the email saying they will pay that has given me the courage not to just write this off - which I think is what they are hoping for.

Thank you for replying, I appreciate it!

Send it to the landlord at the address that was on your tenancy agreement.

Send a copy to the agent.

momma2b

Cross posts, sorry!

Yes I know I could have stayed the full 12 months but property is so rare where I wanted to be that I thought the best position to be in was to move once something suitable came up, and not panic find something at the end of the tenancy.

It is who to address the letter of action too that I am wondering about, I assumed ll was the person, but am now wondering if EA is culpable and not them.

Im basically out of my depth and confused!

momma2b

Ok, so the LL and the EA as co-defendent. I didn't know I could do that, thank you.

I was very committed to the property (I wanted to ideally be there for school catchment area) but because I knew I would have to move within the year, it was better for me to find something suitable as soon as poss, in case nothing was available once tenancy was up. If that makes sense?

Thank you all, there was lots of cross posts there.

[Deleted User]

Make sure you claim for absolutely all losses. Moving costs, legal fees, time off work, phoning round service providers to update your address, anything you can think of. When you fill out the Small Claims Court form you can ask for interest to be paid as well, so make sure you do that.

mrginge

DELETED USER wrote:

Make sure you claim for absolutely all losses. Moving costs, legal fees, time off work, phoning round service providers to update your address, anything you can think of. When you fill out the Small Claims Court form you can ask for interest to be paid as well, so make sure you do that.

That would be pointless unless the LL agreed to pay these. By the sounds of it, they didn't.

[Deleted User]

mrginge wrote: »

That would be pointless unless the LL agreed to pay these. By the sounds of it, they didn't.

Whoever made the statement that she could be in there for the long term is now liable for those costs. What they said was false, she acted on that information and suffered monetary loss.