Deposit - Small claims

silvercar

We are also in the process of raising the dispute on MyDeposits as we are getting close to three months since we moved out.

Mydeposits won't adjudicate if one party has gone to court.

asharon

If they wanted one amount, then decided to ask for more because it was disputed, that seems plain wrong and hopefully someone will see through it.

No advice, sorry I don't know the law.

But good luck.

00ec25

re the late payment charge
although it absolutely is NOT law, the guidance published by the OFT
http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/unfair_contract_terms/oft356.pdf
is fairly clear on the matter of what is an unreasonable late charge and such guidance should be given heed by any court so make sure you include relevant extracts when you present your defence case to the court as I assume you will defend your self. May be worth seeing if there are any precedents now around this guidance as it has been out a good few years

yea33

00ec25 wrote: »

re the late payment charge
although it absolutely is NOT law, the guidance published by the OFT is fairly clear on the matter of what is an unreasonable late charge and such guidance should be given heed by any court so make sure you include relevant extracts when you present your defence case to the court as I assume you will defend your self. May be worth seeing if there are any precedents now around this guidance as it has been out a good few years

Thanks - hopefully can use this for the £290 dilaps schedule charge as well.


Does anyone have any experience of the extent to which we might have to pay costs if we lose? My understanding is that we could pay court fees (£80+£110 I think), plus landlord's travel and loss of earnings...are there any caps on these? I'm sure the landlord has gone through small claims before so must be confident he has a good case since he as put the claim in, unless he just wanted to avoid the arbitration route. Could the costs be split if we receive only a portion of the deposit back?

yea33

Ok so we are planning to defend this claim (unless the landlords miraculously agree to some of it in the next couple of days).

There are a few items on the deposit deductions for smaller amounts that were missing at the end of the tenancy - I don't have any way of defending these and figure it will look better on us if we don't try to defend ridiculous things. The court forms refer mostly to actually paying money over for any element of the claim admitted. As in this case the landlord holds the deposit no payment would need to take place - should I just note thie on the defence form? Also the form states the following:

'The claimant will decide whether to accept your part admission. If it is accepted, the claimant may request the court to enter judgement against you and hte court will send you an order to pay. If your part admission is not accepted, the case will proceed as a defended claim.'

I'm assuming the landlords won't accept the part admission, but if they did would the court acknowledge the nature of the claim and not order any payment from us? The word judgement scares me, as in CCJ...

Guest101

yea33 wrote: »

Ok so we are planning to defend this claim (unless the landlords miraculously agree to some of it in the next couple of days).

There are a few items on the deposit deductions for smaller amounts that were missing at the end of the tenancy - I don't have any way of defending these and figure it will look better on us if we don't try to defend ridiculous things. The court forms refer mostly to actually paying money over for any element of the claim admitted. As in this case the landlord holds the deposit no payment would need to take place - should I just note thie on the defence form? Also the form states the following:

'The claimant will decide whether to accept your part admission. If it is accepted, the claimant may request the court to enter judgement against you and hte court will send you an order to pay. If your part admission is not accepted, the case will proceed as a defended claim.'

I'm assuming the landlords won't accept the part admission, but if they did would the court acknowledge the nature of the claim and not order any payment from us? The word judgement scares me, as in CCJ...

A Ccj is only recorded if u fail to pay the judgement within 28 days. Just because you lost the case doesn't mean u didn't have the right to defend it, assuming u lose.

Also the costs are likely to be awarded against the ll for not using ADR, ie the scheme.

Finally defend everything. Admitting one mistake opens you to making more

chanz4

I would defend the claim, not admit part

yea33

Thanks for the advice...so we should basically say items were all there/working? Can I just defend on the basis we haven't seen receipts or anything for replacement items (these are all small items e.g. £10 for a tv cable)

yea33

Also how much should I be writing in defence of the claim? Should I be presenting all arguments at this stage including OFT Unfair Terms extracts etc or keep it basic?