Rent dispute

Kathymel

G_M wrote: »

as you say, none of the above is relevant to their claim for rent arrears against the deposit, or your claim for a rent refund.

Yeah, you're right. Totally irrelevant. Just feeling hard done by, and needed to rant a little, I think.

G_M

Kathymel wrote: »

Thank you too, GM.

It seems very clear cut put like that.

I suppose my worry is that they will produce a typed list showing the absence of a payment in 2006 and I have nothing to show them. Can I question its validity and ask for more proof?

If it came to court, and you contested their claim that you had missed a payment on 2006, you would support your position by asking why no efforts had been made to either tell you of the arrears at the time, or in the following 8 years, or to demand payment.

I suspect the court would find this a persuasive argument that in fact there were no arrears. But in then, it would be down to who the court believed.

Doubtless if you produced the excell spreadsheet that you have been maintaining since the start of the tenancy, showng the due date of each payment, and the actual payment date, that would also convince the court......

nick12

Kathymel wrote: »

I suppose my worry is that they will produce a typed list showing the absence of a payment in 2006 and I have nothing to show them. Can I question its validity and ask for more proof?

Rent arrears from 2006 would now be statute barred anyway.

Sec. 19 of the Limitation Act refers:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/58/section/19

Kathymel

After some toing and froing, the arrears have been pinned down to Jan 04.

The landlord has sent a spreadsheet showing the missing payment but said he cannot send any further evidence to confirm his position. I have no evidence to prove or disprove his assertion though I maintain that I have never changed my SO other than to increase the rent amount. In addition, reducing a SO to zero would cancel it, requiring it to be set up again - something I have never had to do.

The only correspondence I have ever received regarding rent arrears was back in Jul 2005 when I was informed that a shortfall had occurred in Oct 2002. I remember confirming that the payment had gone out at the time and took no further action.

It is my assertion that the LL's spreadsheet is open to input error and is not sufficient evidence to prove that they are correct.

I am in the process of writing back now, but would appreciate some input from anyone who knows what legal position I may hold, if any.

To add a little frisson to the whole thing, I failed to cancel the SO in time to prevent another month's rent from going out after the tenancy ended. (I still have the bruises from kicking myself.) This means that the LL owes me money regardless, only the amount being in dispute, and that they hold rather more cards than I.

Thanking you in advance. Kathy

Kathymel

This is what I have written so far to send to the LL. I would really appreciate some input on this before I click send if anyone has anything illuminating to add ...




Dear ****,

In your email of 7 Aug you state, ‘I’m afraid I cannot send you any further evidence to confirm our position than what you’ve already received.’ Do you mean by this that you:

a. have no further evidence, or
b. that you have evidence that you cannot, for reasons of data protection, share?

If a: The only evidence you have provided is a spreadsheet. This is open to human error and is not sufficient evidence to prove your position. As I also cannot access evidence owing to *****’s delay in bringing this to my attention, we are in rather a stalemate for which I hold ***** responsible. Had the matter been bought to my attention in an accurate and timely manner, we would not now be in this position.

The limited correspondence I had received up until I submitted my notice (and much of that received beyond that date) has been consistently inaccurate as to when the alleged shortfall occurred. Earlier, accurate notice that ***** believed there was a discrepancy would have allowed me to check my accounts and either disprove it or correct it. As it is, it has taken ***** ten years to finally understand its own records with enough clarity to pinpoint the date that they believe the shortfall occurred, leaving me with no way of clarifying the position for myself.

If b: It will be necessary to find some way of making the information available to me.

Please confirm which of the two options is the case and what action you intend to take to rectify this situation if you indeed have no further evidence.

Regards,

Kathy

Kathymel

My ex-landlord has now confirmed that there is no evidence other than their own spreadsheet to back their claim that I owe them money.

So it's my word against theirs. Neither of us has any solid evidence. I believe I have paid every month and that I am owed several hundred pounds. How do I go about getting them to pay me back?

dimbo61

You need to write a " Letter before action" telling them you will sue them through the small claims court.
what happened to the deposit ?
They are sitting with the money hoping you will give up and go away.
Please read up about making a claim against your EX Landlords GREEDY Bar Stewards
It is not that hard
Have a look on the shelter website and CAB

dimbo61

" I am owed several hundred pounds " for 10 days rent ?
Or have they not paid any of your deposit back as well.
Contact the DPS people as well
Good Luck

theartfullodger

As neither of you has any evidence I cannot see how a judge could rule in favour of either, should it get to court: However, worth an LBA just in case is blinks 1st & pays...

How much are we talking?? Small claims fees are not that high (on the website)

Kathymel

Thanks Dimbo. I've not heard of a "Letter before action", so I'll look that up and look at both the websites you mention.

It's not just the 10 days I'm owed. Being an idiot, I forgot to cancel my SO and another month went out. They agree that they owe me £200+ (though they haven't refunded that yet), it's the £260 from 10 years ago that they are claiming I also owe and which they will take from the extra month I mistakenly paid.