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Landlord's rights going through property

tiamaria
tiamaria Posts: 1,483 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
edited 18 March 2015 at 5:55PM in House buying, renting & selling
Hi I've been looking around sites relating to "Torts" and the like but like most legal documents it's as clear as mud to the average Joe (or Joanne) like me!

The story is..



Thanks guys

Comments

  • Cissi
    Cissi Posts: 1,131 Forumite
    I'm quite confused by your post, but I think your OH needs to speak with the courts directly - with some urgency if any deadlines are near or have been missed. No idea what the legal position would be, especially if he hadn't left a forwarding address where the LL could contact him.
  • tiamaria
    tiamaria Posts: 1,483 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Thanks for replying Cissi, sorry if my post is confusing!

    He is in contact with the courts as we are contesting the amount, there have been some delays but we are keeping the courts informed of what's going on.

    I was just reading about "Torts" ie. Interference with goods act and read this -

    Definition of “wrongful interference with goods”.

    In this Act “ wrongful interference” , or “ wrongful interference with goods” , means—
    (a)conversion of goods (also called trover),
    (b)trespass to goods,
    (c)negligence so far at it results in damage to goods or to an interest in goods.
    (d)subject to section 2, any other tort so far as it results in damage to goods or to an interest in goods.[F1and references in this Act (however worded) to proceedings for wrongful interference or to a claim or right to a claim for wrongful interference shall include references to proceedings by virtue of Part I of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 [F2or Part II of the Consumer Protection (Northern Ireland) Order 1987] (product liability) in respect of any damage to goods or to an interest in goods or, as the case may be, to a claim or right to claim by virtue of that Part in respect of any such damage.]


    They actually took him to court by going through his personal posessions which they withheld illegally from what i can see, but I can't pretend to quite understand all of this and I'm wondering if he has a case?
  • benjus
    benjus Posts: 5,433 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    Not a lawyer, but my take on this is:

    1. Withholding possessions is illegal so your OH had every right to reclaim his things.
    2. Technically not, although it would be hard to prove.
    3. The landlord could always claim that he'd got the address via some other means (e.g. a people tracing service)

    Ultimately if the landlord is owed money he has the right to take your OH to court for it. Your OH's priority should be to sort this out.
    Let's settle this like gentlemen: armed with heavy sticks
    On a rotating plate, with spikes like Flash Gordon
    And you're Peter Duncan; I gave you fair warning
  • tiamaria
    tiamaria Posts: 1,483 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Thank you Benjus, yes he hasn't argued that he owes some money but they have claimed for much more, we thought it must be court charges or something but apparently it's what they've said he owes, we actually do have it in writing from the landlord the true final amount owed so we hoping to get somewhere by appealing. He would have gone to the hearing initially but as the summons was sent elsewhere he never knew anything about it until afterwards.
  • booksurr
    booksurr Posts: 3,700 Forumite
    OH was a lodger so the LL had right of access to his room. There is nothing in law to stop the LL going through possessions just the same as PH could have gone through the LL's

    OH appears to have left without giving notice so owes rent to whatever date is decided as being the termination date. As a lodger that could very very short since I assume there was no written contract defining notice periods so a start point would be one rental period (ie 1 week or 1 month)

    OH did not remove his stuff. LL is therefore entitled to charge reasonable costs of storage of said items after the termination date if they are not removed by then

    whether notice of legal action has been properly served at the parent's address - don't know - pay a lawyer to advise
  • pinkshoes
    pinkshoes Posts: 20,572 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Has he now got all his stuff back? If yes, I'd move on.

    The next step is to work out exactly how much he owes then pay this asap, letting the court know he has already offered payment in installments.
    Should've = Should HAVE (not 'of')
    Would've = Would HAVE (not 'of')

    No, I am not perfect, but yes I do judge people on their use of basic English language. If you didn't know the above, then learn it! (If English is your second language, then you are forgiven!)
  • If the landlord prevented him claiming his stuff he better not charge storage fees!! Thats just stupid.
  • Think he'd be best off going to the CAB as he might be able to get the hearing that has already been held put aside as the LL did not take measures to ensure the correct address was used.

    But either way, CAB advice or qualified advice of some sort would be useful.
  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    he might be able to get the hearing that has already been held put aside as the LL did not take measures to ensure the correct address was used.

    Sorry, I don't see the argument here. Obviously he knows about the court case and has responded to it, so the address was presumably a correct one for getting in touch with him? The method the landlord used to obtain the address for service doesn't affect the merits of the court action. It would be different if, say, you get a judgement against you and knew nothing about the case because it was served on the wrong address.
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