taking a landlord through small claims court

RobMolyneux

thanks again.

would you mind if i sent you the proposed letter wording in PM for you to give the once over?

you've been more than helpful enough, so please feel free to say no!

RobMolyneux

G_M has suggested i post this here for general comment, so here goes. Apologies for the length.

If anyone with experience can offer useful comment, it would be appreciated. i want to get this as right as i can. I've put in green the bits that were not from the standard shelter letter template...



Letter before action: Failure to return the balance of my deposit and failure to protect my tenancy deposit in accordance with the law

I am the former assured shorthold tenant of XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX which you rented one room within a house in multiple occupation (HMO) to me from 12th January 2015 until I vacated the property on 12th December 2015.

The property was left in good order and the rent was fully paid to the end of my tenancy.

I provided you with more than the required 1 months’ notice.

You inspected the property prior to me handing over my keys, and approved the condition of my room.

I am writing concerning the deposit of £475.00 I paid to you on [need to check date] as a security against my obligations under the terms of my tenancy.

Having noticed that my deposit was not returned in full, I contacted you via text message on 11/01/2016 – and repeated my request in a phone call initiated by yourself the following day – to request that you refund the full amount of my deposit to me by 5pm on Friday 15th January 2016. I also stated that I would begin proceedings to recover this through legal action should you not comply with this request, and this letter acts as the start of such proceedings.

To date, only £275.00 of my deposit has been refunded to me.

I do not accept that the following deductions were reasonable.

• Deduction of £200.00 made arbitrarily and without evidence, in relation to a contribution to utility costs

As explained to you previously, I do not accept the deductions based on the following facts:

• At the time of my entering into a tenancy agreement with you for the room, the property was advertised (and remains advertised as of 16/01/2016) to be “bills included”.
• Upon giving you notice of my intent to end my tenancy, you stated via text message that you would return my deposit “so long as your room is clean and tidy with no marks or damage on the walls or carpet and furniture” with no reference to any other requirements.
• You failed to make any reference at any time during my tenancy, in response to my serving of notice, or on the two occasions that we met after my serving of notice at which time the room was inspected and condition approved, that there was any intent to retain any part of my deposit.

I therefore request that, within 14 days of receiving this letter, you pay me the sum of £200.00 being the balance of the deposit paid to you.

Section 213 of the Housing Act 2004 required that you protected my deposit with a government-backed scheme within 30 days of the payment of my deposit. You were also required to provide me with details of the scheme you’ve used along with certain other information.

To the best of my knowledge, you failed to protect my deposit with a government-backed scheme.

Section 214 of the Housing Act 2004 provides that where the court is satisfied that you failed to comply with your obligations under the law relating to tenancy deposit protection it must order that you pay me up to three times the amount of the deposit paid. I am open to reasonable offers to settle this matter.

If I do not receive payment of the balance of the deposit, plus an agreed amount being the penalty for failing to comply with your legal obligations, or a substantial response from you by 1st February 2016, I will issue court proceedings in the county court without further notice. I reserve the right to include a claim for interest, on the unreturned deposit. I will also be asking for an order to cover my costs.

I will be relying on the Court Civil Procedure Rules Practice Direction: Pre-action Conduct. I must therefore draw your attention to paragraph 13 concerning the court's powers to impose sanctions for failure to comply with the Practice Direction, and inform you that ignoring this letter before action may increase your liability for costs.

Additionally, and as stated in previous correspondence, I am willing to make fair consideration of a potential for me to contribute to your utility costs, in line with what I consider to be “fair usage”. However, again as stated, the offer of such a review is considered to be wholly voluntary on my part, is an entirely separate matter to the security deposit that I provided, and requires you to provide electronic copies of the utility bills/statements for the property for the previous 24 months, which as of 16/01/2016 have not been forthcoming. I will make such a review based on my first hand understanding of the way in which heating and power was used by myself within the property, my access to adequate control of heating and power, and the historic profile of energy consumption within the property.

As a qualified and certified energy professional, I am well placed to undertake such a review and shall apply the same level of ethical and professional judgment as would be required to satisfy the standards imposed by my professional body.

While the offer of a review is given in good faith, and as a gesture of good will, it is made without prejudice and does not in any way imply or infer any understanding that I, or any other tenant during my period of tenancy, has been responsible for energy usage over and above what would be considered to be “fair usage”. As such, there is no commitment at this stage for me to make any monetary contribution towards your costs. However, I shall ensure that I provide a clear written explanation of my justification for any offer made, or should I consider that no contribution is necessary.

My offer to review any contribution to your utility costs is time limited, and will not begin in any way until the above claim for outstanding deposit and compensation for your failure to comply with legal obligations has been satisfactorily resolved, and will require you to provide the requested evidence within 28 days of final resolution of this matter. Should you not provide the requested evidence within this time period, I shall consider the matter to be concluded, and shall make no further offer to consider any financial contribution to your costs.

Yours sincerely

theartfullodger

Way too long, way too detailed. Please re-write with just 3, brief, bullet points.

RobMolyneux

theartfullodger wrote: »

Way too long, way too detailed. Please re-write with just 3, brief, bullet points.

this is the shelter template, for reference:

Letter before action: Failure to return the balance of my deposit and failure to protect my tenancy deposit in accordance with the law

I am the former assured shorthold tenant of [add address of the property]. My tenancy started on [add date] and ended on [add date]

I am writing concerning the deposit of [add amount] I paid to you on [add date] as a security against my obligations under the terms of my tenancy agreement.

I wrote to you on [add date] to request that you refund the balance of my deposit to me within 10 days. I attach a copy of my letter.

To date, only [add amount] of my deposit has been refunded to me.

I do not accept that [delete one: the deductions/the following deductions] were reasonable.

I therefore request that, within 14 days of receiving this letter, you pay me the sum of [add amount they still owe] being the balance of the deposit paid to you. Section 213 of the Housing Act 2004 required that you protected my deposit with a government-backed scheme within 30 days of the payment of my deposit. You were also required to provide me with details of the scheme you’ve used along with certain other information. [Delete the sentences below that don’t apply: You failed to protect my deposit with a government-backed scheme. You failed to protect my deposit within 30 days of the payment of my deposit. You failed to give me the necessary information about tenancy deposit scheme you used within 30 days of the payment of my deposit. You informed me that you had protected my deposit with [add name of scheme] but I found no evidence that you had done so.] Section 214 of the Housing Act 2004 provides that where the court is satisfied that you failed to comply with your obligations under the law relating to tenancy deposit protection it must order that you pay me up to three times the amount of the deposit paid. I am open to reasonable offers to settle this matter. If I do not receive payment of the balance of the deposit, plus an agreed amount being the penalty for failing to comply with your legal obligations, or a substantial response from you by [add date allowing 14 days from receipt of your letter], I will issue court proceedings in the county court without further notice. I reserve the right to include a claim for interest, on the unreturned deposit. I will also be asking for an order to cover my costs. I will be relying on the Court Civil Procedure Rules Practice Direction: Pre-action Conduct. I must therefore draw your attention to paragraph 13 concerning the court's powers to impose sanctions for failure to comply with the Practice Direction, and inform you that ignoring this letter before action may increase your liability for costs.

thequant

RobMolyneux wrote: »

this is the shelter template, for reference:

Letter before action: Failure to return the balance of my deposit and failure to protect my tenancy deposit in accordance with the law

I am the former assured shorthold tenant of [add address of the property]. My tenancy started on [add date] and ended on [add date]

I am writing concerning the deposit of [add amount] I paid to you on [add date] as a security against my obligations under the terms of my tenancy agreement.

I wrote to you on [add date] to request that you refund the balance of my deposit to me within 10 days. I attach a copy of my letter.

To date, only [add amount] of my deposit has been refunded to me.

I do not accept that [delete one: the deductions/the following deductions] were reasonable.

I therefore request that, within 14 days of receiving this letter, you pay me the sum of [add amount they still owe] being the balance of the deposit paid to you. Section 213 of the Housing Act 2004 required that you protected my deposit with a government-backed scheme within 30 days of the payment of my deposit. You were also required to provide me with details of the scheme you’ve used along with certain other information. [Delete the sentences below that don’t apply: You failed to protect my deposit with a government-backed scheme. You failed to protect my deposit within 30 days of the payment of my deposit. You failed to give me the necessary information about tenancy deposit scheme you used within 30 days of the payment of my deposit. You informed me that you had protected my deposit with [add name of scheme] but I found no evidence that you had done so.] Section 214 of the Housing Act 2004 provides that where the court is satisfied that you failed to comply with your obligations under the law relating to tenancy deposit protection it must order that you pay me up to three times the amount of the deposit paid. I am open to reasonable offers to settle this matter. If I do not receive payment of the balance of the deposit, plus an agreed amount being the penalty for failing to comply with your legal obligations, or a substantial response from you by [add date allowing 14 days from receipt of your letter], I will issue court proceedings in the county court without further notice. I reserve the right to include a claim for interest, on the unreturned deposit. I will also be asking for an order to cover my costs. I will be relying on the Court Civil Procedure Rules Practice Direction: Pre-action Conduct. I must therefore draw your attention to paragraph 13 concerning the court's powers to impose sanctions for failure to comply with the Practice Direction, and inform you that ignoring this letter before action may increase your liability for costs.

If thats from shelter I'd stick with that, the previous effort was way too long. However don't throw it away, as that is pretty much a good effort for a concise but detailed witness statement which you will need to supply further down the line should this go to court.

RobMolyneux

thequant wrote: »

If thats from shelter I'd stick with that, the previous effort was way too long. However don't throw it away, as that is pretty much a good effort for a concise but detailed witness statement which you will need to supply further down the line should this go to court.

thanks.

I appreciate what you're saying, but i want to make clear that i dont accept him charging me for the utility costs.

how about a compromise, whereby i keep my bullet points saying why i dont accept, but drop the paragraphs at the end as to what i'm willing to do in reviewing costs?

thequant

RobMolyneux wrote: »

thanks.

I appreciate what you're saying, but i want to make clear that i dont accept him charging me for the utility costs.

how about a compromise, whereby i keep my bullet points saying why i dont accept, but drop the paragraphs at the end as to what i'm willing to do in reviewing costs?

This is a LBA, not a time to get into the facts of the case. Likewise this applies when you make your claim at court in the particulars of claim. The nitty gritty and arguments comes later at the reply to claim/defence and witness statement stage.

At this point, you just merely need to state What you're claiming for, how much you are claiming for and the legal basis of the claim, along with the time limits etc.

You are making the claim, it is for him to defend. not the other way round. Wait till he responds before explaining why you dont accept his costs.

RobMolyneux

thequant wrote: »

This is a LBA, not a time to get into the facts of the case. Likewise this applies when you make your claim at court in the particulars of claim. The nitty gritty and arguments comes later at the reply to claim/defence and witness statement stage.

At this point, you just merely need to state What you're claiming for, how much you are claiming for and the legal basis of the claim, along with the time limits etc.

You are making the claim, it is for him to defend. not the other way round. Wait till he responds before explaining why you dont accept his costs.

thanks for that. I hadnt thought of it that way, in that he needs to defend the claim.

I'll strip it back to the bare facts and let him respond.

DaftyDuck

thequant is quite right. Never show your hand before you need, as it allows the opposition to argue convincingly against your evidence - and gives them time to counter your claims.

Also, in any complaint, never present a weaker point amongst strong ones; best leave it out altogether. Their ability to refute one can mask their inability to answer others.

Short, precise and accurate. Think stiletto blade, not random whacking.

D_M_E

To RAS and G_M

I posted about HMRC because that is what my cousin was told by a lettings agent - she is moving about 250 miles North for work and renting out her house while she is being sent by her employer to some job or other, I don't know what.

No, I didn't read about what I posted, I heard it from an agent a few days ago, and again this morning from a different agent and both times I kept quiet, maybe the tax laws have changed, I don't know but after we left the agents today, I told her what you had posted and to check what HMRC want

Agents are supposed to know these things and I posted as I thought it could give more ammo to the OP.


With regard to HMRC and tax - if the landlord does not have a tax exemption code from HMRC, or does not show or give the tenant a copy of the exemption, then the tenant should deduct tax from the rent before paying the landlord and pass the deducted tax to HMRC.

If this is not done, then I think HMRC can chase the tenant for the unpaid tax as well as the landlord.

Originally posted by D_M_E


This applies to landlord's living overseas, not UK residents who are supposed to make their tax return to HMRC. Reply by RAS

Ignore this post completely. It only applies if the landlord lives abroad.

I suspect D_M_E read this on another recent thread here where the was an overseas LL. Reply by G_M