MCOL (Small claims) - HELP

Flyveryhigh-

Hi all. Did a little research into this. So, the defendant put their old address on their Acknowledgement of Service - and it seems this is some sort of loophole as they can then claim they never received court paperwork and thus have the claim set aside. Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this or head the LL off somehow as they're clearly trying to wriggle out of this anyway possible.

saajan_12

Flyveryhigh- wrote: »

Hi all. Did a little research into this. So, the defendant put their old address on their Acknowledgement of Service - and it seems this is some sort of loophole as they can then claim they never received court paperwork and thus have the claim set aside. Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this or head the LL off somehow as they're clearly trying to wriggle out of this anyway possible.

Do you mean they can claim they didn't receive things sent to the old address or new address?

- Old address is stated on the AOS, so you can reasonably send court docs to that going forward.
- New address is (i'm guessing) listed on your tenancy as the "address for serving notices", so you can rely on sending any notices to that address.

So I don't see any wriggle room, but to be safe you can always take a copy of whatever you've sent to date to one address and send to the other, and going forward send to both addresses.

steampowered

The Defendant clearly knows about the claim, as he has acknowledged service.

I cannot see a judge granting a set aside application for a claim because documents got sent to an address chosen by the defendant !!!

There aren't any other court documents at this stage anyway. The next document to be filed is the Defence to be filed by the Defendant.

Just proceed with the claim using the address he has given. Court judgments are not linked to a particular address. Go ahead with getting a CCJ, and give the correct address to the bailiffs.

Flyveryhigh-

Thanks for all the input so far!! Very helpful!

So yesterday I received an email from the landlord headed "Without Prejudice" where they've admitted they owe me the money. The LL offered £600 in 2 installments (1 of £200 by end of Feb and another of £400 by end March).

They sent this via email, but i'm reluctant to respond via email as i'd rather deal with formal letters.

Additionally, I don't want to accept their offer - it is less the court fees which I originally stated that i'd withdraw the claim if I was returned my deposit including court fees. Furthermore, I don't think they'll stick to it and if they do pay £200 and run off still owing £400 it means I cant get HCEO involved if they don't pay.

Any advice on how I should respond to this "Without Prejudice" mail? Can I just say, "Please refer to my earlier correspondence dated XX-XX-XXXX", or just ignore it?

Thank you!

fatbelly

If they want to admit the debt and repay in instalments there is that option on the court forms. You are under no obligation to accept, or even reply to, a 'without prejudice' letter.

If no formal response within 28+5 days of the claim date, ask the court to issue a 'forthwith' judgement, i.e. pay the whole lot immediately.

Flyveryhigh-

This whole thing is just snowballing. So the LL submitted their defence just in time but I have a couple of issues with it. If someone could advise i'd be forever grateful... again.

So, as above the LL sent me an email last week titled "Without Prejudice" - and offered to pay in installments over the next couple of months which I refused as they hadn't kept their previous promise on paying me back in installments.

However their first point in their defence refers to the "without prejudice" offer they made me, I thought they weren't allowed to refer to this? As they have done so, can I refer to it from here on in?

They have also stated they tried to agree to pay me back in installments but I refused (as per the without prejudice letter). Then in another point they make in the defence they are now saying that they are keeping my deposit as I damaged a sink and carpet and they need to cover the cost of replacing these items. Surely they have just undermined part of their defence?

I took pictures when I left and no damage is visible - as I genuinely didn't damage anything.

What is the best course of action, should I send the LL a letter explaining why I disagree with the points in their defense 1 by 1? Should I lay my evidence on the table (i.e. pictures of the property the day I left)?

I'm pretty sure the landlord also didn't declare my occupancy to HMRC, could I raise this and use it as leverage, or just let everything take its natural course through the small claims court?

Thank you!