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LL wants to go to dispute service we want to go to court....
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didi_nodebt
Posts: 203 Forumite
Ok heres a brief summary my brother and his GF moved out of their flat end of August and the EA did an inventory check which went well, but noticed that the oven in the kitchen had not been cleaned and their was a small crack in the leg of the bed. The EA said the LL would possibly want to get professional cleaners and possibly replace the base of the bed.
About 3 weeks after they moved out the LL wrote to my brother stating the place was a complete pigsty and that the bed (name) which cost £700 in 1999 was broken beyond repair and he was dissapointed and he had had to hire professional cleaners and buy a new bed and new mattress. My Bro wrote back stating that was not the case and that the EA could concurr on the state of the place and if you have replaced the bed and had the flat professionally cleaned please provide the receipts.
Anyway we googled the name of the bed and it came up as a bed in Argos, we checked several times but only Argos came up and it was the exact same bed at £179, so we wrote to the LL to confirm if the bed was from Argos and he confirmed it was but that in 1999 it cost £700, but that he was only going to charge £400 for the bed. LL then says that the cleaning of the place costs £400 so out of a deposit of £1,600 he would only give £800 back.
I flipped obviously and after reading up on the forum, we now wrote to the LL to requests receipts of the work done and receipts for the new bed and mattress he claims to have bought. LL wrote back saying he does not keep or waste his time with receipts as he has better things to do and that the cleaners where just "jobbing" people he had called up and they do not give receipts....very terse letter basically f....u type letter.
So we sent a letter before action and saying he could have £150 for professional cleaning and £179 for the bed and he should return the balance or else we would go to court, we have now just been told by the EA that the LL is now in the process of making an application to The Dispute Service.
So question now is do we go along with this or do we continue with our appeal to the courts, which would be better all round...many many many thx
About 3 weeks after they moved out the LL wrote to my brother stating the place was a complete pigsty and that the bed (name) which cost £700 in 1999 was broken beyond repair and he was dissapointed and he had had to hire professional cleaners and buy a new bed and new mattress. My Bro wrote back stating that was not the case and that the EA could concurr on the state of the place and if you have replaced the bed and had the flat professionally cleaned please provide the receipts.
Anyway we googled the name of the bed and it came up as a bed in Argos, we checked several times but only Argos came up and it was the exact same bed at £179, so we wrote to the LL to confirm if the bed was from Argos and he confirmed it was but that in 1999 it cost £700, but that he was only going to charge £400 for the bed. LL then says that the cleaning of the place costs £400 so out of a deposit of £1,600 he would only give £800 back.
I flipped obviously and after reading up on the forum, we now wrote to the LL to requests receipts of the work done and receipts for the new bed and mattress he claims to have bought. LL wrote back saying he does not keep or waste his time with receipts as he has better things to do and that the cleaners where just "jobbing" people he had called up and they do not give receipts....very terse letter basically f....u type letter.
So we sent a letter before action and saying he could have £150 for professional cleaning and £179 for the bed and he should return the balance or else we would go to court, we have now just been told by the EA that the LL is now in the process of making an application to The Dispute Service.
So question now is do we go along with this or do we continue with our appeal to the courts, which would be better all round...many many many thx
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Why do you think that going to court would be better?Gone ... or have I?0
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I don't know which would be better, hence I am asking the question which would be better. The thing is we have sent the letter before action and gotten the forms from the courts but not sent it in... would we get a better service from the dispute service or the courts....which process to follow????0
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the landlord is replacing an 8 year old bed with a brand new one and trying to pocket £200+ change in the process... worse case of betterment I have ever heard of!!! They are not even entitled to the full £179 nevermind £400!
see here about half way down. .... http://www.arla.co.uk/info/depdisdam.htm
I can't see any reason not to go through dispute process - AFAIK just a more informal way of doing things... at the end of the day if an agreement can't be reached the next step is court anyway... by which time you'll have had a chance to practice your arguments and get an idea of the Landlords defence....
If you avoid the dispute process this will look bad on you when you come before a judge.0 -
moneysavinmonkey wrote: »the landlord is replacing an 8 year old bed with a brand new one and trying to pocket £200+ change in the process... worse case of betterment I have ever heard of!!! They are not even entitled to the full £179 nevermind £400!
see here about half way down. .... http://www.arla.co.uk/info/depdisdam.htm
I can't see any reason not to go through dispute process - AFAIK just a more informal way of doing things... at the end of the day if an agreement can't be reached the next step is court anyway... by which time you'll have had a chance to practice your arguments and get an idea of the Landlords defence....
If you avoid the dispute process this will look bad on you when you come before a judge.
I agree with everything MSM said here, go to arbitration, to not to would look bad on you & you can always go to court afterwards. Chances are you'll get most, if not all of your money back at that stage. Charging your bro £400 for a bed that costs £175 & claiming he's doing you a favour!! What a c##t."Mrs. Pench, you've won the car contest, would you like a triumph spitfire or 3000 in cash?" He smiled.
Mrs. Pench took the money. "What will you do with it all? Not that it's any of my business," he giggled.
"I think I'll become an alcoholic," said Betty.0 -
If the LL has offered mediation through the Dispute Service and you refuse, it will not go down well in a Court.
Courts are the last resort and they expect you to make every attempt to resolve these issues before you end up in Court.
You will put yourself at a disadvantage if you simply go straight to Court without agreeing to an independent dispute resolution process.Warning ..... I'm a peri-menopausal axe-wielding maniac
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Guy_Montag wrote: »I agree with everything MSM said here, go to arbitration, to not to would look bad on you & you can always go to court afterwards. Chances are you'll get most, if not all of your money back at that stage. Charging your bro £400 for a bed that costs £175 & claiming he's doing you a favour!! What a c##t.
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: great choice of words, but thats what we thought exactly.....thx0 -
There's a free phone number for HMRC for people like them. One wonders whether his "better things to do" mainly involves tax avoidance. He will have no chance at arbitration or in court without receipts.didi_nodebt wrote: »..... LL wrote back saying he does not keep or waste his time with receipts as he has better things to do and that the cleaners where just "jobbing" people he had called up and they do not give receipts....A house isn't a home without a cat.
Those are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others.
I have writer's block - I can't begin to tell you about it.
You told me again you preferred handsome men but for me you would make an exception.
It's a recession when your neighbour loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours.0 -
The LL certainly won't look good if he can't provide receipts.
An 8 year old bed would need replacing anyway, so I would dispute the £400 and offer an eigth of £179 (so £23 would be more than generous), and then £175 for cleaning is plenty, if not a bit high for just a flat!!
Go to the dispute service, and i'm sure it will go in your favour. I think the landlord might just be threatening you into letting it go so he can keep your money.
Any photos of the bed or the split that you can use as evidence that it wasn't that bad?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!)0 -
didi_nodebt wrote: »My Bro wrote back stating that was not the case and that the EA could concurr on the state of the place and if you have replaced the bed and had the flat professionally cleaned please provide the receipts.
Does your brother have a copy of the checkout report?didi_nodebt wrote: »LL wrote back saying he does not keep or waste his time with receipts as he has better things to do and that the cleaners where just "jobbing" people he had called up and they do not give receipts....very terse letter basically f....u type letter.
So not professionally cleaned then ....
Anyways, you'll want the OFT's view on professional cleaning when you go to mediation.0 -
BobProperty wrote: »There's a free phone number for HMRC for people like them. One wonders whether his "better things to do" mainly involves tax avoidance. He will have no chance at arbitration or in court without receipts.
yes we will be using that number at some point in time as I don't understand how you can claim you got professional cleaners in to clean the place and then turn round and say they were just "jobbing" people....and you gave them £400 ....yea right...0
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