Can I take my landlord to court?

Jaxta8

Hey guys
so I moved out of my old room share nearly 2 weeks ago and gave my notice on the 7th of March and was mislead by my letting agency into believing I had to give a months notice even though my fixed term agreement was up at the end of March, and have then charged me £150 for the first week of April even though I moved out onthe 23rd of March, I paid it thinking I had to but I've just found out that under the consumer rights act of 2015 I don't have to give any notice once my fixed term ends, what can I do about this because I only paid them as a direct result of them misleading me? I've been advised that I can take them to small claims court to claim damages, is this right?

Also they are trying to charge me and my fellow tenants £50 for a failed inspection, which is stated in our tenancy agreement but there is no definitions of what constitutes a fail or pass and they change their standards every month, this time being pulled up on the garden which hasn't changed in 5 months and has passed the last 4 months of inspections. Also when we fail an inspection we are normally given a few days to fix the specific mistakes and then re inspected but this time they have just failed us and tried to charge us without giving us any time to rectify it.

Thanks in advance for your advice guys!

G_M

Tenant or lodger?
England or Scotland?
Deposit paid? Protected or not?


If you moved out when/before the fixed term ended, no notice was needed.


When you left 2 weeks ago, did you return the keys? Did the LL/agent accept the keys? Did they accept the tenancy was ended?


What evidence do you have that they misled you? Letter?Email? Text? Exactly what does it say?

Jaxta8

Tennant, England, deposit paid, yes its protected.

I moved out 2 weeks ago but officially my move out date is this Saturday. Which is when I return the keys.

I was misled because I was told that I had to give a months notice on the 7th of March by an employee of the agency by email, even though my fixed term ended on the 31st of March and that i had to pay £150 for the rent for the first week of April. I paid it not know otherwise but have recently been made aware that I didn't have to give notice and if the employee hadn't told me I was required to give a notice then I would have moved out by the end of March.

G_M

Jaxta8 wrote: »

I moved out 2 weeks ago but officially my move out date is this Saturday. Which is when I return the keys.
If you've not yet returned the keys, then you have not 'moved out', and the tenancy has not ended.


I was misled because I was told that I had to give a months notice on the 7th of March by an employee of the agency by email, .

What evidence do you have that they misled you? Letter?Email? Text? Exactly what does it say?

Jaxta8

No I understand my tenancy hasn't ended, I get that.
But it would have ended on the 31st of March if I knew that I could end it then but I was lead to believe that I couldn't and had to pay the first week of April because of that, and with it being the first time I've ever rented then I didn't know I had a choice to not give notice if it was out of the fixed term. It's a email but I cant see how to attach pictures

letitbe90

Jaxta8 wrote: »

No I understand my tenancy hasn't ended, I get that.
But it would have ended on the 31st of March if I knew that I could end it then but I was lead to believe that I couldn't and had to pay the first week of April because of that, and with it being the first time I've ever rented then I didn't know I had a choice to not give notice if it was out of the fixed term. It's a email but I cant see how to attach pictures

Can you attach/paste both your email to them and their response?

Your tenancy agreement would have confirmed the matter anyway so they could say it is your fault.

saajan_12

Jaxta8 wrote: »

No I understand my tenancy hasn't ended, I get that.
But it would have ended on the 31st of March if I knew that I could end it then but I was lead to believe that I couldn't and had to pay the first week of April because of that, and with it being the first time I've ever rented then I didn't know I had a choice to not give notice if it was out of the fixed term. It's a email but I cant see how to attach pictures

The agency / LL is not responsible for advising you of your rights / contracts you agreed to. You were able to retain a copy and read your contract stating you had a fixed term, and then researching the notice implications yourself.

Now, it sounds like you have an early surrender to leave on 6th April with a certain rent paid. Count yourself lucky, as without that you would be out of fixed term and into a rolling tenancy, when you would have to serve another month notice.

G_M

Jaxta8 wrote: »

..... I was lead to believe that I couldn't and had to pay the first week of April


...... It's a email but I cant see how to attach pictures

Well depending on what exactly was said you may have some alterntive agreement.


And/or a strong moral case o put forward that the LL/agent might accept.


But since you seem reluctant to answer a simple question, you are not going to get a simple answer!

Exactly what does it say?