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GloriousEuropa

Removed for privacy

G_M

The court has discretion and can allow a late submission. Annoying but true.


Complaining is unlikely to reverse the decision but equally it is unlikly to hurt your claim which will be judged soley on its merits.


It sounds like you have a near caste-iron case though. What defence has he submitted, or have you not seen it yet?

steampowered

Hi, it looks like the Acknowledgement of Service was due on 19 August? And the Defendant filed it on 20 August?

The Defendant was only one day late here.

The court is not going to give you a Default judgment over an acknowledgement of service being filed 1 day late.

The date which is relevant is the date on which the claim was "served" on the Defendant. Although you filed the claim in July, the court did not send it to the Defendant until 1 August, and the claim was therefore under the Civil Procedure Rules "served" on 5 August (i.e. 2 working days later for the letter to get there, allowing for the weekend).

Has the Defendant filed a Defence? You are just going to have to follow this claim through the process.

da_rule

The court cannot award default judgment in part 8 claims.

If someone fails to file their evidence in response to a part 8 claim then it just means they lose the right to rely on any evidence in any hearing/trial (unless the court gives them permission).

In this instance, they were 1 day late filing their acknowledgment of service. By acknowledging service they give themselves the extra time to file their defence, so in reality you haven’t been prejudiced by this. If they are also late in filing their defence then you may have cause for complaint unless they make an application for it to be allowed out of time.

ciderboy2009

GloriousEuropa wrote: »

Ah okay, just have to put it down to a poor court clerk then.

Bear in mind that County Court staff, on the whole, have no legal qualifications - hence the reason why they cannot offer any legal advice.

For a Part 8 claim you would have applied for judgment to be awarded in your favour with the value to be assessed (normally at a hearing).

The defendant should by now have filed their defence so it might be worth seeing if anything is logged at the court yet (but bear in mind their arrears of work which tend to get worse at this time of year due to annual leave).

Incidentally, I assume you've claimed for the penalty for not lodging the deposit with a scheme as well as the money 'deducted' by the landlord?

G_M

GloriousEuropa wrote: »

Part of my evidence is him admitting twice in writing he chose not to put the deposit in a scheme because of finding the place through acquaintances across two degrees of separation.
Then I don't see how he can deny failing to protect the deposit, which means you'll get as minimum 1 x the deposit penalty, and probably more.


I put in the letter before action that I am also aware he has had no gas safety certificates during the whole three years I rented the place. The court is unlikely to take this into account though it might marginaly sway them as indicative of the typeof LL....
It is HSE who enforce gas issues.


He responded to my letter before action saying "he doesn't like threats, and if I continue with them, he will get his solicitor to deal with the fact I had a dog at the property", even though his deposit scheme law breaking predated any dog being at the property by 2 years.
So he may counter-claim for the dog. He would have to show the dog had cost him money(eg damage to carpets) and claim the relevant amount. It will not affect your claim though. Do not be scared by threats of 'his solicitor'.


He also lied about putting £50+ into my account from what he deemed was all I had left out of the deposit, which I proved by sending in a statement from my only bank account showing nothing from him.

.

I trust you included this in your claim for the deposit itself.

wesleyad

GloriousEuropa wrote: »

Thanks for the reply GM. I also sent an email to all the deposit schemes and printed their responses which included my original email to them with all the details of the tenancy and the address, etc.

The dog did no damage so I can't see how he could prove it. He wasn't happy with the dog being there but he left it go when he visited as the house was, as it was throughout the tenancy, immaculate.

I got my family to help me make the house pristine on leaving and I sent him a load of pics the day I left showing how clean it was... then what followed blew my mind.

He had tried calling while I slept (I work nights) going nuts saying the house smells of dog, the swivel tap in the kitchen is loose, one of the fridge/freezer drawers has a crack in it, and just generally spoke to me like garbage.

This was all after he had come to my house first even though I never told him the exact address, only the estate, and he found my car parked outside and knocked the door for the keys, instead of arranging me to meet with him to hand them over.

Sounds like a cowboy that gives decent LL's a bad name. I hope you get the full amount, a financial pain might make him buck up his ideas. Let us know how it goes.

MonaLisaSmile

Your landlord sounds absolutely horrendous