Witness statement

Mojito1

Please don't judge me... I really can't take a lot more...

Would it help if I provided more detailed information about the situation? Please help...

Mojito1

If there is any further specific information you need, to enable me to help you to help me, please do not hesitate to ask... It cannot possibly be right that rogue landlords can get away with this and my life is being destroyed... 

Any assistance from any legal professional specialising in landlord/tenant matters would be so very much appreciated. 

Mojito1

Or anybody at all who is experienced with court documents?

lincroft1710

If you were being sued for rent arrears, that is one case brought by the landlord. Any wrongdoing which you believe has been caused by the landlord is another case or cases (dependent on the nature of your claim(s)) which you bring. You cannot offset his claim for recovery of rent arrears by your claims, some of which would be difficult to put a monetary value on. 


Possibly the only defence for non payment of rent would be if the actions or inactions of the landlord caused the property to be unavailable for a period of time that rent was being charged.

newsgroupmonkey_

No-one's judging you here. But I think you need to pay for some legal advice. I'm pretty sure your counterclaim is almost certainly going to fail.

uninhabitable condition of property

OK, first one first. Have a read through this.

 https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/what_to_do_if_your_private_landlord_wont_do_repairs

Did you do all of this? including speaking to the Council's rent team? Has the council marked the property as uninhabitable? Because it's your word against the landlords.

failure to address disrepairs

As above.

severe harassment

Reported to the Police and evidence gathered? That's criminal law, not small claims.

stalking

Again, reported to the Police? That's criminal law, not small claims.

threats

Reported to the Police? That's criminal law, not small claims.

revenge eviction,

No such thing, sorry. Not yet, anyway.

breach of contract

How? You breached the contract by not paying.

Now, if they didn't do the usual things - Gas Cert, EPC, EIHC, protected deposit, that's another completely different matter.

mental distress etc

Again, hard to prove this one. In a small claims court you're not going to get this.

Have a read of this

https://lysanderlaw.co.uk/2020/01/16/what-are-emotional-distress-claims-and-are-you-eligible-to-make-one/

Mojito1

lincroft1710 said:

If you were being sued for rent arrears, that is one case brought by the landlord. Any wrongdoing which you believe has been caused by the landlord is another case or cases (dependent on the nature of your claim(s)) which you bring. You cannot offset his claim for recovery of rent arrears by your claims, some of which would be difficult to put a monetary value on. 


Possibly the only defence for non payment of rent would be if the actions or inactions of the landlord caused the property to be unavailable for a period of time that rent was being charged.

Are you saying I should have not filed any defence / counterclaim at all and instead started a whole separate claim? I thought that was what the purpose of a defence and counterclaim is for, or maybe I am missing something. I am open to any ideas for a monetary value?... The landlord has no insurance and no consent to let from mortgage lender, so I am limited to the amount of assets / equity they have available. 

In terms of the landlord causing the property to be unavailable, parts of it were, such as the gas cooker / cooking facilities, shower, tv aerial and the garage space, and the breach of covenant of quiet enjoyment of the property. 

Mojito1

newsgroupmonkey_ said:

No-one's judging you here. But I think you need to pay for some legal advice. I'm pretty sure your counterclaim is almost certainly going to fail.

uninhabitable condition of property

OK, first one first. Have a read through this.

 https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/what_to_do_if_your_private_landlord_wont_do_repairs

Did you do all of this? including speaking to the Council's rent team? Has the council marked the property as uninhabitable? Because it's your word against the landlords.

failure to address disrepairs

As above.

severe harassment

Reported to the Police and evidence gathered? That's criminal law, not small claims.

stalking

Again, reported to the Police? That's criminal law, not small claims.

threats

Reported to the Police? That's criminal law, not small claims.

revenge eviction,

No such thing, sorry. Not yet, anyway.

breach of contract

How? You breached the contract by not paying.

Now, if they didn't do the usual things - Gas Cert, EPC, EIHC, protected deposit, that's another completely different matter.

mental distress etc

Again, hard to prove this one. In a small claims court you're not going to get this.

Have a read of this

https://lysanderlaw.co.uk/2020/01/16/what-are-emotional-distress-claims-and-are-you-eligible-to-make-one/

I cannot afford to pay for any legal advice. I have no disposable income / savings / assets at all. I am in severe financial hardship and the landlord knows this too, and is solely acting to cause me as much distress as possible. 

I did not report this to the council at the time, as did not even cross my mind to do so. The disrepairs were reported to the landlord and also the letting agency, both of whom did absolutely nothing other than abuse and threaten me. I did report it to the council after moving out. 

Yes the above harassment was reported to the Police at the time. I understand that is criminal offence, but do believe civil damages can be claimed for this. 

The breach of contract is that the tenancy was only agreed to based on the misrepresentations made by landlord / letting agency, failure to maintain the property, breach of peaceful enjoyment etc...

I am sure there must be some remedy available through the courts for bullying / harassment / mental distress. 

lincroft1710

Mojito1 said:

lincroft1710 said:

If you were being sued for rent arrears, that is one case brought by the landlord. Any wrongdoing which you believe has been caused by the landlord is another case or cases (dependent on the nature of your claim(s)) which you bring. You cannot offset his claim for recovery of rent arrears by your claims, some of which would be difficult to put a monetary value on. 


Possibly the only defence for non payment of rent would be if the actions or inactions of the landlord caused the property to be unavailable for a period of time that rent was being charged.

Are you saying I should have not filed any defence / counterclaim at all and instead started a whole separate claim? I thought that was what the purpose of a defence and counterclaim is for, or maybe I am missing something. I am open to any ideas for a monetary value?... The landlord has no insurance and no consent to let from mortgage lender, so I am limited to the amount of assets / equity they have available. 

In terms of the landlord causing the property to be unavailable, parts of it were, such as the gas cooker / cooking facilities, shower, tv aerial and the garage space, and the breach of covenant of quiet enjoyment of the property. 

By unavailable I meant that you were unable to live in the property and were forced to live elsewhere. You can of course file a defence, but it has to be relevant and quantifiable. For example, you mention garage space, if the rental agreement specified the rent reflected use of a garage, but no garage was available, then a small deduction from the rent may be appropriate. But it is not a reason not to pay the rent. Similarly lack of cooker, shower and TV aerial could affect the rent that should be paid but if these were only unavailable for a very short period of time then hardly at all. Lack of quiet enjoyment is extremely difficult if not impossible to quantify

Mojito1

I was forced to live elsewhere, as was evicted. I couldn't afford to move out straight away as landlord refused to refund any of my money. I sent the letting agency a complaint letter at the beginning of tenancy about their failure to address repairs and asked for a return of my security deposit, upfront rent and removal costs to enable me to move out immediately. This was ignored / refused. Had they paid, there would never have been any rent arrears, so any alleged breach of contract by myself was caused / induced directly by them. Should I include a copy of that letter with my defence and counterclaim?

I was already recovering from Covid at the time I moved into property and am in the high-risk category for Covid due to health conditions. The property was supposed to be cleaned to a professional standard before I moved in and it was instead handed over to me in a filthy condition throughout. I had to clean the landlords excrement from the toilets myself and also deep clean the property myself, which exacerbated my spinal injury. This also caused me other physical illnesses and severe mental anguish & distress. I was unable to work as a direct result of landlords behaviour / actions and could therefore not afford to continue paying the rent. 

The cooker and shower were not fixed at all for the entire time I lived there. I paid for digital aerial installation myself as they refused to pay, so was without use of TV for about 1-2 weeks. 

What amounts do you think I should claim for? I want to claim every penny they have for what they have done to me. 

MysteryMe

https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/standard-directions/general/witness-statements

This link gives advice on how to structure a statement of truth (civil statement)  you could use your old address and say this is the address relevant to the claim.

Keep your narrative factual. Use short paragraphs and numbering each paragraph. Don't waffle or use emotive language, don't give opinions stick to the facts.

Everything that is relevant to your claim should be provided to the court. It may assist if you give each document a unique reference eg Mojito/1, Mojito/2 then at the end of your narrative list and describe all the documents you are providing the court and write the relevant reference alongside it. It is important that you number each page of the statement and end the statement with  'I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true.'  Then sign and date it.

I am not able to offer any further advice, sorry.