Putting County Court Judgement aside - Scamming Landlord sent my County Court Summons to himself.

BobT36

Listed in the contract was BEFORE / DURING the tenancy though, surely? 
Did you give him a forwarding address to use for AFTER the tenancy ended? This is the technicality that others are mentioning. 

Just because you're students it's not certain that you'd be going "home" to parents or whatever afterwards. You may just be moving to a new student address! It would be wrong of him to presume your old address before the tenancy would be the one to use for afterwards.
Usually you would leave a forwarding address for use after your tenancy ends. 

RHemmings

BobT36 said:

Listed in the contract was BEFORE / DURING the tenancy though, surely? 
Did you give him a forwarding address to use for AFTER the tenancy ended? This is the technicality that others are mentioning. 

Just because you're students it's not certain that you'd be going "home" to parents or whatever afterwards. You may just be moving to a new student address! It would be wrong of him to presume your old address before the tenancy would be the one to use for afterwards.
Usually you would leave a forwarding address for use after your tenancy ends. 

The OP gave an address specifically for use in contacting the tenant (OP) after the end of the tenancy. How can that address not be the default for contacting the tenant (OP) after the end of the tenancy? 

_Penny_Dreadful

Aero22 said:

Hi guys, 
I'll try to keep it brief. Me and 2 other students moved out our final year accommodation in July 2023. The landlord had charged extortionate fees for some of the 'damage' left behind, as a result we challenged the claim with the deposit scheme we used. 

After submitting our evidence, the landlord opted out of the judgement service the scheme uses, and decided to go to court. We didn't hear anything for a solid 6 months of ringing up the scheme for an update. (Our landlord never engages in contact with us and so would never be able to get information from him).

Then, at the start of March, the deposit scheme sends us a scan of a Country Court Judgement in default against us (the tenants), for the amount of the WHOLE deposit. None of us ever received either a claim pack or judgement letter.

Having chased with the court system today, our landlord put the address of the house in question (i.e our student house that HE OWNS), as our address. Essentially, he knowingly sent our court information to himself so that we would have no idea of any claim until it was too late. Our actual home addresses are listed in the tenancy contract so he can't say he doesn't know our addresses.

Apart from being mildly impressed about the lengths he's gone to scam us out of around £1,500,  I'm wondering what my next steps here could be.

1. Is what he's done illegal? Or just exploiting the system.
2. Despite the situation, it will cost me £275 to request to put this aside. Is this worth the money? What if the judge agrees that the case should be set aside, but ultimately decides that the landlord is owed the deposit? Do we get the fee back in this scenario?
3. Am I missing anything? Any help is greatly appreciated!

1. What damage over and above fair wear and tear is the landlord claiming for?
2. Are any of his claims for damage legitimate and importantly can he prove it e.g. are there check-in and check-out inventories to back up his claims?
3. As it appears from a later post you provided the landlord with your current address you can apply to have the CCJ set aside by filling in form N244 and paying £275.  The judge can order the claimant (the landlord) to refund the defendant (you) the £275 because the landlord sent the original claim to an old address despite being furnished with your current address so I think applying for the CCJ to be set aside is worth doing in your case.
4. If you believe the deductions are unreasonable you can counterclaim for the return of your deposit.