I did ask, and the judge confirmed it does attract interest, but I am just not sure how it is actually calculated and communicated to the defendant - I will wait and see what is sent from the court first.

Well to give you a small insight into his mental wellbeing, during the hearing when asked by the judge why he had not contacted the court to find out the date of the hearing he had missed, his explanation included "well I have so many court cases against me from various tenants that I cannot possibly be expected to keep track of them all". The hearing was verging on comedic with some of his other utterances and paltry excuses. He also somehow managed to completely contradict himself within the space of a minute, at which point the judge told him he was a liar and that the judgment is upheld. An another note, does anyone know how to get interest added on to a judgment? The judgment amount exceeds 5k so it qualifies. (To answer your question, his reason for the second set aside claim was the mail strike, but it had already been set aside once due to supposed non delivery, and we were clearly told to contact the court should the notice of the next hearing not arrive in due course)

Had a fifth hearing today - the defendant applied to have my second judgment set aside - but it was shot down in flames and he has been ordered to pay me my judgment amount. Let's hope I finally get some money back. My case has been active in the courts since Oct 2008.... 16 months thus far!

Well I had the fourth hearing yesterday and I was again awarded the judgement, plus I got the first judgement amount increased to cover lost earnings and interest, so I'm quite pleased. Hopefully I can get the money and finally move on.

No it's still ongoing unfortunately. Even though I was awarded a judgement, at the hearing a different judge was presiding, and he agreed to set the judgement aside as the defendant claimed he did not know about the previous hearing. So I have another (4th) hearing in November. I moved out in June 2008 so its been a long and tedious process so far.

Thanks for your reply. I also feel and hope that may happen.

I just received a notice from the court that the defendant has applied to have the judgement set aside as he is claiming he did not know about the second hearing at which I was awarded a judgement. The hearing for whether the judgement will be set aside is in September. Does anyone have any idea on the success of such a hearing for the defendant?

Does anyone have any experience in getting a judgement paid? It's been 2.5 weeks since the court hearing/judgement yet I have not received anything from the court yet, nor got paid by the defendant. Just looking into the options for enforcing a judgement now and wondering if anyone has any advice to share?

Good news. Had the second hearing today and I won. The defendant didn't show up so the hearing was over very quickly. I think the judge had already decided to award it to me because when I walked in and sat down she just basically asked me to verify the amount of the award I am claiming (ie 4 x deposit amount) and if I wanted to add anything to it like public transport costs or other expenses. So hopefully the defendant will pay up, though I am not going to hold my breath, I'm sure he will try everything to get out of paying.

im not quite sure why i had to pay 150 pounds for the 5 minute 'hearing' in which he didnt want to listen to anything i had to say, nor had he read any of the supporting materials i had submitted. i dont even think he had read the whole claim.

you would think so. the judge didn't even speak to the landlord. he just asked me where the lease was, i tried to explain, and he just rolled his eyes like i was wasting his time and said he wants a full trial.

It probably would if I had a copy of the tenancy agreement. It appears that if a tenant has their copy of the lease lost/stolen/set on fire/eaten by their dog, their rights go out the window.

Well the 'hearing' was a little anticlimactic. The judge (who didn't seem to have read any of the information or evidence I submitted) wants to take it to a full trial with a 2 hour hearing, in about 6 weeks time. I will receive more information in the post. I will probably get a solicitor on board now, as it's getting a bit much to handle by myself.

Yes - they dont have a copy. I signed two copies, both of which were apparently forwarded to the Landlord for his signature. After moving in I forgot about it after a while as it was a very hectic time. It's something I will never overlook again after this experience - I have learnt a lot. I do have 2 letters from Letting Agent confirming they prepared a lease. Common sense will hopefully prevail.

Hi everyone I have my hearing tomorrow morning. I will give an update tomorrow evening. The Landlord filed a new defence claiming that I was a 'tolerated tresspasser' (who just happened to pay almost 13000 pounds in rent over the course of the tenancy, plus a 1320 pound deposit!). Because I cant produce a signed lease, I may not get the three times the deposit back, but I am hoping for the deposit back, as if he is claiming there was never any lease, then he has no grounds to hold/keep a deposit. Will find out tomorrow I guess...