yay !!!

Oh I should add that I havent canx the claim yet because the Bank told me it would take until Weds this week to settle for sure.....so incase he sent me a rubber CQ I am waiting.....I'm so glad I told all the current tenants because they look to me like people who will cause him a LOT of grief.....

So I waited for 2 weeks after Notice was served on the ex-LL and on the last day voila - CQ on the mat from old LL ...... no defence and no explanation....he didnt even try to set it aside..... so clearly he didnt have a leg to stand on and knew it.....glad I went and told all the present tenants about it....they are already saying they wont pay their last months rent and looking into their legal position as he hasnt protected their deposits..... what an a**hole.....anyway glad I got my money back and thanks for the help everyone...... Adios !

huh - well I will be gathering all of this kind of stuff together if he says he is going to defend it.......so thanks for pointing that out to me....

Yes please Carpet Cleaners - can you put up all the info? Sorry I have not been back, the site did not tell me anyone had posted lately.....glad I came back today to look..... So I put in my N1 form and it has been served on the LL and he has until 4pm on Dec 8th to decide what he wants to do. So at 10am on Dec 9th I will be down at the court asking the clerk whats going on and if LL hasnt responded I'll ask them to serve Judgement (or whatever its called)....I presume he will then play all sorts of tricks to delay it further...I heard he can apply to time-waste thro asking to have it 'set aside' or something like that and I will probably have to go to the trouble of also enforcing the judgement but the one thing he will be able to see is that none of this is costing me anything because I get working tax credits so its not as annoying to me as he might wish it to be.....I also spelt it out on the N1 that the agreement with Agent verbally about a 'weeks notice' was witnessed ......and that my leaving the place in good repair was also witnessed. (I took pics too). The only defence which they might drum up that I was scared about was the Notice period but I saw another lovely Lawyer who usually defends LL's and she told me I have a very strong case. She said that the Judge has to go by the contract I signed even if it was rubbish and any ambiguity goes in my favour.... she read the clause about the notice of 7 days and said that can be read in my favour. I burst into tears I was so stressed by all of this and she told me when I know what this Idiot LL is doing to go back to her (FOR FREE)....very nice lady..... I STILL think that the LL should be punished for this sort of thing and that its outrageous he can just steal my money and I have to go to all the stress of chasing him and he doesnt get any penalty on him but oh well....I will certainly go back to the site and make sure everyone there knows their rights.....I also heard from the Postman that a bunch of the Lodge owners at the same place are angry with him and chasing him for 1 thing or another....that kinda worries me....I mean I have no idea how the law works but if he is long in the tooth with evasion tactics of 1 sort or another it may be that I can never really get to his assets for my £700 back. He has probably declared bankruptcy years ago and squirrellled everythig away in his wife's name....clever bloke, he will know who to employ to find all the loopholes to allow him to operate his dodgy outfit AND HE IS A MAJOR PLAYER OF THE MASONIC LODGE IN HIS HOME COUNTY......I looked at the pics of him and his Masonic buddies and it was like a non-stop line-up of Peds....horrible....to think that people like that are running the country is sick .....sorry to any Masons on here who may be decent sorts !

I am in similar situation to Onthemove1 ie have got caught out by this stupid Judge who ruined the 3x thing for everyone who has been taken for a ride by their LL....I dont geddit, how could a Judge think that the 3x part could NOT apply to someone who has left a tenancy???...... many of us dont find out we arent protected until after we leave and ask for the deposit back.....surely thats WHY the 3x bit was written in the first place? What kind of moron was this Judge to decide that you have to sue your LL while STILL IN RESIDENCE??? Like nice atmosphere for older single ladies and other vulnerable types (such as me) against a LL who has Thuggish Agents with keys to your property.....even if I had known about all this back then I would not have taken those guys to court for fear of my home being burst into in the night.....I cant believe what an idiot that Judge must have been. Meanwhile I am waiting now to see if the Idiot LL I had is going to defend or set aside my Notice that has just been served on him...

I think i can do it now: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches

I heard there is a program on Channel 4 on Monday nights about Landlords from hell but Im not allowed to post the link yet coz I havent been here long enough.... Just thought I would share that.....

Thanks muchly everyone - the legal eagle I spoke with this am was the 1 who told me: that by law I am supposed to give a month's notice so I guess IF the LL disputes the claim based on the Notice period I will have to gather evidence in 'Acts and Sections' kind of spiel to refute him. Anyway what I did today was fill out my N1 and hand it in. Even tho Legal Eagle told me to keep it simple I did try to jam as much as I could on the page ! I have asked for interest but not costs as I get Working Tax Credits so I don't have to pay the fees for court. I think once I am at the Hearing is when the clerk said I can ask for travel expenses to be thrown in. So now I have to wait for them to process the N1 and serve the Order, which means around 1st week of December I will hear if LL defends the claim. And if he does presumably I find out why then. Yes I will for sure go and tell all the other tenants there that they need to get their claims in for 3xDep NOW while they are resident ONCE I know how my case is gonna go! What does a Summary Judgement mean? And how do I do that exactly? Webranger can you explain please why you say he broke law? Which law? The fact that he didnt put Deposit in a Protection scheme you mean? Thanks again everyone. This has got to be 1 of the most tawdry things that ever happened to me.....I cant believe some people.

Hi Raydetinu - thnx for reply. Unfortunately I am a single older lady, no butch man at my side and no Doberman either...so this Agent who yelled at me he would give me a 7 day eviction notice if I didnt do as he wanted completely freaked me out. He slammed down the phone and I was left shaking. In that state I did not ask the CAB the right questions. I couldnt even think straight and anyway by the time they saw me the timeframe was very squished in order to get back to meet the Agent. This kind of thing throws all my normal reasoning capacity out of the window and I became a jibbering wreck ! I had never been in a situation like this before. I just assumed that if I did not sign the agreement that evening as he told me I had to that he would be the 1 coming round under cover of darkness to throw me out forcibly in some way. I was completely freaked out so that evening when his sidekck arrived I had a friend to witness everything and refused to sign. That was actually a valuable window of opportunity that I can use to my advantage as my friend will come with me to the Court and 'witness' a lot of things that got said. But the legal eagle told me today that the law says a months notice of intent is required even tho its a fixed term contract so I dont know. The thing now is to get the forms in and THEN see what his defence is I guess and jump that hurdle when it comes. I will say tho that I had a long discussion in front of witness with the Agents sidekick and HE said that as it says in the Contract I only need to give 1 weeks notice of intent without forfeiting deposit.

New Question: I paid my rent on the 1st of every month. On Sept 19th I gave them notice that I would be leaving at the end of the 6 month term ie Sept 30th. (I was effectively forced to do this imo because Agent bullied and intimidated me, threatening me with 7 day eviction notice if I did not re-sign another 6 month Contract that day. I was told by CAB NOT to sign any more of these sham contracts with him because it was implicating me in their dodgy practices). So if they argue that by law I should give them 1 months notice and that is why they are keeping my deposit (even tho the sham agreement said nothing particularly intelligible about Notice period and Agent previously said 1 week was all that they needed) would that mean they can keep the WHOLE deposit ? OR would they only be able to keep the part of it that covered Sept 19th to Oct 19th? ie I would still get back approx 12 days rent? Thankyou !

Thnx for advice Steve. I spoke to a Free Legal Eagle this am. He agrees. He said fill out the N1 and keep it as simple and straightforward as possible. He said the following incase it helps anyone else: On the N1 form... 1. Where it says the Defendant(s) I asked him what to put because I never met the LL but on the sham agreement he gave me it says he and his wife are the 'Landlords' and I used to pay my rent into their joint bank account. I asked if I have to write out a Claim agaist both of them individually (2 forms) or if 1 claim form to them as tho they are a joint entity is ok and he said 1 form. 2. Where it says Brief Details of Claim - he said write 'I am claiming return of my deposit having left the property at end of agreed tenancy'..... 3. Under Value he said to write: I expect to recover not more than £5000 incl interest 4. Under Particulars of claim he said to write something along lines of: I paid deposit of £695 to LL on April 1st for a 6 month tenancy which ended Sept 30th when I moved out. My Deposit was not put in a DPS. My Dep has not been returned to me despite repeated requests nor has any reason been given for non-return of deposit. I demand my deposit back. He said that the thing the LL may claim is that I DID NOT GIVE THEM ENOUGH NOTICE ! Because the Law of the land says I have to give them 1 months notice. In the sham Agreement it mumbles something vague about 1 weeks notice. I actually asked the Agent (no witness) how much notice i had to give back in early August and he pointed to that line of the Contract and said 1 week. So I gave them 11 days notice on Sept 19th of my intentions, having been effectively bullied out of property. I wrote to say on Sept 19th that I would be moving out at end of lease ie Sept 30th. Unfortunately for me the property then stood vacant for 1 month so I imagine he will try a clever dodge that way BUT he runs the risk of then exposing himself in court with these sham agreements he has going on. However these kinds of crooks seem to be as happy as larry to blatantly and brazenly flout the law so I wouldnt expect Judge to necessarily rap him and favour me. He is rich enough and arrogant enough to have a Solicitor who will handle it for him no doubt and as he is a crook with people chasing him for money already and I have seen the kinds of people he employs (Agents) I dont hold out much hope that I will be able to stand up against a smooth talking crook solicitor. I will ask to take a friend who is strong and clear (not her money) and do my best but I guess I feel semi-defeated before I even start. The whole thing is a freakin bad joke. Sorry for bad attitude !! Need a cup[ of coffee !

Thanks Ray - I got confused because I read somewhere on this Forum that N208 is for when you want to claim the 3x Dep and N1 is for when you want to just claim the Dep alone. The Court clerk gave me N1 forms which I began to fill out but then all the talk about also claiming 3x Dep muddled my head. So you think N208? I cant find the postings I was reading that talked about these forms now.

I am sorry that was all so long... the problem is that I cant find specific advice for my situation. The LL has not paid back my deposit. It did not go in a protection scheme. It appears his tenancy agreement is a dodgy one. I want my deposit back. Never mind the 3x business. What do I do? The N208 or the N1? Pleeeeease anyone out there who can help ? Thankyou so much.

This seems helpful Steve-M ....I was rather losing heart prior to finding this......I have just posted about my own situation because I am confused by what I should do to complete step 1 of this whole process to even start a claim....ie should I fill out an N1 or an N208? Doea anyone know the latest and best thing to do wrt this question please? Thankyou very much.