Live in landlord accuses me of damage

[MrBlack]

I'm appearing in the small claims court on Monday. He obviously, through some strange warped and disturbing reasons of his own, wants to pursue this and has been happy to pay the further £80 or whatever in escalating this to a final small claims hearing.

 

None of the facts have changed since my opening post here. I have no further defence to give - at the end of the day its one persons word against another.

[MrBlack]

I wonder what would happen if I didnt turn up? The stress affects me a lot and sometimes I just want to 'bury my head in the sand'. Yes, I know its not the adult way of dealing with things, but stress can bring out childhood responses in you.

 

I am sort of confident that the judgement will be in my favour - but you can never anticipate or second guess a judge. There is no evidence - I guess its based on 'balance of probabilities'.

 

*sigh*

[mariner51]

"I wonder what would happen if I didnt turn up? "

 

You will prob lose by default, esp if other side do attend.

It may be 'you said, he said' but it is adjudication not a trial and the Adjudicator will want the opportunity to 'look both of you in the eye'. His decision,if no clear point of Law, will be based on his opinion/comparison. Be courteous & calm, dom't get riled.

Answer questions honestly & concisely, don't waffle. If you have a point you want to highlight, ask it as a clearly worded closed question via Adj. Don't get into an argument with other side, if they get heated, more fool them.

Attend, or risk losing, Adj realises stress it may cause, so may take 10 mins explaining what happens. It is just you, him and other side sitting around a table in normal clothes. (pref not jogging suit)

Edited March 9, 2012 by mariner51

[MrBlack]

The law really is an ass.

 

The judgement went against me. It just goes to show that it doesnt matter who is right or wrong - what matters is how better prepared you are on the day and how convincing your argument is and my landlord - who is an actor by trade - gave a convincing performance. So I am obliged to pay him £750.

 

Also, he brought a witness with him - a lodger who witnessed the damage on the afternoon of the same day I left. The district judge did say to me that I could object to the witness, but foolishly I allowed him to stay! I was over confident and just was so sure there was no shred of evidence against me, that his supposed 'witness' could not say anything but confirm the condition of items that were there.

 

Ah well. You live and learn.

 

I have been looking at the whole 'attachment of earnings' order thing though and feel duty bound now to force him to go down that route to extract the money out of me.

 

Cant believe the decision went against me! The district judge just didn't seem reasoned and objective in her summing up.

 

Bugger.

[andydd]

Most unfortunate.

 

However you have to realise that the Judge knows nothing of the case and can only go on what is in front of him and her. If someone is very well prepared and argues their case well then they may well win because the Judge isn't physic and doesnt know the actual true fact.

 

And nor do we, you may well of been lying in here..we simply dont know.

 

Why on Earth did you not object to the witness ?. Witnesses are generally not allowed ins amll claims hearings, was there any mention of witnesses in his statement of case ?. Was there a witness statement given ?. It is very unfair to spring this on someone, which is why you were given the chance to object, it isnt being rude or unreasonable but you should be given time and advance notice opf everything in order to prepare your case.

 

I suspect that the LL wasnt being really vindictive but was sure that some damage had occurred, i find it unlikely that anyone would otherwise gamble on a court outcome in his favour.

 

You are wrong that there was no evidence..there was..his witness, witness statements can be used as evidence, and witnesses in person are viewed as stronger evidence (although as i said, not normally allowed in small claims).

 

Andy

[MrBlack]

He could gamble on a court outcome because he had no fees to pay in the first place, I guess (he is unemployed so was able to claim the benefits or whatever they are, to pay all his costs).

 

Yeah, you are right about the witness I know, but I was representing myself so to have that sprung on you literally as we are sitting down in front of the district judge - its very hard to make a snap decision.

 

I didn't prepare nowhere near well enough - I accept that. A lesson to be learned for me and anyone else reading this thread who is going through a similar case - prepare! Prepare well!

[MrBlack]

Actually, do I have grounds to appeal on the witness issue? I know I agreed, but could I argue that to assimilate that information within that short period of time was extremely difficult and I was under too much pressure?

[mariner51]

"He could gamble on a court outcome because he had no fees to pay in the first place"

 

Wrong. As you stated in #6 he had to stump up Court fee £125 of his own money to lodge his claim. Whether this came from JSA or HB is immaterial, once received he can spend it how he wishes. I am not aware that legal aid or other grants are avail to pay for small claims action. This Court fee will be added to the judgement against you.

As for appealing re witness, the adj gave you the opportunity to reject the witness before his evidence was heared, you did not, as you say you were 'over confident'.

Also if you force LL into applying for attachment of earnings I would anticipate this will be shown (black mark) on your credit rating for 6yr.

[The Carpet Cleaners]

If the whole amount is not paid off in 28 days, there will be a CCJ against you for 6 years. If you go for the attachement of earnings, you will have a CCJ for the whole time of the payment, if you miss one payment (even if it is not your fault) then LL can have you back in court again at a cost to you and enforce the order another way. Best bet is to pay it as quick as possible.

[andydd]

"He could gamble on a court outcome because he had no fees to pay in the first place"

 

Wrong. As you stated in #6 he had to stump up Court fee £125 of his own money to lodge his claim. Whether this came from JSA or HB is immaterial, once received he can spend it how he wishes. I am not aware that legal aid or other grants are avail to pay for small claims action. This Court fee will be added to the judgement against you.

As for appealing re witness, the adj gave you the opportunity to reject the witness before his evidence was heared, you did not, as you say you were 'over confident'.

Also if you force LL into applying for attachment of earnings I would anticipate this will be shown (black mark) on your credit rating for 6yr.

 

If you qualify (JSA-Income Based is one example) then the fees are waived..so there is in effect nothing to pay, I took advantage of this a year or so back when made redundant.

 

Legal Aid (i.e actually paying for the costs of a Solicitor and/or Advice) maybe available too, you apply and the case is judged on its merits, in a case like this it prob would not of been given.

 

As to the OP's comments, I'm not too sure on the appeal process (I've been to Small Claims court am few times but the only appeal I did was at an LVT Court dealing with leasehold issues).

 

Appeals can realistically only be made if the Judge erred in law or fact, I dont really see how this case could be appealed, as pointed out, you were given a chance to reject the witness.

 

Unfortunately someone first court appearence (even the informal small track) can be very daunting, in mine, I took my dad along for support and luckily it turned out well, my landlord has a solicitor but for some reason didnt use him on actual court date, he made a fool of himself and I won..getting back a big refund of overpaid rent.

 

I think people who are 100% in the right turn up at court thinking that its obvious that everyone else will instantly see that you are the non-guilty party, alas Justice doesnt work like that, some Judges do help Litigants in Person, others seem to think you should be fully knowledgeable in the law AND CPR rules (Ive just bought myself a CPR book from Ebay, its so heavy i can barely lift it !).

 

A final point, if the landlord was unemployed, was he signing on ?..did/do the Job Centre know about his earnings on the side (this may effect his ability to claim a waiver of fees), do the Tax Office know too ?

 

Andy

[MrBlack]

If the whole amount is not paid off in 28 days, there will be a CCJ against you for 6 years. If you go for the attachement of earnings, you will have a CCJ for the whole time of the payment, if you miss one payment (even if it is not your fault) then LL can have you back in court again at a cost to you and enforce the order another way. Best bet is to pay it as quick as possible.

 

Interestingly, the district judge, several times, alluded to the fact that payment in these cases sometimes has to be wrung out of the defendant and that it is never easy.

A CCJ against me for 6 years is something I just have to accept - there is absolutely no way on this earth I can afford the £750 - I will be looking to repay £10 a month, if that. I am already on an Involuntary Debt Management Scheme anyway, so I will see if that company can take on this extra debt. From what I have read, the court will send me a form to fill in asking what I can pay so I will offer £10 a month, stating all my other debts etc.

[The Carpet Cleaners]

Whilst you can apply for the form to pay by installments, the LL will get to see the completed form,and does not have to agree, a judge will then look at the form which will be a comprehensive list of your incomings and outgoings, and make a decision, if you go down that route, do not do as my last LL did when I took her to court for unpaid fees, which was make the incomings £1000 a month less than the outgoings... If there is no money there to pay at least £1 per month, the judge has no option but to insist on payment forthwith.