Court action for disrepair - default judgement requested, what are the next steps?

[AVC]

Hi,

I have very recently found CAG on the internet and would be happy to get some advice on a situation I am currently in with my landlord and his managing agent.

I have moved to UK end of 2012 and am not very familiar with housing laws.

 

I have an assured shorthold tenancy, starting 22 Dec 2012, ending 21 Dec 2013. I will not request renewal due to all the problems I have had here.

Monthly rent to be paid to a letting agency of 1343 GBP

 

I have had following situations of disrepair

• delayed repair of floor heating: 127 days, 16 Jan 2013 fixed 23 May 2013
  
• delayed repair of front door: 72 days, 22 Jan 2013 fixed 4 April after the door became unlockable
  
• delayed repair of microwave: 120 days - outstanding
  
• unannounced entry of the property on at least 2 occasions
  

 

I have requested compensation for

• disrepair
  
• loss of income for the emergency repair where I could not leave my home and go to work
  
• alternative heating appliance+ electricity
  
• bad health, stress, time spent etc
  Total amount of 1306GBP plus 70GBP court expenses
  

 

The landlord and his agent refuse any responsibility. this property is new and was still under responsibility of the developer to do repairs (apart from the microwave)

They offered 200GBP in compensation which I found an insult. I tried negotiating with them, but they ignored my mails.

I decided to take court action after getting some free legal advice - he said it was very likely that I would get compensation - and sent a letter before action to try start up the communication/negotiation. Without succes.

They did start communicating again when I started copying the letting agency and letting agency were attempting to get replies. Email communication has been very rude and intimidating, I assume to make me try and stop to get any compensation. They put all the blame with developer, and me of all people and have recently refused any negotiation of compensation.

The landlord is a company with a PO box address on Isle of Man. Notices have been served - per my contract - at the letting agent. I doubt that the information of an ongoing court case has reached them.

 

I have started a claim online, issued 18 Oct, and have requested judgement by default on 10 Nov. So far the status is "issued"

Now here are some of my questions:

1. According to the legal adviser the issues that have arisen with the developers are landlord and agent's problem and my claim lies completely with the landlord as he has the statutory obligations for repair. Is this correct?
   
2. Will I be able to see online whether judgement has been granted or do I only get a notice?
   
3. How long will it take to get the notice?
   
4. The situation with the address, can this give any problems going forward, I am thinking if I was to enforce judgement.
   
5. My last rent is due on 22 Nov. I plan to withhold this, hoping that judgement has been made by this date, would that give me problems if the landlord decides to set aside judgement and defend the case? My reasoning being that even if I get judgement, the landlord will not pay the money.
   
6. I expect to get problems getting my deposit back, the landlord will probably try to blame me for breaking the microwave. Do you have any advice going forward with this? I do have on email shortly written by the agent that they do not know why it broke.
   
7. Any other general advice would be very much appreciated!
   

 

Apologies for the long thread, but I felt I had to give enough background information.

Many thanks for any advice you can give me!

[mariner51]

You have initiated MCOL claim so the decision is that of the Court, not this Forum.

Have you provided evidence of financial loss incurred by disrepair? Most properties have 2 exit points

When/how did you notify LL of defects?

[AVC]

Hi mariner51

I have not provided any evidence to the court so far. The MA/LL have not replied to the notice. I am able to provide evidence of all my statements and losses and have had a lot of communication with landlord and his agent both on disrepair and compensation question.

 

Managing agent has been informed for all defects on email, with several reminders for each repair

heating initial reporting by email on 16 Jan

door problem initial reporting by email on 22 Jan

microwave initial reporting by phone on 26 June, confirmed on email on 3 July.

[raydetinu]

this may help!

http://england.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/23392/ShelterGuide_GettingRepairsDone.pdf

[andydd]

Hi there.

 

First of all you cant just request judgement by defualt, this only occurs when the defendant doesnt respond. The normal course of events is that the defendant may enter an acknowledgment of service andthen a defence, you will besent details about all of this and then there will be the allocation proces, basically asking about mediation, locality (if you are LiP and other side is comopany you can request your local court) and track*

 

*It is worth trying to keep claims on small track as to not risk high costs, BUT whilst the small claims limit is 10,000 the limit for damages for repairs is only £1000, therefore it would of been wise to limit your cliam to £1000 or less, but it appears you are just over this.

 

1. Yes, the landlord has various obligations to under common and stattue law as well possibly under the ast agrement.

 

2. You are jumping the gun a bit, youll get defualt judgement only IF he doesnt respond or youll get judgement if you win the case, either way youll be notified by post.

 

3. How long is a piece of string, it may take many months but generally you should hear back from first stage quite quickly, i,.e has other acknoeledged, have they sent defence, allocation and finally court date.

 

4. I dont know (for freehold cases the landlord must give address in england or wales, see S47/S48 > http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1987/31 but dont know if this applies to ast's).

 

5. Witholding rent can be troublesome and you can end up in trouble too, there are situations where you can legally offset amounts, I'd look into some more if I were you).

 

6. I know nothing about your microwave so cant answer this.

 

7. This can be a complex issue, dont assume the court will instantly take your side, you will have to show strict proof, evidence, photos, witnesses, etc. I fought my landlord (my situation is bit different as I own leasehold flat), and it wasnt easy, they hired counsel and solicitor and I risked paying their costs of many £10,000 but luckily settled out of court, I certainly made mistakes in first claim (main one being the amount wasnt low enough to be on small claims track), however I sued succesfully for a 2nd time (again settled via mediation) and am now on 3rd time..this all relates to outside driveway area where there was no need for me to give notice, but in your case you should of done.

 

Its prob too late now but for these sort of claims you should follow the Disrepair pre-action protocol > http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/protocol/prot_hou

[raydetinu]

NEVER withhold rent!

If you want to restrict entry etc. change the locks. they must give you notice of any visit and it is up to you if convenient.

I presume deposit is protected and you have been notified of details etc.

[AVC]

Hi guys, thanks for the answers

 

I did follow the protocol as to how to start court action, I sent the letter before action, I have suggested negotiation and mediation, but since the landlord and his agent withdrew their offer of any compensation and became plain rude.

 

I started a claim online, the time has passed for LL/MA to respond to it, so far I have not received information that they acknowledged or sent defence, hence I have requested judgment. So far I can see that judgment has been issued, that's it why I asked question 2 and 3, will I be able to see online how the case proceeds or does that all go on paper?

I sure should have known about the amount, let's see how that now will turn out. Sounds like this may become a more lengthy process than I had anticipated.

 

I am aware that withholding rent can give me trouble also in relation to the deposit. they will surely want to withhold it from there. My concern is that the address I have been given in England is that of the letting agent. If I was to win this case and have to request warrant, I am not sure this will lead to anything since the landlord's actual address is on Isle of Man

[andydd]

Well the disrepair protocol i linked to is more than a lba, it features quite s few steps and is useful in showing the ll that you are serious and gives chance to mediate. If date has passed for acknowledgment or defence then yes you can request judgement, ive only done this after case has been transfered to local court so i just pop in but your case is it apoears is still in online /mcol stage, give em a call they arr usually pretty helpful.

 

As i mentioned s47/s48 is there to avoid not in england or wales problems, im not sure if it applies to only leasehold / freehold relationships or landlord/tenant ones too.

[AVC]

Hi Andydd

Only S 48 is valid for AST's, so the landlord has to provide the tenant with an address in England or Wales only

 

Got an update on the case. Today I found in my mail a notice of judgment entered against the defendant, so small step forward for me!

But I also received an email from the letting agency that the court did not change the address on the notice and now judgment in error is sent to their address - she actually asked me to make sure they changed it to the PP box address on Isle of Man.

 

The letting agent's address is quoted in my tenancy agreement as the address to be used for any notices to be served, also notices in proceedings, but apparently, they don not seem to be doing anything with these.

 

I will call the court to ask about this but I am tempted to stay quiet towards the letting agent for now - as I have followed procedures and used the address that they gave me. I also want to give the LL as little time as possible to set aside judgment before I leave the property and have to deal with the deposit. I'm vacating by 21 Dec.

 

you have any thoughts on this?

[andydd]

I got judgment by defualt against my Landlord/Freeholder as his solicitor continually cocked things up. One of the enforcement options is to call the defendant to court to explain his financial circumstances, I choose this as to cause max embrassment, perhaps you could use it to find out true position of where he is based/assets held ?. In my case he simply paid up.

[AVC]

Hi Andydd

I quite like your suggestion to choose enforcement, since this is a company I am going against, they do have a lot of things to explain to the court.

 

I sent both LL and his agent a one liner that notice of judgment was served and in possession of the letting agency, just to make sure to be open and transparent as to what is going on. The agent then answered that if the notice was not served at the LL's registered address it was worth nothing.

I have replied to all parties that this is the address stated in my contract where notices in proceedings have to be served. So now I will contact the court to get some further info on how and where to request enforcement, give them a bit of time to respond in any way and then move forward

I did withhold my last rent, not sure whether this will give me problems, but I will take that discussion when it becomes one.

 

Will add some posts when new information becomes available, may be helping other people.

 

Many thanks again for your input!

[AVC]

Hi again,Does anyone know whether I can legally wthhold my rent after judgment was entered against the landlord. the landlord and his agent do not want to acknowledge the notices since they keep claiming it's delivered to the wrong address, which it's not, written and signed in my contract by the LL!I withheld my last rent and would want to dispute when they try and keep it from my deposit, using the judgment and their communication about it as proof. No idea if that's a good strategy.I also consider to pay the rent and call the defendant to court to explain all their finances adn then use third party debtor enforcement. but fear that I will not get my money due to their company setup and enforcement not working out.Anyone has any info on this?Thanks

[andydd]

Unfortunately often generally not. Although there are circumstances where you can legally offset it against what is owing, it is a complex area.

 

The Shelter site mentions it on Step 7 here > http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/disrepair_in_rented_accommodation/repairs_in_social_housing/withholding_rent_over_repairs#step_7_-_if_money_is_not_refunded%2C_deduct_from_rent although this scenario is when you have paid to do the repairs which is a bit diff from your scenario.

 

The problem is that although the LH could take action to claim the rent you would indeed have a valid offset/counterclaim but alas you also open yourself to possible eviction.

[AVC]

Thanks, I had seen this one but as you say it's slightly differentI am leaving the flat anyway in 2 weeks and I do not need their references either, so they can't harm me with that. I think I will try this approach and see what happens. worst case I can start the rest up if I'm not succesful with my counterclaim

[andydd]

If you are leaving then I cant see the harm in not paying rent unless you would want a reference from them in some way, the worst that could happen is they sue for the amount but if you had a valid counterclaim/offset then wouldntn be a problem unless there were extra court costs or if their amount was substantially higher then what they owe you.

[AVC]

Interesting development: 2 days before the end of 30 day time limit I was contacted by the agent that they wanted to pay me the amount they owed. They paid, I paid my rent and now the return of the deposit should not give any problems either.

 

I had sent a slightly threathing mail to the letting agent about this issue with the address on Isle of Man and that the landlord could not run away from the judgment and that I'd enforce it if necessary. Seems to have gotten the ball rolling