not getting £425 deposit back :(

[Nightmare4banks]

Knoxvillian,in reply to your post:

 

This would be a good idea as the court could probably throw out the case as you are not available.

 

All you should state is:"I will not be available to attend the hearing between bla dates because of my honeymoon which was booked well in advance."

 

I hope you find this useful.

[knoxvillain]

I have already submitted the papers at the beginning of last week, should I wait and see when the hearing date is and then write to the court if needed or should I pro-actively write to the court informing them of this? Assuming there is nothing incorrect on my summons, I would imagine they have probably already served it on my landbaron.

[Nightmare4banks]

Knoxvillian,

 

I would suggest hat you contact the court ASAP and explain the situation.

 

As the last you want is for a hearing date to be allocated and you are not available to attend.

[knoxvillain]

thanks, I have sent them an e-mail explaining the situation and will follow it up with a letter, just hope I am not too late.

[Nightmare4banks]

Knoxvillian,

 

Keep me posted.

[knoxvillain]

will do, thanks for your advice

[Cpt Black]

Yeah,I would have recommeded informing them proactivly. I seem to remember there was a box on some form I filled in for court that asked about dates when ur not avaiable, but it might have been a witness statement. Would it be on the allocation questionnaire? Would it be different in Scotland?

 

CB

[less2303]

Yes, it is the allocation questionaire.

 

Knoxvillian, As you may have seen from my post, I am going through a similiar experience at the moment.

 

They will get 28 days from your claim to respond, and from there, if they intend defending your claim they will get another 28 days to complete their defence. After this the allocation questionaire will be sent out, after which you should then get a court date.

 

To give you some idea of timescale, I submitted my claim on 22nd November, and I have a court date of the 20th March. this may obviously differ from area to area dependant on how busy they are I would think.

 

Mine is a claim for the return of the balance of a £500 deposit, minus what I deem to be a reasonable amount for things I agreed on handover.

 

Although they have not submitted a counterclaim at this stage, they have produced a schedule of over £2000 worth of repairs, all of which are for full repair/replacement costs, with no allowance for fair wear and tear or depreciation.

 

If there is anything you want to know about the procedure or what happens in my case, I will keep my post updated, anything else, give me a shout.

[knoxvillain]

Received a letter from the court today, Return date is March 22nd, Prelim Hearing is March 29th.

 

Curiously I also missed a recorded delivery letter this morning which I'm guessing is possibly from my ex-landlord. I'll not know until i can collect it tomorrow. I'm hoping it's a cheque but I'm guess it may be an irate letter from him not very happy about the summons. At least I've got his attention now

 

less2303 - thanks for replying to my thread. Please do keep me posted on how it goes, I will be watching intently as you are about a week ahead of me. I've never gone to court before so if he defends instead of settling it's gonna be rather nerve racking. I'm trying to prepare for him having the letting agent there as a witness but then, none of the damage is in dispute only the outrageous costs so that would do him no good.

[knoxvillain]

pfff the recorded letter was just the same letter from the court but sent recorded. Don't know why they felt the need to send it twice.

 

Does anyone know if they wait until the summons has been served before they send me the letter informing me of the dates?

[knoxvillain]

Still trying to hunt down a copy of the entry report from the letting agent however she did admit in her e-mail response that the inventory/entry report is unsigned.

 

Given my letters to the landlord whereby I agree to some of the charges, I don't think I could get the court to give me my full deposit back. (pity it might teach them a lesson on how to treat their tenants) But it will hopefully make the case easier to achieve judgement in my favour.

[less2303]

Yes, I agree there. You have shown to be reasonable in this matter, unlike the landlord, which should count in your favour.

 

My dates were not confirmed until shortly before the date that all documents to be used had to be in.

[knoxvillain]

This is the worst part of it all now, the sitting waiting around.....

 

For some reason he FINALLY got round to returning the bills I sent him in NOVEMBER as proof I had paid all the utilities. There was no letter in with it, only the bills. I've no idea why he's suddenly decided to return them now.

[Cpt Black]

you did send copies of the bills, not the originals? Always send copies - if he wants to see the originals then fine but don't post them to him, show him yourself and let him photocopy in your presence if you like. It could be a lot of hassle i you have to get a duplicate from the gas/elec company especially within the time limit set by the court date

[Nightmare4banks]

Knoxvillian,

 

In the future,I would suggest

 

1.that you obtain certified copies of the original bills have a few copies to give out - one to the landlord and one to the court if needed.Take the originals to the hearing with you if needed.

 

2.To certify copies,it would only cost you a few quid with a lawyer and it used to be free at the court office - not sure now though.

 

In brief in the future - DO NOT GIVE OUT ORIGINAL BILLS!

 

I hope this helps.

[knoxvillain]

yeah I realise this now. However, it was never really a problem since the settlement of the bills has never been dispute by him. I just don't understand why they suddenly appeared in the mail out of the blue. Maybe the summons has arrived and he's realising he better sort himself out before he goes infront of a judge.

[Cpt Black]

Hi, just got my allocation questionnaire for my bank charges claim and there is a section on there where I put down any unavailable dates

[knoxvillain]

great, thank so much for letting me know

[Cpt Black]

Any news yet?

 

Are yo waiting for an acknowledgment/defence?

[knoxvillain]

Not received anything since the letter telling me my return & hearing dates. 3 weeks until return date It's no surprise, he's making me wait as long as possible. No doubt he'll file a defense or counter clain at the last minute.

[knoxvillain]

1 week to go until the return date, I hate the waiting....

[demon_x_slash]

We're still with ya

[knoxvillain]

[less2303]

Yep, we're all still here, just waiting.

 

I've just updated my post, court next Tuesday!

[Cpt Black]

yep, waiting eagerly!