not getting £425 deposit back :(

[knoxvillain]

I'm in the process of putting together the pack of documents to send to the court for use during the hearing (I have to send them at least 7 days before hearing). I need to mail it tomorrow as I am getting married on Sat and then off on honeymoon. One thing I wondered, am I able to include a letter to the judge explaining what the pack contains and what I feel my case is or should I leave that to present in court?

[Joa]

Awwwwwwww, have a wonderful day on Saturday! The weather is supposed to be georgeous!

As for the letter- I think a polite letter, respectfully inviting the court to consider the the content of the bundle would be fine but I would not try to put your version of the story across- the judge is the one who decides, based on evidence and in light of the law, on balance of probability what's what.

 

Have a beatiful wedding and honeymoon!

[knoxvillain]

ok thanks

 

very excited and nervous about Saturday. Hope the weather forecast turns out to be right. Can't wait to whip out the kilt

[buzby]

A sneaky way to do this is to in the cover sheet (which itemises each piece) to include; Page No, Short Description (25 chars max), and why it is included (Defender admits error) etc etc, It is also handy to have this in court as a crib sheet for your own use.

[knoxvillain]

ok, so arrived back from honeymoon late last night. Wondeful time had, camels in the Siani, scuba diving in the red sea, moonlight cruise, but back to reality now. Gotta go to court tomorrow. Came home to a letter from landlord's solicitors confirming they received the documents and had sent them onto the landlord for "proofing". Received a text message from my ex-landlord today saying a friend died of cancer on Thu and that his funeral is tomorrow and they phoned the court and the clerk's office said they would inform the judge tomorrow morning so i guess tomorrow I'll be appearing again just to have it delayed by another month

[buzby]

I'd certainly go to court, and when it calls, turn up and object to the continuing delay and ask for the case to be heard - it MIGHT just work! Relatives are one thing, but friends?

[knoxvillain]

I objected to the continuation as advised however the Sheriff said he could only stop it if he thought the defender was lying which was a serious thing and so the case has been continued until 31st may. The good news is that he's representing himself, he doesn't appear to be using his solicitors now. Also, the Sheriff we got today was really nice, much nicer than the first one so I feel much more comfortable speaking in court now. More waiting....*sigh*

[Joa]

buggery bugger ...

We are all rooting for you!

[knoxvillain]

thanks, obviously the waiting is annoying but today was good because I feel much more confident about being in court and now that I know that I'm not going up against solicitors, I am a million times more confident about presenting my case against him.

[Bookworm]

Oh, for goodness sake! I saw you'd posted, and thought "Yaye, news!!!"...

 

Ah well...

[blacksheep1979]

If you win and get to claim costs - ask for the fact that you've had to travel to court this time to be taken into account, both travel costs and personal time.

[knoxvillain]

My mileage and postage alone is close to the £75 limit, assuming I win and get to claim costs, i will be making a request to the judge for him to allow full costs to be claimed so I can go above £75 as I don't feel the defender has acted in good faith by not negotiating at all or being interested in talking about it and by bringing a counter claim.

[knoxvillain]

Still here. Tomorrow's the day in court again, hopefully we can sort it out once and for all!

[389shell]

Good luck, let us all know how you get on

[knoxvillain]

Ok, basically my landlord produced a receipt in court today for replacement of the kitchen unit. He actually had the work done (last month!). This reduced his counter claim from £662 to about £252. As he adjourned for lunch, the Sheriff advised us to seriously consider walking away from the case. He said because the amounts were similar that he may decide that neither party get awarded anything. I went away for a while and had a think about it and I agreed to walk away from the case because I think the new receipt is reasonable. My aim in this case was to make sure the deductions were reasonable and I feel I have achieved this. The Sheriff upon returning said he was happy to hear that we had agreed to walk away as there would have been some harsh words to both of us at the end of the case for things I had done and things my landlord had failed to do. He said he realised neither party is usually happy in compromise but that it was better than getting "beaten of the head by someone like" him. I'm not jumping up and down with joy about it but I think it was a reasonable conclusion.

 

At the point where he advised us to walk away and then he left for lunch, the court officer turned to us and said that it was the best bit of free advice we'd ever get. I get the impression when you're standing in court and the judge advises you to do something (he can't make you do it) it's a good idea to listen to him.

 

Not the conclusion I hoped for but at the end of the day I protected myself from a £662 counterclaim.

[Cpt Black]

good new i suppose. So how much of the deposit did you get back - if any? Did the judge say any of what either of you had done wrong?

[knoxvillain]

Didn't get any of it back but I accept that. I got the landlord to accept £800 for a kitchen unit wasn't reasonable and forced him to produce proper documentation. I could have pursued it further but after about an hour of thinking over lunch i decided to quit while I was ahead. I have a funny feeling the judge would have not awarded us a win anyway.

[Joa]

knox- right, at least this is over. draw the line and move on. you have gained a valuable experience throughout the process and you didn't roll over like a scared puppy. now enjoy your married life

[knoxvillain]

Two things I would say to people going down the similar route:

 

They say no inventory = no deductions, before you go to court expecting to win on this basis, think about how you're going to deal with it when you are cross examined under oath in court and asked what the condition of the property was when you moved in.

 

Also, ARLA Guidelines are not recognised by the court. They are not law or statute. By all means feel free to use them and to explain to the judge why you decided to use them as a measure of what is reasonable and fair but don't expect him to take them as gospel.

 

Ultimately, unless the amount you are going for is huge, I would say walk away rather than going to court. I think my case was only take seriously because of the high value of the kitchen unit. The rest of the items was described as "nit picking" by the sheriff.

[Joa]

These are very important points; thanks knox.

[Nightmare4banks]

Hi all!

 

Knoxvillian,in reply to your post:

 

1.You did the right thing by making sure that your landlord never took you for a ride.

 

2.You also did the correct thing by listening to the judge - I have done the same thing in the past and in my case it was a real eye opener.

 

3.The ARLA rules are just a form of good business practice - fairness for both landlords and tenants alike.Reasonability dictates the flow of a court hearing rather than anything else and this based on my personal experiences.

 

4.Move on and enjoy your married life.If you have anymore landlord problems,please feel free to ask anytime!

 

All the best!

[389shell]

Well if nothing else I think you have taught your ex landlord a valuable lesson, don't take the p***! Well done for seeing this through.

[calvi36]

As you state Knoxy, you saved yourself an additional £662, I would class that as a victory. Sad thing to say though is that this matter could have been sorted out by negotiation had the defender been willing to negotiate. Other than that I think this has been a cracking thread. Well done m8. But why on earth did you get married arghhhhhhhh lol.

[stevokenevo]

ive just read this thread from the start to finish, and ive got to say, i was looking forward to a happier ending. None the less, it is all over, and you dont owe anything else, the damage has been repaired and life goes on.............. made for good reading though ;-)

[knoxvillain]

Well I just wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone who helped me in this thread and for all the advice and support I recieved. Without you guys, it is unlikely I would have had the confidence to go to court.

 

If this thread helps even just one other person take on their unscrupulous landlord then it has been worthwhile. I'll be sticking round the landlord/tenants section to see if I can help anyone so if I can, drop me a note. Now I can turn my attention fully to getting my money back out the banks.

 

Thanks again everyone