Hi,

I am taking my ex landlord to court as he wants to keep all of my deposit money and refuses to show me any receipts.

I have sent the claim pack to my county court with 3 copies of the particular of claims.

The court has decided on a date but I still did not receive back my copy of the particular of claim,

should I have kept a copy ?

Also my ex landlord replied to the claim acknowledgement late, exactly 9 days after the dead line, is there anything I can do?

He wants to dispute the claim now,

so he has extra days to prepare his defence,

the dead line is 1 week before the hearing,

what if he doesn't file his defense in time again?

and I don't have enough time left before the hearing to prove wrong whatever he is going to say in his defence?

Thanks

Hi,

You should be able to ask the court to send you a copy of the claim. Or if you are able, pop in and ask them.

I will ask someone to look in on you regarding the timeline - you should be given time to respond, but I am not sure what you can do, if anything.

You don't say whether the deposit was protected with DPS or other approved scheme .............

............ or of whether a dispute was raised through such a scheme.

If the deposit wasn't protected, you should have pursued the case from that angle and could have got deposit back, x3

Further to the post above, if the deposit wasn't protected, then sadly your claim will now supersede that and you wont be able to use the DPS route.

Hi,

Thanks for your replies, yes the deposit is protected and I have tried to come to an arrangement but he is refusing to use the alternative route. So only way is the county court!

What is really bothering me is that he is taking all his time and filling acknowledgment late so obviously not taking it very seriously, furthermore he is ready to lie!! I can prove that he lied on 2 occasions!

Is there anything I can do at this stage regarding him not respecting dead lines?

Thanks

Thread moved to the appropriate forum.

Regards

Andy

sorry I am new hear where is the thread moved to?

How do I find it again? in need of advise.

Cheers

You're posting on the thread.

Here's a link in case you need it.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?444721-starting-small-claim-against-ex-landlord-wants-to-keep-all-of-my-deposit-money&p=4725817#post4725817

HB

Hi Mozas,

Even if you can't remember the exact wording of your Particulars of Claim (POC), can you recall the gist of what you're claiming.

Also, you say the court has "set a date" - please confirm what Directions you have rec'd from the court.

if you filed online you could have continued for a default judgement. Ask the court about this. It is unlikely they will give you your paperwork back but may copy it for you at great expense (50p/page)

I have done a non monitory claim with an unspecified amount as unfortunately the deposit is not the only thing I am claiming against him. He is holding items of ours that at first is using as a monitory exchanged for me to release the full deposit to him from the DPS and that now he is claiming that he has never been holding any items from us and that he gave it back!! The value is worth nearly £2000 of items!!

So yes I know what I am claiming for: some of my deposit money back so no receipts as ever been provided to me therefore not believing him that that money is to go to him and secondly that I want my belongings back, or the value of it!

From what I understand is that now I need to wait and see if he is going to file is defense in time if not I can carry on with a default judgement, the thing is that the court doesn't tell me anything, I will need to mark that day and call them to find out what is going on I guess, as I just heard from the court when he eventually filed the acknowledgement and accept to defend 9 days after the dead line!

I will try to get some copies from the court next week otherwise can redo it, it's just time consuming.

My directions from the court so far is that on the 13th of Mai I need to go to court regarding the case. That's all, but if it's defended I am guessing the date might be changed as the dead line for the defense is 03/05 and I should be allowed to get to read it and find more arguments against his saying if I can? Not to sure yet how that part works!!

Thanks to all for your replies.

Not sure what's right here?

Was the deposit protected by DPS? which is a custodial scheme, i.e they hold all the deposit! not LL.

or was it another insurance backed scheme? where LL keeps deposit.

If DPS, they should still have it, unless you did not raise a dispute, and handed it back to LL.

Thanks raydetinu, the deposit is protected by DPS and that's why the LL was trying to blackmail me to release the deposit in exchange of my belongings as he cannot get the deposit without me agreeing to it, which I don't as no receipts being shown and he wants all the money!! DPS cannot help as I have raised a dispute but the LL is refusing it. The LL has now stopped the blackmail and is saying that he gave us back the belongings which he hasn't!!

Sorry it's a complicated story, hope you understand what I am trying to say.

That LL is a joke, does anyone who if I can report him somehow??

Thanks

Does the Order from the court only tell you to attend on xxdate - did it say anything about the type of hearing, documents required, etc.

Do you have any evidence that the LL is holding your property, eg letters, emails or recordings of any phone conversations.

How did the LL get control of your possessions ?

We really need to know your Particulars of Claim.

Has DPS made a decision about the deposit after you and the LL failed to reach an agreement.

Hi,

On the court paper I received it says: " Take notice that the court hearing will take place on 13 May 2015 at 10:30 AM. When you should attend 15 minutes has been allowed for the Hearing. Please note : This case may be released to another Judge, possibly at a different Court."That was the first paper I received. Then I received: " Your claim was issued under Part 8 of the CPR on 13 March 2015. The court sent it with copies of your witness statements to the defendant by first class post on 12 March 2015 and it will be deemed served on 16 March 2015. The defendant has until 30 March 2015 to reply". And finally I received this: "The defendant filed an Acknowledgement of Service on 09 April 2015, the defendant responded to the claim indicating an intention to defend all of the claim. The defendant has 28 days from the date of service of the claim form with particulars of claim, or of the particulars of claim to file a defence."

Basically how the LL got the belongings, is that there was a domestic incident at the address in August, my ex got arrested and taken to custody and was banned to return to the address, so got a bail accomodation. In the meantime I decided to move away as I did not feel safe, I informed the LL got my last rent organised and paid until the 06/09/14 even though i left on the 28/08/14. I left the LL in good term and took all of my belongings with me leaving my ex's stuff behind. The LL got my ex's bail lifted for a day and got the property cleared of his belongings together, some of his stuff went to a friend's garage and the electronic expensive stuff stayed with the LL as he offered to keep them in a non humid place until my ex sorts himself an accommodation. He obviously couldn't take his belongings back to the bail house! Anyway a month later I receive an email with a list of cost of damages and hours of works that he charged for "his time", the bill coming to over £1200. Basically all of my £825 deposit plus ...

My ex got a new place for himself and went back to the LL to get his stuff and the LL asked him to release the full deposit in his favour from the DPS in order to get his stuff back, my ex didn't know what it was all about as I am the one dealing with all this. I had been arguing on DPS with the LL to try to come to an agreement regarding the deposit, I even requested the alternative resolution center but it's been refused every times. I had to be back in touch with my ex has we have to put the claim in our both names against LL.

Regarding my particulars of claim:

I have copies of DPS refusal of the alternative procedure

I have emails where the LL writes himself that he is keeping some of my ex's stuff

I have emails showing that I have been requesting copies of the receipts in order to come to an arrangement and the LL's reply being that he doesn't need to provide me anything!!

I have a copy of an inventory of the new tenants of the property that was sent to me by mistake showing that he rerented the property 1 week after the 06/09/14 and that none of some of the work he wants me to pay for has been done, so basically he is rerenting the property as it is and estimating the cost of repair and overcharging to not have to give any deposit back.

I have pictures of the back garden of the property which he claims has been cleared for £50 when it clearly has been done.

He also wrote to me in his reply to my letter before action that I never gave him an extra £100 for a pet contribution which is a lie as I can prove because in his break down of cost that he emailed me included the deposit and wrote himself plus pet contribution of £100 to minus the amount "I still owe him". I am sorry to say that but I think he is an idiot to try to prove that I never gave him money when he writes himself that I did!! He wrote that because he didn't protect this extra money I gave him and I wrote it in my court claim that I wanted compensation because of him failing to protect that £100.

There is also text messages between him and my ex regarding the belongings.

That's about it ...

Waiting for you advise, thanks

Thanks for the further info, which I hope will now enable folk to offer you advice

Go for it, claim the lot and let the judge decide! and also add that the deposit was not protected, judge may well rule on that but no guarantee.

the only thing not clear, is at what stage in the contract you were, had it finished and become periodic?

did you both give the LL the required one months notice in writing? ( joint tenants?)

if not then he may be correct in wanting keep some of the deposit in lieu of notice?

Hi, the contract had become periodic. I gave the LL 2 weeks notice and paid up until 06/09/14 and left on the 28/08/14. We had a verbal agreement regarding that. Regarding the belongings he is now claiming he gave them back!!! And what not showing receipts and come to an arrangement?? No I am facing here a greedy LL that wants it all!! He probably got away with it in the past!! But not without a fight with me!

Does anyone know where can a bad LL be reported??

Many thanks

the council may be interested, but be careful as things are subjective and sometimes personnel!

right got some news, basically cannot get the copy of my claim form and particular of claims back as they ave used the 3 copies I sent them, defendants are husband and wife LL so they served both. They charge £10 per documents and an extra 50p for after the first 10 copies.

So that's fine I can rebuild my case just need to print out emails again, time taking but cheaper option, have given out enough money

Also, I am still waiting to hear some advise on what to do as he filed his acknowledgement of service late, does anyone know?

Thanks

I would have asked the court to send a copy as that is what you expected - a stamped copy for you; one for the defendant; one for the court file.

If they had to send off an extra copy for the co-defendant, they could have taken a copy in 5 seconds. Ridiculous and obstructive !!

You now wait to see if the defence is filed on time. Contact the court when the deadline is up and, if they are late defending, get an application into court for Judgement in Default immediately.

So I have sent to the court my last particular of claim that I had to follow, gave it to the court last week, it is a neighbor's witness statement. The last day for the LL to file the defense is tomorrow. Would the court allow the LL more time as I gave my last piece of document last week?

Does anyone know?

Thanks

If you put your request for judgement in and the defendant also puts their defence in then he will get priority. On the other hand the defendant can sit and let you enter judgement and then once you start to chase for your money will put in a application for a set aside. As long as you have the landlords personal address you may get somewhere.

but what if the deadline is passed and he has not put a defense in?

The dead line is tomorrow and the court judgement on the 13th of this month.

Should I enter judgement by default if no defense file or wait for the judgement day?

Thanks

If the defendant fails to defend by the required deadline, you can apply for Judgement as we've already said.

If you are given Judgement, the LL can apply to Set Aside but that is really up to a judge to decide.