ahhh.....nice......

Thank you Lula, I won't waste my time then! Would I be correct in thinking that if the case with the OFT goes in all our favour rather then the banks, I won't have such a tough time in obtaining my charges back via my court case? Thanks again. Eva

Very interesting! The stay was ordered by the district judge himself however, I have never been informed that I could have the opportunity to contest this?

Hi all, As title states, my case has been postponed due to the high court case with the oft. Is everyone else being affected also by this? Thanks, Eva

Hi all, I have a court date for August 29th for my hearing against Abbey however, I have just had a baby and am also due to be away that week - I just wondered if this will go against me in any way? I would have preferred to have been able to attend however, due to my circumstances it is impossible for me to do this! Altho I did wonder whether breastfeeding my newborn baby in front of a judge may work in my favour ...... Thanks, Eva

Hi everyone, As the title states, I have received a hearing for the 29th August 2007 at the Watford County Court. I just wondered if anyone can advise basically what I need to prepare -- my case is a bit more different as I am trying to reclaim charges amounting to nearly £1300 which I believe to have been forced on me by Abbey as they refused to offer me a payment solution to clear my debt (at the time) until I had let my account go into default and be terminated. This apparently was the process I had to take in order to get them to freeze my account and stop any further charges. I do have copies of letters I sent to them requesting a payment solution and help with the financial situation I was in at the time and also have some names and dates of calls made to Abbey regarding the same. I appreciate that the information I need is probably somewhere within this forum and apologise if I seem somewhat 'lazy' by asking for fresh advice via this thread. The problem I currently have, is I am expecting a baby which is due in 6 days time so can come at any moment and as such, I would ideally like to utilise this time preparing any paperwork rather then searching for the information on myself!!! Thanks in advance! Eva

Sorry, and in answer to your other question - why did the landlord think that I had vacated the property. This was potentially down to the fact that he got both of his representatives to follow me to my new address whilst I was in process of moving belongings out of property before end date and these representatives questioned other residents in my block as to whether someone new had moved in and in which flat and if they had a daughter etc etc... This was brought to my attention by these residents who did not know me however, approached me and advised me regarding this. I got very shirty with them in a text message and told them to leave me alone, that they were a pair of bitches (okay so I insulted them but never went beyond that swear word). I then received a text message back stating 'calm down or else ur'll be avin dat thing ur carrying early'. I'm 33 weeks pregnant.

Re the deposit acting as last month's rent, I understand that it is not 'common practice' to use your deposit as your last month's rent however, I provided the landlord with a very lengthy written explanation to my reasons behind this giving concrete examples and the bottom line to my having to do this was due to lack of good faith (on their part) and the fact that this was the only way in which I could guarantee that I would not be taken advantage of. Rightfully or wrongfully, I took the attitude that I would rather them have to approach me for any dilapidations then me, having to pursue court etc in order to obtain my deposit back. A few os the reasons I gave were: 1. 62 days from reporting a repair to a blown down fence to having the repair done. Repair men confirmed they were only advised to do the job 3 weeks prior to job being undertaken. 2. 3 written requests for proof of electrical safety certs - never ever provided. 3. Written request for work needed to leaking outside gutter and drains - advised this falls into my remit?! 4. Written request for work needed to outside access for garbage disposal - was advised this was my remit! Took 2 weeks, an environmental health warning, a legal adviser stating that it was work to the structure so not my remit and my giving them 7 days to complete the work or I would get it done and deduct the amount from the rent before they got this done. 5. Various verbal requests, 2 written requests and 7 months to fix the taps in the bathroom which were back to front (i.e. cold water coming out of hot water tap and vice versa causing scolding to my daughter). 6. Landlord stated in contract that there were no collection actions, etc..on address and if any became known then I would be advised in writing immediately - from start to end (and still ongoing) I had the property raided by 7 police officers, I had a visit every week from one bailiff or another, I had 4 visits by court enforcement officers with warrants for arrest, I had 1 visit from private investigator, I had numerous visits from 'heavies', I had an extortionate number of visits from debt collectors and I had a CIFAS warning for fraud under the address put on my credit record. All these visits are documented and proven plus the associated letters sent by all these and other individuals/companies ---- No mention of this from the landlord! I could continue to go on with more concrete examples as to why I lacked trust in the landlord and his representatives but I think you get the jist LOL :-|

Thats great! Thank you for checking that out for me, that was very kind of you

Thats good news! Thank you

Out of curiosity, my current tenancy with the HA is an assured non shorthold tenancy - don't suppose you could advise me as to what this means in layman's terms? My last one was under an assured shorthold tenancy and, I never was in rent arrears, as stated previously, I could even prove that I paid my rent about 3 days early every month!

I believe to just change locks even on grounds of abandonment and prove this is very difficult. Especially, as I mentioned that I had personal documentation relating to myself and my daughter there and I had also written to the landlord to explain what I was doing! Regarding social landlords; I am now rehoused with a Housing Association and the estate manager I deal with did advise me herself that the previous tenants of the property I now have, had 3 dogs (which was against the tenancy as no pets are allowed in the flats) and they were taken away from the RSPCA due to being left alone here, they sublet the property and they were not living here however, the housing association still had to go to court and seek and order for possession and notice to quit plus wait for the keys to be handed back by these previous tenants on the said date, prior to being allowed to legally enter the property and make good for my arrival! Baring in mind the actual breaches in their tenancy!

The outstanding rent was £750 and the deposit I gave them was also £750. Although, I am a little uncertain as in the contract it does state that after 14 days of late payment they can charge a rate based on 10% per annum of outstanding amount however, I did actually inform them that my deposit was to act as last months rent payment. Personally, I had checked out their changing the locks and if they do pursue my via court for any costs at all then I will counterclaim on the fact that they unlawfully evicted me. They claim I breached contract by not paying rent (whilst I was still under the tenancy - so in effect it is late not, not paid) and because I vacated the property leaving it empty (however, they contradict themselves in their communication to me as they say I left the property empty/vacated but also confirm that I had belongings there, including a teacrate full of personal documents so I obviously had not left it empty/vacated and done a disappearing act!). On checking out where I stand, it appears that regardless if I owed months of rent (which I didnt) and even if contract was breached (which I feel it wasn't) then they still have to go via the court for a court order for possession or bailiffs warrant and cannot just simply go into the property and change the locks without any prior warning whatsoever!

Hope this clarifies, the landlord is an individual however, he set up a discretionary trust (for inheritance reasons) which holds 3 properties within it, one I rented and the other two rented by each of his two representatives. To update, I was able to collect the rest of my belongings with the police officer who kindly attended with me. I was quite impressed at how rude and sarcastic the representatives were towards me in front of the officer and he advised them to now leave me alone as they have no further reasons to contact me. Also, the last letter I sent the landlord (the one above which I copied and pasted) has just been handed by to me today from the Royal Mail with a sticker which says that the landlord/his representatives have refused to accept it so, as far as I am concerned, if they refuse to accept my written communication I can assume that there will be no further contact regarding his comments for costs incurred for remedial works, etc..

LOL, yes, in one respect it is but the hormonal, getting easily upset and distressed side is not as great! I was hoping to finally be able to enjoy what little time I have left of my pregnancy as they have taken me to hell and back since November 2006 however, it seems that the only professional perogative they wish to pursue is to continue their 'vendetta' against me! Such a shame that under the circumstances, should they had used all this enthusiasm to have dealt with the matters I had highlighted to them which kick started this whole nightmare off, then this all could have been avoided. Considering they had such terrible tenants before, I would have thought to have had an exceptional one such as myself who in fact paid her rent 2 or 3 days early every month :o (how many tenants are that good?!) and looked after and treated the property with the respect she would give to her own, then dealing with the issues rather then acting defensively and down the path they decided to take, was a rather foolish action and completely unnecessary. Especially, as I'd assume that whoever takes on the tenancy moving forward, should they encounter the same issues, then it will only be a matter of time before they approach for assistance as I did!