Ah I see - thanks. We were planning on amending the case today anyway to remove deposit / illegal eviction fine, so can take that out as well and P60 it. With regards to contacting them we have tried to arrange a discussion but have since been ignored, do you think it is worth contacting once more on the claim total?

Hi, sadly that is not the case or we wouldn't be in this mess! Day rates come and go depending on work. During the time dealt with the landlord / estate agent / they were responding to us, we just wanted our money back, and still do. However we have been ignored since November 25th, hence why we took legal action.

I meant the fine...

Hi, that helps, thanks. Ok that makes sense re: the claim - we can amend that alongside the deposit fine. With the loss of earnings we have payslips of day rates etc so we can show that. We just used a big yellow storage company as it was the closest storage facility, that is how much it was for furniture etc for a large enough space, we got the first month half price too. We have also sent everything recorded delivery so we have that re: the pre-action protocol. What about the admin fee?

Hi, thanks for your reply. We are now trying to get the deposit via DPS. I imagine the landlord will dispute this though. After we left the property we moved in with family as we wanted to keep costs low, and to be honest we didn't really know what to do. We both took the Monday off work to move our stuff out so it wouldn't get covered in mould (what I am allergic too), but we did not surrender the contract/ say that we were moving out / abandon the property for more than 21 days, as it says in our AST, hence why we went back that weekend to try and find out what was going on with the property... then we found out we had been locked out with a mortice lock that we had not been given the keys for, and the estate agent we had was closed. This is when we decided to return the keys to the estate agency. Also, on the Wednesday 2 days after leaving the property, we called KFH who confirmed they had been showing people around the property and would be doing more viewings during the week. We had not been given any notice of this (even though the estate agent told us they would give us 24h notice, which was the last correspondence we heard from the landlord / agent), nor did they get in contact with us / respond to us to ask if we had left the property. Which is odd as we made it clear we were not surrendering the property. I did not go and see a doctor no, but I did go to the pharmacy who gave me another inhaler and antihistamines, I also have proof of a mould allergy... but again like you say we would then need to prove mould in the property which we don't want to have to do, as the reason we left was due to being misled. Does that help? Thanks again

Hi Everyone, So we have decided to take the following action: 1) ask the court to allow us to amend the claim 2) get in touch with the landlord again to see if they will agree to discuss a settlement / discuss something with us 3) get in touch with the deposit scheme and try and dispute that through them 4) extend the life of the claim due to the clerical error with MCOL (they accidentally discontinued our claim mid Jan without telling us. We only realised last week, and spend a week trying to resolve that) I will post again with any updates but if you have any other ideas then do let me know! Thank you for your help

Thanks Steve. So... 1. We still haven't received anything on the Deposit, the only information we received was about the My Deposit scheme (which isn't where it was held), so they have definitely missed the 30 day window on that. 3. We did get in touch with the council, and the day the council said they could come was the week after we were locked out. We then called the council and they said they would not come... I am inclined to believe this may be why we were locked out. I think that is a good option, we are also thinking we will try and get the deposit back through the DPS scheme and then taking it out of the claim. We have repeatedly contacted the landlord via post (first through the agency and then once we got her address) and they have not responded (we have proof of our letters too). We also still don't have their solicitor contact details. However, I think we will try the resolution approach... I just do not know what they have in their defense / counterclaim, but maybe we would seem more reasonable if we put the offer there....

Sorry just realised I responded incorrectly.... It doesn't no, however I am not sure how easy the process will be to get it under 10k now it has gone through...?

It doesn't no, however I am not sure how easy the process will be to get it under 10k now it has gone through...?

Hi Steve, Thanks so much for your response. So in answer to your questions: 1) Thanks - The deposit was with DPS (however on the AST they said it was with My deposits), however we did not receive a PDF, we also didn't know if it was protected or who it was protected with, so called the deposit schemes until we found where it had been. 2) Ok about about gas safety, I guess it was just another thing they had not done properly 3) a. We have proof the work wasn't done, and we stated that our offer was "contingent" on them, however obviously our main issue was with the damp problems b. I can proof this as I had to get an emergency inhaler (have the prescription) on the Tuesday after moving out, I also have multiple doctors allergy notes / information / antihistamine prescriptions on my allergy. My partner was in hospital with a fungal related infection from mould in the past which we are currently getting a letter to show this. c. We have photos of damp.water in the walls and black mould on the walls, plus photos of the dehumidifiers and multiple mould gels that were added to the property when we moved in 4. We said we felt we had been misled due to the addition of the dehumidifiers and mould items which were not there when we viewed or in the inventory, that we wouldnt have taken the property due to our health concerns and that we couldnt live there due to the damp and mould problems and the effect they would have on us. We asked for our money back and removals costs, but that was it. Initially the Estate agent said he would give us a refund the next day but seemed to change his mind, as when we went to the estate agency the next day it was closed with the shutters down! We also asked to speak to the landlord directly but the estate agent and landlord refused to give us her address stating "data protection"... not sure if that would count as much pressure? What do you think? We also only gave the keys back on the Saturday (5 days after moving our stuff out of the property), after we went back to the property to find we had been locked out, and after going back to the estate agency to find it shut and the agent not responding to us. To be clear we never said we wanted to end the contract or move out, we just asked for the contract to be rescinded, however neither the estate agent or landlord contacted us about this after our final email on the Tuesday 30th Nov saying that there were no issues with the property and that they would let us know if there are any viewings (which they didn't). We also know that KFH held viewings in the property on the Wednesday as we called KFH who stated that they had been showing people around on the Wednesday, and were doing more viewings that week. So basically we didn't really know what was happening and no one was responding to us. 5. Yeah I think this is true, however couldn't the landlord just say no to any amendments and try to pressure us with the costs? Also the amendments cost another £250 to go direct to the court. What do you think may be the best option here? What is the free concillation service?? Thanks for your help

Hi, thank you for your reply! Ok - we sent the deposit over before we moved in, if that makes a difference? 7k is probably low balling, as we had to take time off work and we have receipts for everything, including having our belongings in storage since November 27th (we haven't claimed for anything we don't have receipts for). We also have not claimed for things like emotional distress etc.

Hi everyone, My case is turning quite complex and I would appreciate any support anyone has for me. I will try and lay everything out as clearly as possible... 1) Viewed a property on the 21st of October, and noticed some issues with the property (cracks on the outside walls), we asked the estate agent who said it was just “common shrinkage”. As the current tenants were in with furniture / laundry around we didn’t see the full extent of this. 2) The following week we decided to make an offer on the property, and stated that “this offer is contingent on the following: …”. Our contingencies included: a professional clean, painting over some obvious large internal cracks, resealing mould in bathroom and cleaning the garden. The landlord confirmed in writing to do the contingencies before our move in date. We also asked for an inventory, and received a list of items, before going ahead with putting in our deposit etc. 3) Upon moving out of my rented flat and into the property 6 weeks later (25th of November), we discovered that 1) no work that our offer was contingent on had been completed and 2) Two 12L dehumidifiers had been placed into the bedrooms (RRP: £139.99), alongside 9x mould absorbency gels dotted around the flat, indicating that there was a mould / damp problem in the flat (neither the dehumidifiers or gels were in the flat advertisement, nor were they present when viewing). 4) I have severe Asthma and a mould allergy, and my boyfriend has also been to hospital with a mould allergy in the past, so obviously had we known there was an issue we would not have made any offer on the flat. 5) We immediately got in touch with the estate agent in writing, who stated the dehumidifiers were there upon viewing (not the case). The dehumidifiers were also not included in the inventory we received (although that included kettle/toaster and other small appliances). Irrespective of that none of the work the landlord said they would do was done. In addition, I immediately begun suffering from my allergies in the flat due to mould / damp (asthma, hives etc). 6) Once we were in the flat without the previous tenants’ belongings, we began to see many more issues in there that were concealed by the previous tenants furniture and items on walls (e.g. cracks in internal walls that were concealed) as well as many probable hazards with the flat (e.g. excessive cold, windows not shutting properly, suspected subsidence and suspected penetrative damp / mould). 7) We got in contact with the estate agent the evening we moved in. The estate agent denied all of the above and stated that the dehumidifiers were there upon viewing (they weren’t). There was some back and forth over the next 24hrs but the consensus from the estate agent and landlord was that nothing was wrong with the flat and that we were not misled. We asked to know what would happen with the flat and the estate agent told us that landlord “believed and understood the property was in a fine state of repair from the outset”. 8) After moving in on the Saturday the 25th Nov, and getting nowhere with the estate agent/landlord we decided for our health (mine especially – I had gone through a full inhaler and multiple antihistamines in the 24 hours I had been there) to leave the flat as we realised we had been sold a lie, it was clear the landlord wasn’t going to do anything and we could not stay due to our health. 9) We moved our belongings into storage at the earliest opportunity (Monday the 28th Nov) and went to stay with family so we didn’t have to live there and struggle health wise. We also received an email from the estate agent that the landlord was going to re-let the property with a different estate agent and that we would get 24h notice before any viewings take place. That email was the last we heard from either the landlord or the estate agent. 10) 5 days later we went back to the property and realised we had been locked out (they had used a lock to which we were not provided a key) so could not gain access to the property even if we did want to remain in the contract. 11) We also realised the landlord had been negligent on a number of other things: Hadn’t given us prescribed information on the deposit, had put the deposit in the wrong scheme (i.e. not the one they put in our AST), we had no gas safety certificate, and there was further misrepresentation (said there was a fridge freezer and chest freezer, there was neither). 12) We tried to contact them and were ignored. Finally, we sent a pre-action protocol letter outlining our claim and restating that we were open to negotiate rescission of the contract and our monies paid back. This was ignored. 13) 14 days later we filed a court claim against the landlord which included all the money we paid and damages (around 7k) and also the fines for them not giving us the proper prescribed information (£6.6k) so our case is currently in the fast track (we found out after this may not be the best thing). 14) The landlord is now defending and counterclaiming (we are waiting for the details of their defence and counterclaim in the post but assuming this is for loss of rent up to the new tenant move in date, irrespective of the illegal eviction). 15) One last point is that the MCOL apparently made a clerical error and accidentally discontinued our claim on the 17th of Jan without telling us, and we spent the last week or so reinstating it. I am now unsure of what our next steps should be so any advice on what you think we should do would be hugely appreciated. Thank you all!