Trying to take landlord to court - he lives in NZ

[Floppo]

Hi

I am trying to recover our deposit after leaving our short-hold tenancy property. The landlord held the deposit as it was paid in 2006 before the Deposit Scheme came into operation.

 

Our landlord lives in New Zealand so the address on the contract was his parents address in Devon. I also have a copy of the final rent statement, sent by the lettings agent to the landlord, to this Devon address.

 

I first of all sent the N1 Online Claim Form to the rented property, which was passed to the lettings agent and passed to the landlords solicitor, who returned it to the court saying the landlord did not live in the UK.

 

I then re-issued the N1 addressed to the landlord at the Devon address. This was sent to the solicitors who sent it back to the court, saying 'This is not an address for service for our client - the Claim form has not been validly served on the Defendant.'

 

Please help! Can I re-issue the N1 using the Devon address but post it to the New Zealand home address (which I also have) ?

 

I actually phoned the landlords solicitor this morning, and said the claim form had been correctly served, otherwise how could a tenant issue proceedings against a landlord outside the UK? And he said 'with difficulty'. Of course, I didn't expect to get much joy from him, but now I am seething!

 

What is my next move please?

 

Thanks

Michelle