Can our ex landlord still take us to small court?

[memphis12]

Hi.

 

To cut a long story short. We had bad landlords. It all went through the DPS (deposit protection scheme) who has an indipendant adjudicator who goes over both claims for the £1000 deposit and makes a decision after 28 days.

 

We were awarded our full £1000 depoist back.

 

I will just copy and paste the part which concerns my question:

 

"Rent arrears

11. Section 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 requires a landlord to provide a tenant with written notice of the landlord‟s name and address (in England or Wales) where notices may be served on that landlord. If the landlord has not given such notice to the tenant, no rent or service charge is lawfully due from that tenant until the landlord has complied. The Tenancy Agreement does not include a Section 48 Notice and the Landlord has not provided any other documentary proof of a valid Section 48 Notice having been served on the Tenant. I also

note that the Landlord‟s (and Tenant‟s) particulars are not defined in the Tenancy Agreement. On this basis, I find that the Landlord‟s claim for rent arrears fails."

 

Now.. our landlords are still harrassing us for the rent money. Well trying to bully us into giving them it. We have had the poilice involved to get them off our backs.

 

My question is,

Can they take us to a small court to try and get money?

 

We were told that the DPS decision is final and that there decision would hold up in court? Can anyone share any light on this?

 

Thank in advance.

 

ps they never put our deposit into the DPS for 7 months. We had to tell them to put it in.

[mariner51]

IMO rent arrears are a debt and can be pursued in County Court, even if LL agreed to DPS ADR, which is mainly to adjudicate on T damages etc.

However, if you provided an official transcript of the DPS adjudication, you have a strong case, based on the above. Same result likely.

If DPS hold the disputed deposit it should be returned to you.

[memphis12]

Thanks for the reply.

 

Yeah we have the full £1000 back now. Have had it for some time.

 

The thing is we gave the landlord about 4 months notice to move out as well and they agreed. But then they were funny at end and changed there mind. But I have my letter we wrote to them (dated) and txts sent from us and from them acknowledging that we had given notice.

 

They lied to DPS about when they recieved the deposit but we have signed receipts of when we gave it to them. Can we try to claim 3 x the amount of the deposit as they didnt put in 14 days after we gave it to them?

 

They also lied to DPS saying that we never gave them notice for moving out but as I have said above we have proof.

 

One more thing.. the tennant agreement is done on some crappy paper and doesnt state anything about notice, breaking contract, things like that. It is also not signed by any of our landlords. They signed the "witness" bit but they never signed the landlord bit...?

[The Carpet Cleaners]

You cannot sue them for the 3 x deposit as you have moved out...

 

I would just try to forget the whole episode, and if they try to take you to court, you have all the proof you need, including the full return of the deposit by the DPS, you should not worry about this any more, just wait and see what happens....

 

On another note... if you are being harrassed by your ex landlord, then you should write to them asking them to stop, or you will report them to the police, but only do this if you are prepared to report them.

 

Harassment is a criminal offence.

[Snorkerz]

The landlord can sue you in the county court.

 

That doesn't necessarily mean he can win such a claim

If it happens, defend the claim in the same way as you did to the DPS, including the fact that arbitration found in your favour. Make sure you know the correct processes involved for 'small claims' - they're not difficult but your local library or Amazon will have books on the small claim process.

The arbitration decision will make it very difficult for the landlord to win.

 

Forget the 3x - here's why http://tenancyanswers.ucoz.com/index/section_214_claims/0-45

 

The point about the tenancy agreement is a red herring - tenancy agreements for less than 3 years don't have to be written, so the signature or lack of it is not critical.

 

Can you clarify - did you leave before the end of a fixed term contract?

If so - do you know if tenants moved into the place since then?

[memphis12]

Yes we left before our 24 month contract but they agreed to let us go. We let them show ppl around the house while we were still living there & paying rent. They changed mind at end

 

Yes they have ppl in the property now.

 

Thanks for the help.

[Snorkerz]

Yes we left before our 24 month contract but they agreed to let us go.

Do you have proof of that?

 

We let them show ppl around the house while we were still living there & paying rent. They changed mind at end

Not relevant to your claim

 

Yes they have ppl in the property now.

At worst your liability ended when tenants moved in. Surrender by operation of law.

[memphis12]

What does "surrender by operation law" mean mate?

 

Yes we kind of have proof. I have txts saved on iPhone and copy of letter we sent and they sent us back?

 

There is nothing in there contract to indicate how many months notice we needed to give or what would happen if we left.

My gf got pregnant so we wanted to buy house. They agreed so we got mortgage., they changed there mind.

[mariner51]

In this case "operation by law" means once new Ts move in, the previous T ceases, as 2 sep Tenancies granting exclusive use of property cannot exist at the same time AFAIK. Txt evidence is useless. Did your confirmation letter clearly state exact date you would vacate? Was it signed by LL? Did you provide 2 copies signed by you with one returnable by LL? Did it state at the bottom " signed as a Deed"?

Most Notice periods are governed by Statute eg Housing Act 1988 which should be referred to on the header page of the AST.

ie a tenancy cannot be terminated during fixed term (yours 24 mo) by either Party other than by operation of a specified break clause provision, a Court Order or by mutual written & signed Consent (pref Deeed of Surrender). If by 'mutual consent', the LL is entitled to compensation for lost income & expenses incurred.

You have had your full deposit returned after DPS ADR, due to major oversight by LL. His chances of suing for compensation etc is slim as you could claim no legalTenancy existed, though ASTs of

As for his alleged harrassment/frustration, that could be easily sorted with a well-crafted Solicitor's letter.

 

Bad LL?? he could have held you to full 24 month fixed term, at what cost to you?

[memphis12]

Yes bad landlord. These guys have put my pregnant Girlfriend through so much stress. They said "of course yous can go" "get the mortgage" "everything will be ok" .. until my friend mentioned to me about the DPS which I new nothing about. I asked them if my deposit was in this and they flipped and went crazy with me. They said this was only introduced months after my contract started. That was a lie. They put our money into the dps the day we moved out .. out os spite. They then lied to DPS about damage to house which was untrue, that we didnt give notice, untrue, the date they we gave them deposit, untrue. They herass us on the phone and by letter.. now bu email. We have had the police involved and they took our side.

They sent us forms to sign to get out of contract when they started being funny. So surely they will hold up.. THEY sent us forms acknowledging that they were letting us out of the contract..

 

Thankyou for taking the time to help me.. a lot of what you wrote flys right over my head lol. So basically you think it wont hold up in court? I rang DPS again yesterday and they said the independant adjudicator is a small claims and the decision is final.

[memphis12]

PS this is what answer I got elsewhere which i read is true:

"The Deposit Protection Service arbitration scheme is voluntary. It can only be used if both parties agree to it. Otherwise the parties have to go to court. However, in agreeing to use the arbitration scheme the parties agree to be bound by its outcome. Which means they can't then go to court if they don't like the decision.

 

So in this case the landlord is bound by the arbitrator's findings. The arbitrator found there was no grounds on which the landlord could claim rent was owed. So the landlord is stuck with that decision. It sounds like this decision was made on a technicality, but the courts and arbitrators tend to expect landlords to do things by the book.

 

My advice would be to write to the landlord and point out that he agreed to be bound by the arbitration, so he has no grounds to make demands to rent or other payments related to your tenancy. Also say that any further demands will be treated as harrassment and reported to the police. If he is stupid enough to start court proceedings your defence is straightforward - simply say that you have already been to binding arbitration so there is no case to answer."