won court case for Non return of deposit now Landlord has won counter claim TDS

[only1carra]

I wrote a while ago on here how I took my landlord to court for non return of my deposit.

The judge awarded in my favour and issued an order for the Landlord to pay my £375 deposit plus 1x deposit.

 

Since then the Landlord has made a counterclaim and has fabricated evidence saying that I caused £1100 worth damage to a

radiator and a matress.

 

During the first hearing of the counter claim the Landlord failed to present any evidence so the Judge set another date for the hearing.

 

As I did not recieve any evidence prior to the hearing I did not attend the court hearing. During the hearing when I was not present, the Judge awarded in favour of the Landlord.

 

The Judge served an order for me to pay the Landord £1100 despite the fact the order has already been served for the Landlord to pay me £375 + £375. Of this amount £375 still remains outstanding.

 

Was correct not to attend the hearing as no evidence had been sent to me therefore I had no case to defend?

 

Has the Judge made a mistake in issuing the order without me having the opportunity to defend myself?

 

The hearing was 2 months ago and today I have recieved an attachment of earnings form from my landlord as they seek to recover the money owed to them via my employer.

 

Where should I go from here?

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

You should have attended, you had the opportunity to attend but the LL has a judgment by default it seems.

[BankFodder]

No - you weren't correct not to attend. This was a silly and fatal mistake.

 

No the judge is correct.

 

Did you file a defence as to the counterclaim?

 

If you think that you have a good chance of success if you were allowed to defend. If you have evidence which wil support your case - good evidence, - then you can apply for a setaside.

 

I have to ask - why on earth didn't you seek our advice before all of this went so wrong for you?

[only1carra]

Thanks for the advice so far. The reason I did not attend was because the law states that all evidence should be submitted to the defendant at least 14 days before the case.

As no case was presented to me and no evidence received I did not think I had to attend.

Obviously I now regret not attending.

 

I do have good evidence and the landlord has no case so I cant see why the judge awarded and can only addume it was a default judgement. The fact that the judge has already issued a order for the landlord to pay me £375 x 2 before the counter claim (which the order has still not been paid to me) makes the decision even more rediculous.

[BankFodder]

Well if you are sure that you have the evidence then apply for a setaside. Do it now.

 

Never - ever - fail to attend a hearing. But you know that now, don't you

[only1carra]

I certainly do! Is the judge likely to accept the set aside?