Old landlord deposit claim - overseas

[t1grm]

Back in 2007/2008 I rented a flat in Amsterdam. The landlord never returned my 3000 EUR deposit. He gave me lots of excuses including saying he'd sent it when it hadn't arrived and eventually stopped returning my calls and email.  The landlord has subsequently popped up in London and I have his address. He a small time TV producer and his contact details are all over the internet including IMDB. 

 

Is there any point in putting in a small claim? I still have the rental agreement and bank statements form the period proving I paid a deposit and received nothing.

 

I'm guessing the small claims court would knock it back on the basis of time elapsed or they have no jurisdiction. Would England and Wales rental law apply to this case? I'd long written the money off but since his name and address popped up on my radar I thought it might be worth a punt on around £50-£100 for small claim if there's half I chance I might get some money back.

[AndyOrch]

Topic moved to  Residential and Commercial lettings/Freehold issues Forum....please continue to post here.

 

The Jurisdiction would be a problem and the UK laws would not apply....you could consider the following but you would have to research the equivalent Dutch law .

 

European Small Claims procedure: Cost and process

EUROPA.EU

---

Claim up to €5000 against a person, organisation or business based in another EU country, without having to go to court.

 

 

Regards

 

Andy

[t1grm]

Thanks, both parties are in the UK so not sure that route would work after Brexit.

Edited September 1, 2021 by t1grm

[BankFodder]

The tenancy contract was made in the Netherlands and so it would be have to be subject to Dutch law and tried in the Dutch courts.

Another problem also is limitation. UK limitation is generally speaking six years from the date of the breach. I think that in most of Europe it is three years – but this needs checking up – but in any event you are talking about a claim much older than 10 years and so think it's a nonstarter.

If you wanted to put pressure on this person – and seeing that this person is involved in the media with a public reputation to consider, you could start writing up about it and naming him around the Internet – as long as you have the evidence to support what you say so that you don't find yourself in the way of a defamation threat.

As long as what you are writing is true and you are doing it maliciously then you should have nothing to worry about in terms of letting people know about this person

[t1grm]

Thanks. I don't think I'll bother. It was just a shot in the dark since I saw he was in UK now. I might ping him an email care of his agent asking for my money and threatening legal action to see if that has any effect.