Landlady's got my deposit and.......

[ajrz17]

She's gone to AUSTRALIA. Now I need some advice. I moved into a property begining of 2006. 6 month contract, renewable. IN june I told her I was going in September, she was ok about it. I left in September, and wrote to her asking for my deposit (£800) back. Nothing. A month later her father wrote to me telling me she had gone to Australia, and that the apartment was a mess and they had to redecorate blah blah blah and that I wouldn't get my deposit back. I told him that was unreasonable as the apartment was in a poor state when I took it over, she did no condition inventary, and was going to take it further. I sent a version of the template letter advised here, and offered £100 costs for cleaning. Again, nothing.

I want to take her/him to court, what do I do, she's in Australia, I have her fathers name but no address, he's looking after matters for her. Do I use the apartment address with her name or his? Thats my money they have used to redecorate and re let!!! :???:

[blacksheep1979]

who was the contract with and is she in Australia permanantly or just on holiday/traveling?

[ajrz17]

Contract with the lady, she has gone with family to Australia, permanent I guess. But she still owns the property!

[Joa]

If you still have your tenancy agreement for the property, there might be (should be) a clause there which contains contact details of the landlord for purpose of serving notices. Use this address. She is not your landlady anymore but you still have an unfinished business concerning the tenancy, i.e. deposit.

Once you have the contact details, implement normal procedures; first letter (see sticky on top of this forum), Letter Before Action, county court. Nice tight deadlines, witness statements/evidence etc. As a matter of courtesy, cc your letters to the l/lady's father. Good luck.

[MrShed]

You should note that realistically, you have very little chance unfortunately of receiving any of your deposit for the foreseeable future. If she has moved to Oz permanently, then even though you can get a claim against her, you will not be able to enforce the judgement.

[knoxvillain]

might be worth getting the judgement anyways so when she does return you can enforce it. Can you get confirmation of whether it definitely is perm or not?

[Joa]

additionally, you may want to register your order (if you get one) against the property, so if she ever wants to sell, she will be forced to pay you. This is called a "charging order" and it involves the court placing a 'charge' on the judgment debtor's property.

[knoxvillain]

Good idea you might not get your deposit back soon but at least you're going to return the favor and make life difficult for her.

[ajrz17]

Great! Thanks for the info, it will make me feel a little better to have a charge put on the property. I'd love to implicate her father as well but that would be a waste of time, probably.

I'll MCOL the landlady, any ideas with regard to the wording? a template maybe?

[Joa]

before MCOL please make sure that you follow the correct steps, otherwise your action will be too hasty. so; letter one as per template in the sticky, 14 days later :letter before action, which should contain a short summary of a first letter plus warning about impending court action. then, 14 days later MCOL. I suppose you can run the partculars of claim by us, if you need re-assurance but you know more or less what's the game.

[knoxvillain]

Definitely follow Joa's advice, you need to be able to demostrate to the court that you made all possible efforts to resolve it before going to court. Send ALL letters Recorded Delivery so you can prove delivery and keep a copy for yourself as well so you can produce them in court. Keep a folder for this specifically and file EVERYTHING you have in there including your lease, inventory, letters send and received. Always deal in writing, if you do end up on the phone, keep a log.

 

I don't know if it'll at least give you a start when you come to MCOL here but here's the particulars of claim I came up with against my landlord:

The pursuer, knoxvillain, leased the property at 21/8 xxxxxxxx Street, xxxxxxxx, West Lothian, EHxx xxx from the defender, xxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx Ltd, between 4th November 2005 and 17th November 2006. The pursuer paid a deposit of £435 to the defendant at the start of the lease.

 

Upon departure from the property, the deposit was not returned to the pursuer. Despite several requests, the defender has refused to return any of the deposit and has failed to provide adequate documentation accounting for the use of the deposit for repairs & cleaning. Copies of all correspondence, along with proof of delivery, is available and will be produced in court.

 

The pursuer admits that there was damage to the decor of the property and a small amount of damage to a kitchen unit caused by a puppy chewing on it. The pursuer contends that the £435 retained, along with the additional £662.33 requested, by the defender does not accurately reflect the level of repairs required to restore the property back to the condition it was in at the start of the tenancy (allowing for 12 months of wear and tear). The pursuer calculates that £202.85 will reasonably cover the work required.

 

The pursuer claims a sum equivalent to the remaining amount of the deposit after reasonable deductions for required repairs and cleaning costs. The sum of £232.15 along with £4.07 in interest. A total claim of £236.22 plus the costs & expenses of bringing this action.

 

The defender’s premises are located in xxxxxxxxxx, West Lothian and is therefore under the jurisdiction of xxxxxxx Sheriff Court.

[ajrz17]

The real problem I do forsee is the address, obviously I don't have the landlady's address, nor did her father give his address in his letter. I will only be able to use the address of the rented property for a) recorded letters or b) any court action. Thats my real problem.

[MrShed]

Use the land registry website to search the rented property - you should be able to find it out from there. Is the address not in the AST?

[ajrz17]

Sorry, the AST is? The landlady is in OZ. Sorry I'm a bit thick :o

[MrShed]

Lol...the AST is the tenancy agreement

[Joa]

ajrz; did you check the tenancy agreement for address for sending notices?

[ajrz17]

I did check, its the address of the house that she sold before moving to Oz! I guess I'll have to use the apartment address, which according to land registry is still in her name.

[MrShed]

Ah I see, so the only property she now owns is the apartment? I am not sure if serving notice will count there, as it is not her residence and so not reasonable to expect she will receive notice.

[ajrz17]

If I go ahead, Surely at least I can put a charge on the property and if she tries to sell, which is possible, it'll cause maximum inconvenience. Indeed is it possible to make her bankrupt???

[MrShed]

You cannot put a charge on the property if you cannot serve her valid notice of suing her. The reason for this is, if you cannot serve her valid notice, you are giving her no opportunity to either resolve the claim prior to a court date, or to make appearance at the court date, therefore no way of defending the claim.

 

Think about it this way. Because they cannot defend it, you could sue them for 10 times the amount they owe(well you couldnt because of small claims amounts but ignore that ), and IF it was valid service, you would win by default when she didn't turn up because she didn't know about it! That is why it is NOT valid service.

[ajrz17]

Thanks Mr Shed, bad news. But on the court action, if I do go ahead, if I cheekily place her fathers name as care of, might that not speed him into some action as it implements him as well and he will by rights contact her. I mean he contacted me after she left for OZ, and told me he was in fact managing her property. Guilty by association? Or am I clutching at straws?

[MrShed]

That may be more feasible. If he has stated that he is now managing the property, that would make him her agent for the property, and so you could send the notice CARE OF him. You still cannot involve him in the actual claim. But, during the tenancy, the landlord must supply an address in england and wales to the tenant....it is not unreasonable, given the information you have had presented, for you to come to the conclusion that this address is the father's address.

[ajrz17]

Oh goody! He in fact wrote to me to inform me she had gone, no address for him, he also phoned me and when I asked for his address, he refused. So, Mr Landladys dad, your for it

 

Scales clicked Mr Shed, thanks!

[knoxvillain]

Can you not get the postmark off the envelope and look him up in the phonebook if you know his surname? That'd get you his address

[ajrz17]

Can you not get the postmark off the envelope and look him up in the phonebook if you know his surname? That'd get you his address

 

I see a bright future for you Knoxvillian working for a DCA . Postmark ineligible, however I have his phone number, so could try and locate his address that way, do you think I should serve a Court order at this address?