Please Please Help!

[rl123]

Hi there, I am very new to the board but am overwhelmed by how much knowledge and help is giving, therefore I was hoping for some advice on my case. I am sorry but there is no short way of telling it so you will have to bear with me.

I was renting with a private landlord for about 15 months with my fiancée and 1 year old; for the first 8 months I paid on the dot every month (also within this time my fiancée fell pregnant with my second son). I never really heard from my landlord in this period apart from one unannounced visit. My wage then stopped as the company I was with shut down without informing the staff of any problems. I was late with two months rent but did find the means to pay albeit late. Within this time I had constant phone calls from my landlord, nasty voicemail messages that I wish I had saved saying how he doesn’t like to turn nasty but will if need be, and on three occasions unannounced visits. I was not scared of my landlord but the fact I had a small child and pregnant girlfriend in the house I felt very unsettled. The final straw came when I received a phone call at 12.30am to which I ignored and did 1471 (yes it was my landlord) then the next day at 5.45am I had a knock at my door. When I opened up my landlord was standing there with a lady and he proceeded to just walk into the house asking me to prove that the rent due had been paid. I few words were said and I showed him the proof on my internet banking. After this event I was left so shocked and my family were so upset we phoned the C.A.B. who advised us what he had done was against the law. A few days passed and I received a letter from my landlord advising I had 28 days to leave. Within the 28 day period I was taken to court to seek possession of the property, the judge dismissed the case out as I still had 4 days before the 28 day period was up. I did not pay any more payments as I was so disgusted by the treatment I had received. I took me three weeks after the 28 days to find another property. Within this time I discovered that My landlord had failed to renew the gas health and safety certificate and it over a six month period whilst I was paying the rent on time My son, girlfriend and I had been living in a potentially dangerous property as my landlord did not carry out this check which is a legal obligation set by the Health and Safety Executive. I also had another unannounced visit whilst I was at work and my partner was alone at home with my son, my landlord turned up with another large male invited himself in and starting asking my partner who did not sign the tenancy agreement what was going on, when we were leaving etc. my girlfriend called me whilst I was there and I spoke to my landlord at work advising he can not just turn up without giving us written notice. After the conversation my landlord did 1471 on my phone to obtain my work number without any permission to do so whatsoever. I sent an email to my landlord stating the date I was leaving and left owing £1471 in rent arrears. I did not ask for my £875 deposit back and I just wanted to start a new life and try and forget about it all. About 1 month passes and I receive a email from my landlord as follows.

 

Dear …..

 

Unfortunately you were unable to attend the court

hearing at …… County Court on 15-8-06 re:

court case …..

 

I have recieved the General Form of Judgement or Order

from the courts this morning and am aware that a copy

may well not be with you due to them not having a

forwarding address.

 

I will summarise for you benefit:

 

The court orders that:

1. Judgement for arrears of £1479.72 payment due by …..

2. Defendant (….) pay Claimant's costs of

£150.00 by ….

 

If you need a copy of this letter forwarding please

state where you would like it sending to (you will

also have a copy sitting at 11 Maple Drive). If i do

not recieve payment by the due date 29 August 2006 i

will then hand deliver the letter to you along with

details of where we go from here.

 

I will pursue this to the end now …. - i assume you

are now realising this.

 

I await confirmation of your payment or otherwise

 

I was in complete and utter surprise and had no knowledge of any court hearing taking place, therefore was unable to give the courts my side of the story (i.e. all the above plus the fact £875 of my deposit was never returned, which he also did not obviously mention). I decided to ignore the email as I believed he would not know where I was living. Another month passes and I then receive this email.

Dear ….I have waited until now to hear from you with regardto paying the outstanding rent due. I have heardnothing and can only assume it is not a priority foryou to sort out.As a result i am writing to let you know that i am nowpursuing this matter further and will undertake ALLlegal avenues to recover then monies due. I have looked into my options and they are numerous. I have all the information on you that i need topursue this further. I have your work address andtelephone number along with your new home address andtelphone number I will at this stage still accept an offer to concludethis matter. You have until monday … to offerme a 50% payment of the full amount outstanding by theend of the month in which case i will drop all furtheraction.If i do not hear from you by then i will assume i haveonly one choice.

Once again I ignored the matter and hid away from it my girlfriend was ready to drop and I did not have any means to pay 50% of the fee.

Two months later I received a knock at my door from the county court bailiff who I said I could send a n245 form and offer to pay monthly which I did, about another 2 months passed and I had a another bailiff letter stating I had not paid the monthly payment as agreed and now owe the full amount I explained I had not received any notification from the courts of the outcome and this was the first I had heard about the case, he once again advised me to fill in another n245 form to suspend the warrant and offer a monthly payment to clear the judgement, I did this and paid another £35 fee for the form + £365 as a payment against the amount. Three days ago I get another knock on the door without any letters or phone calls regarding the outcome of my n245 claim. He has now advised I can not do anything but pay now or get my goods taken away from me (ie my car) I have already paid my landlord £875 from the deposit he kept another £365 = £1240 and they are now asking me to pay £1319 by next Wednesday or else. I have kept all email records, I and have both copies of the Gas health and safety check to prove that whilst I was paying the rent I was living in a potentially dangerous property.

Please if anyone can help I would be so so great full.

[MrShed]

Why have you made any payment towards the amount? By doing so you may have seriously jeapordised any chances of challenging the judgement made without your knowledge.

[bazak1]

this whole saga has broken the law at least a couple of times.

your landlord has to give you 24 hours notice before he can enter your property, unless its an emergency or you let him in.

the fact that he has telephoned you after midnight is intimidation.

the fact that he has actually called at your dwelling at 5.45am is intimidation and turning up with another man could also be treated as intimidation and the whole thing is certainly harassment.

the part about him getting your works number without your permission could be dealt with under the data protection act.

being a landlord and not keeping an up to date health and safety certificate is most certainly not on. i believe that one of the provisions of being a landlord is that the dwelling be a fit and safe place to let.

i suggest you take the whole thing to the CAB or if you can afford it, a solicitor who deals with this kind of thing.

[MrShed]

There is a possible harrassment issue here, and the gas certificate issue is a serious one. The 24 hours notice thing will be difficult to argue that access was not granted, and I very much doubt there is anything illegal about getting a works phone number - the method used certainly wouldnt be affected by the DPA. Regardless, these issues are somewhat by the by now. The issue is that:

 

- OP has a judgement against him, given by default, and without any notice to him.

- OP has proceeded to pay elements of this judgement.

 

IMO the OP has probably, by paying an amount, removed any chances of having the judgement reviewed - although I am not sure.

[Joa]

rl123; this self-help forum may not be sufficient for your needs although there are realy experienced posters here. I suggest you go to The Directory and locate a solicitor who'd be willing to help. Don't forget to tick the LSC Funded Provider option.

You can also use the Legal Aid Calculator to tell the solicitor that you'd qualify for legal help.

Good luck and chin up- you will overcome this.

[bazak1]

thanks for correcting me mr shed, i just presumed that gaining knowledge about ANY part of a persons life without decent and proper permission is not on.

as the OP has actually paid something towards this supposed debt, does that now mean he has admitted he owes it and has now ( as the saying goes ) shot himself in the foot.

[MrShed]

I think it does unfortunately. But, maybe someone can correct. DPA refers to giving OUT information, not obtaining it, to my knowledge.

[rl123]

thanks fors all your coments, i do admit i owed rent still however the figure he has claimed and won does not include the £875 deposit i have never had returned is there anything i could do to make this point to the courts?

[Esio Trot]

thanks fors all your coments, i do admit i owed rent still however the figure he has claimed and won does not include the £875 deposit i have never had returned is there anything i could do to make this point to the courts?

 

Treat this as a separate matter.

 

Write demanding an account of its use or its return.

[MrShed]

Very good idea Esio...

[rl123]

I am right in thinking that if he claims it was for repair I should have been advised and had theoption to usemy own resources to do so. as I can almost guarentee he will say this.

[MrShed]

No you do not have the right to use your own resources, but yes you have the right to be advised and also the right to copies of the receipts and invoices.

[Esio Trot]

I am right in thinking that if he claims it was for repair I should have been advised and had the option to use my own resources to do so. as I can almost guarantee he will say this.

 

Any repairs or damage must make reference to an inventory and condition report preferably made by an independent company and signed by you at the time you moved in.

 

In the absence of such documentation there is no evidence to say what Items were damaged or not, nor the cleanliness or otherwise of the premises.

 

No Documentation = No Deductions

[rl123]

No inventory was ever signed by myself just a standard short hold tennancy aggrement.i have never been made awear of any repairs due to be taken place. is there any offical documents i would need to send to my landlord. thank you so so much for all your help so far.

[Esio Trot]

No inventory was ever signed by myself just a standard short hold tenancy agreement.i have never been made aware of any repairs due to be taken place. is there any official documents i would need to send to my landlord. thank you so so much for all your help so far.

 

No official documents needed. You just need a very simple letter:

 

Dear Scroat Landlord

 

On xx Month 199x I entered into an Assured Shorthold tenancy with yourself and paid £875 as deposit under the contract.

 

The property was vacated on xx Month 199x.

 

If you have used the deposit for any breach of mine under the tenancy, please provide me with an account of how this was used. Otherwise please arrange for it to be remitted to me.

 

I look forward to your reply within 14 days.

He can't both keep your deposit for rent and sue you for it. Otherwise, if you paid the full £1471, he would have double bubble. Send it to his address as detailed on your tenancy agreement, or other if he has supplied you with one. There is no need to send it recorded/special. Just keep a copy and get a certificate of posting from the post office.

 

If no response, do a Letter before Action. Then it's small claims court.

[rl123]

you have been so helpfull! thank you so so much. i will send that letter today and let you know the outcome, should i state in the letter that as he should be awear no inventory and condition report has ever been made or signed by myself.

 

Thanks once again eiso.

[Esio Trot]

... should i state in the letter that as he should be aware no inventory and condition report has ever been made or signed by myself.

 

You could, but I wouldn't.

 

It's up to the landlord to justify any deduction, and I wouldn't lead him to look at any particular documentation or lack.