Looking for advice on taking letting agency to court after heating and plumbing battle

Well, if you're determined to go ahead, despite our advice to the contrary - of course financially you have nothing to lose if the state is paying for the legal action (we landlords never get any free help like this) - then I think you should accept the stress that comes with legal action and accept that you will probably gain nothing from the action as there does not appear to be any clear-cut case for financial compensation. It's your choice so you need to accept what comes with it. Personally I'd only go to court for far more serious matters.

Reply to the comment left by "Rosalind ." at "06/02/2015 - 16:21":

We don't know that Maria will get legal aid - I would think highly unlikely, as it's there to help people out in crisis situations.

We also never (or hardly ever) hear the other side of the story of anyone else who posts on here either, but I for one usually take their version of the issue at face value, unless they say something to the contrary. How do we know that some landlords who come on here and get advice aren't really awful slumlords? We don't.

As Maria has said she doesn't have to pay to take the landlord/agent to court, then someone or some body is paying for the legal action...
Also, the idea that Maria has panic attacks if she has to telephone her current letting agency confuses me. I think this could be more of a medical problem and is being channeled into a legal action. Yes, the landlord may have left something to be desired - he didn't ignore the problem though, reading between the lines - he sent people out and would have therefore been paying lots of call-out fees etc. - but I think there are other issues at play here. For example, has someone been egging Maria on to take an action that I believe is not in her best interests.

You must sue the landlord and will be able to use the small claims
procedure. You do not need a solicitor and the CAB may be able
to give you guidance

HI All

Maria did you pay for the rent or was it housing benefit that paid. You say you don't need to pay to take the landlord to court is this because you qualify for legal aid or is a housing charity that is paying.
There is a lot of talk at the minute how people can get money from landlords so a lot are trying it on so please forgive me for sounding sceptical without hearing all the fact.

I purchased a house last year I had the heating checked and serviced the electrics checked and ordered new pvc windows where the were none fixed the flat roof and carried out over £3000.00 worth of repairs.

The tenant is insistent that the heating is not working right even thought I have arranged an heating engineer to carry out an efficiency check Three weeks ago they will not answer there phone. I was asked to fix a door handle I went on four separate occasions to do this. I have also arrange for insulation to be put in.

They are now saying they cannot afford to heat the house as it is to big despite my offer to help them out and arrange for the heating oil. Which they turned down.

They are now blaming me for the fact the house is cold and there children are sick. They informed me they can not afford to heat the house stating it is not working correctly. I have calculated the amount of oil they have used each day and it is below average considering they are there most of the day as they do not work. They now want to leave and are blaming the condition of the house.

While all this is going on the partner has had three cars since I have met them 5 months ago. The children got the best at Christmas including Xbox 1. I would suggest there financial situation is nothing to do with the heating.

I do my best for all my tenants. But this is my side and like you I have photos texts and messages. I have receipts for all works carried out. I also never took the top up of rent they should have paid.

Am I to wait for two years to be hit with a claim. Sorry if this seems I am having a pop I am not as I don't know the your full situation but please look at it from the other side. Not all landlords are bad.

Hi neil trust me when i say i know not all landlords are bad j have a super landlord and letting agency now. They have proven to me the way things were before were completely wrong.
Also it wasnt just the heating. I had issue with leaks running down the front room walls a leak flooding the kitchen. All resulting in me being left with no water and no emergency contact numbers from the letting agency.
I was made homeless for 5 months. So i spent that time focusing on me and my daughter and getting us through hostel life. After that i tried to move on but after a text message from one on the plumbers in my old property asking me what the issue with the boiler is now. After i told him i no longer lived there. He said oh you got evicted as well. So proves this landlord would rather evict people than do work.
at the time i was working full time and then on maternity leave.
No im on low income so get help towards court fees. No legal aid, they no longer help with dis repair cases

Hi Maria. If it's not legal aid, what is the 'help' you receive? And is it 'low income' because you are back in work part-time or are you on benefits? I ask just to be more informed as I don't know what financial help people get these days to take people to court.
As I said before, I believe you are wrong to take court action. If you were a harder person then maybe you could do it, but you sound more fragile to me and I think it would be bad for your health. I also believe it is wrong to blame and punish your ex-landlord for what is wrong in your life. Sometimes our anger gets displaced from the right target to another one. Your landlord is not to blame for you going into a hostel. He was entitled to give you notice to leave his house just as you were entitled to give him notice to leave. He would have had to have given you two months notice to leave which most people find adequate to find other accommodation without having to go into a hostel. I believe you have been poorly advised. For example, have you worked out a sum of money that you believe the landlord should pay you and have you quantified this and have receipts of how much the issue cost you (I can't see how you can put a financial value on it)? And do you have dates when you can prove that the heating and/or hot water didn't work? I also don't see how you can prove this as it will be your word against the landlord's and plumber's?
I think you may have been seduced by the idea that you can make some money out of this, but I don't think you can. I think you should think of more positive ways of gaining/earning money, rather than this.

Reply to the comment left by "Neil Robb" at "07/02/2015 - 21:53":

Hi Neil. It sounds like you've got some nightmare tenants there. Been there, got the t-shirt. We had someone complaining that the house was too cold, but they wouldn't put on a cardigan and later said that they couldn't put the central heating on because they had asthma. This then became our fault. You don't need to worry though about a claim because what are the grounds? And you have the evidence. It's just not pleasant being threatened with court action, is it? I think people should have very strong grounds for taking people to court, but some people will do whatever they can to blame their landlords for everything, purely because they are anti-landlord. You only see this attitude once you have given them the keys to your house. We now generally don't take people who say they are moving because their current landlord is awful - it's an obvious sign that they'll probably be tricky with us too.
Like you, we've also had tenants who spend money on cars, cigarettes, take-aways, having a great Christmas etc. and who have left owing us thousands of pounds. We took some tenants to court and obtained a court order and one of them suggested he pay us back at the rate of £20 a month, as he spent £100 a month on his car insurance, £60 ion his mobile 'phone bill, £45 on his Sky package and so on... (we had to get an attachment and were awarded £80 a month)

Rosalind how would you honestly feel if you were left with no hot water and heating that would not work at all or turn its self off after 10 mins for 7 months. I think you would want to do something about it. Your clearly just seeing things from your landlord mind.
Yes i have had lots of information from solicitors and they have all advised i have a good case and im going down the route of dis repair and you can claim for the fact part of the house was un habitable with a new born baby. So im wanting part or the rent refunded.
I have evidence the landlord lied to the letting agency about saying he has fixed leaks when he hasnt. I have so much.
Im not doing it for money im wanting him and the letting agency to realise that they cant treat people like they did to me and get away with it and to stop it happening to anyone else.
Dont you think i left it a long time so i didnt just act because i was angry. Ive left it this long to try and see if i could move on. But after several months i still feel as strongly. Am im prepared to fight.
I know there are nightmare tenanta out there. I always paid my rent on time. Spent 2 weeks decorating his property. Made it look ten times nicer. Always said im sorry when i phoned up to report a issue. And this was the thanks i got.

Hi Rosalind

Believe it or not I don't think of them as nightmare tenants. I just think that it is a part of the business we do. I would much rather a tenant let me know something is wrong so it can be sorted. Most jobs if dealt with quickly cost less than allowing it to become a big problem.

Thank you for your support and consideration. I have never been taking to court so far and do not expect to either. But you never know when people are given the wrong advice.

Maria understand your feelings but you are well out of it now. So start looking to the future and forget about the past. I had tenants owe me thousands of pounds cost damage to property, how do I deal with this by moving on and not spending more money trying to chase bad that I will never get and repairing the property as quickly as possible so I can let it again.

I have had experience where a solicitor told me on a different case I had a brilliant case when push came to shove at the end he did every thing to get me to settle end result he got thousands and I got a lot less than he told me I would get.

You could do without the stress and enjoy your daughter growing up. I admire the fact you are doing everything you can to support your family yourself.