Rental Deposit – Tenant Seeks Advice

Reply to the comment left by "r01 " at "18/07/2014 - 10:16":

Contributed ages ago

I'm pleased to hear that.

Now, you may well have legal assistance cover as part of your current property insurance policy. Have a look at your insurance schedule and see if you do. If you have this, all the effort you are currently going through may be avoided as you will get all the correct advice and full legal assistance you need from this policy, you just need to contact your insurers.

If not and you are absolutely sure you are in the right, send a small claims court Plaint as I suggested at the outset to get the ball rolling. The landlord would be very stupid to ignore this as should you proceed the courts will take a dim view of him if he failed to even communicate or attempt to achieve an amicable settlement, preferring to waste court time instead. The sooner you send your Plaint the sooner any action can take place. The small claims procedure is very simple and straightforward and you don't need legal representation.

Here is an article written by a person like you who took a landlord to small claims court for the first time ever and won his case. He explains everything in very simple terms - ..... He used a money claim website but you can go direct through the courts. See http://www.howtotakesomeonetocourt.info/joomla/

I hope this helps.

R

@ r01 and Seething Landlord

It is not good, robust advice.

Ahmed only needs to go to Court if the Ll refuses ADR and then does not initiate the proceedings in which case if he wants the money back earlier Ahmed will have to raise the case.

It is not indefinite delay, it is 6 months under this new default rule. Perversely Ahmed may well be better off waiting and getting the whole lot by default.

I don't know who has told either of you that you get full costs in the Civil Court. You get your full Court fees (claim lodging fee and bailiff if necessary on a possession) but beyond that yiou get no award for your own time if reprtesenting yourself and you will not get three figures if legally represented.

One thing I do agree with yoiu both on though - enough time has been wasted on this article where even the simplest advice does not seem to be understood. I am getting the answers to the specific queries I raised on the 6 months default claim procedure and that will then be my last post on this one.

Reply to the comment left by "Industry Observer " at "21/07/2014 - 09:36":

Yes Industry Observer, you are correct, but can I respectfully request you read (or re-read), my initial posting on page 2. Perhaps you never saw it, which could explain your acidic reply and is the reason I am dignifying it with a response.

Agreed, he won't get compensation for his personal time spent on this if he wins his case but as far as I am aware he won't through any ADR or similar procedure either. I consider a claim for personal time lost to be compensation not cost as it cannot be proven. For a person who clearly does not understand the system, consulting/employing a lawyer (suggested at the outset by others), is the obvious thing for Ahmed to do. However, he seems to have chosen to keep asking for advice from us rather than do so (or maybe he has done both? - I don't know).

He will, however, get his full court fees, any allowed costs/expenses (and being a professional I'm sure he can ask the court for himself what these will be), plus interest on the outstanding sum if he pursues & wins a small claims case, which he will certainly not get if he continues to "phaff about" for the next six (or however many), months with the ADR process, after which as you point out he could "possibly" get his money back by default, however, I have no idea what would happen if the landlord were to raise something or state he wishes to go to court instead two days before the six month period just to extend it further as, perversely, I suspect (but please don't chastise me if I have guessed wrong), the ADR process could allow any late evidence for reasons of "fairness". I believe I read somewhere that Ahmed has no photos, but the landlord does, which he/she could "possibly" present at the last moment, the whole thing could "possibly" drag on longer but I really don't know as I have never needed to take this route.

You will note in my original post I did not suggest he immediately start court action, I suggested he complete a plaint without actually presenting it to the court and send a copy of this "non-presented" plaint with a letter of demand to demonstrate serious intent or at least preparedness to pursue the matter in court.

You'll be aware this is not the same as actually commencing court action but many people do not recognise this, so it is designed to frighten the landlord into reconciliatory action and in my own personal experience with a number of cases has always achieved the desired effect. Ahmed can decide to commence court action at a date of his choosing or he can simply drop the whole thing with no court fees paid whatsoever.

What would most landlords do if such a letter dropped on their doorstep? I know in such circumstances I would act immediately on it, as failure to do so could clearly be presented as evidence against an obstructive landlord in court should it go further.

Of course this is all academic now as he has clearly decided to progress through the resolution service and in my humble opinion he has lost an opportunity, as posting a "non-presented" plaint first may have pushed the landlord into a quick, negotiated agreement rather than protracted ADR process. He had nothing to lose and everything to gain. If this tactic hadn't worked he could then have gone the current route as no court action had actually commenced.

Three figures? Not sure where you got that from. As far as I can recall (and I'm getting a bit old so the brain is a little slower now, so please don't rap my knuckles if I'm wrong as I have no intention of wasting my time going over every word of my previous posts, mainly because I don't believe I am on trial here), the only time I suggested using a solicitor was through the household insurance legal expenses "paid for" route if insured for this (just a suggestion to Ahmed), in which case other than any policy excess, he would have no costs whatsoever. For small claims, I pointed him to a link rather than waste hours of my own time explaining the process step by step as like you, I think this has gone on far too long which is why this will be my last post on the subject too.

If he genuinely wanted to conclude the matter quickly, which seemed to be the initial tone of his question, I believe I gave him what I consider to be the best possible advice I can give, and if he chooses instead to keep looking for other options he is free to do so in which case additional postings from me can achieve nothing further because as the old adage goes, ..."you can lead a horse to water ..... etc."

Of course, these are my views and you have the right to disagree. We are lucky enough to live in a country that allows such freedoms.

R

r01

No intention to chastise perhaps my frustration (like others) with Ahmed came out in your direction instead.

He may have chosen now to go ADR but has the Landlord agreed to it?

The three figures was simply the costs that would be awarded in the Civil Court if Ahmed was represented. I may be wrong but I think I saw tessa recently post in a comment on her Landlord Law Bog that the 'set' amount a Court would award in such circumstances was £85.

The "second class ticket and a British Rail sandwich" was what I saw Judge Fuller award in Basingstoke to a junior barrister who had come down from London on a possession case. That was 20 years ago but she only got £50

I am waiting for confirmation from DPS re the default 6 months system which is new to us all as it only appeared in any formalised style in the July 2014 revision of DPS rules.

This is my lasp post on this one too other than the DPS information when I get it. As I said no offence intended to you or Seething Landlord apologies if any taken.

As much as I appreciate everyone advise and time but I see no need for frustration or bitterness to myself or anyone. I am very grateful for all the advise and it has been very helpful BUT it was advise and no one was forced to. The reason this has dragged on is because until the last couple of posts the advise was conflicting each other and not very clear to someone from out of this field. (After all this I still don't get what's changed in the six month period)
The steps I have taken; I have began the DRS and will today began just the initial steps for a claim
Once more, thank you to everyone, no need for bitterness or disrespect. This forum has been extremely helpful to myself (and I am sure many others) but no one was forced to give advise
***moderated***

Ahmed

I find your last comments unbelievably arrogant and rude.

I was going to explain yet again this new 6 months default position with DPS (not DRS for the umpteenth time)

You tell us to organise words and thoughts? Hell Ahmed, you are priceless.

Good luck I fear you are going to need it

I'm out. I will not post the DPS comments here when I receive them I will instead send them to Mark and he can post it as a mini item/clarifying information.

Unbelievable - after 10 pages of help and advice.

Again as I said I appreciate all the help and advise everyone has given to me (and I am sure many others on this forum). I did not like the tone of a couple of posts as "frustration from me or umpteenth time"
I do not see my last post as rude but if in any manner it offended you or anyone I am sincerely sorry but I stand by what I said.

One last note to everyone who has helped me understand the circumstances and my options, thank you very much. I appreciate it and it has helped me. When I have a conclusion or how things progress I will post them in case it can help others

Ahmed you don't see the last comment in yours of 09:08 today as rude?

Good day to you Sir