Taken to Court by no win no fee solicitor?

If he'd caused mould and had a parrafin heater (presumably his own) he's lucky he didn't gas himself, our tenancy agreement precludes the use of liquid and gas fuels.

I had a tenant that owed me around £5000 on universal credit. I started possession proceedings where the tenants were otherwise good as, UC had not paid them.
I started possession proceedings where on the day of the hearing whilst sitting waiting for the hearing I was approached by a no win no fee solicitor who came along and stated that he was representing the tenants and since they were his clients, he stated from that point, I was not to contact them and had to go threw him. He then mentioned disrepair and stated that the tenants stated that they did not get the deposit documentation so I would not be able to evict the tenants for this reason.
Prior to this, there was no mention of disrepair. The flat was in fact totally refurbished with totally new central heating system including boiler and radiators, new carpets and fully redecorated.
At the hearing, the disrepair was brought up and the deposit documentation. I informed the judge all the deposit documentation was served and the tenant had actually received the documents. I also stated I could not see how the section 8 could be thrown out by this. The solicitor stated that if the deposit documentation was not served then the tenant would be owed three times the deposit so the tenants would not be in rent arrears and could not be evicted.
Anyway a second hearing was arranged and all deposit documentation was produced where the tenant had signed on each of the documents that he had received a copy of the document and all was fine there. The solicitor then tried to find a technicality of the "MyDeposit" prescribed information not being fulfilled and evidence was required of the disrepair so it was now a case of litigation.
After the case, I approached the solicitor and told him that I wanted to settle the case so it went no further. He said he wanted £3000 to end the case as he blatantly told me that if the case continued, I could lose a lot more and he had nothing to lose if he won the case or lost it for that matter. I thought £3000 was a hell of a lot of money considering, I was the one owed around £5000 so obviously refused.
To cut a long story short, I lost the case as when I first served the section 8 notice, I did not inform the tenant of the total arrears although, I informed him that over two months rent was owed. This is something that should have been brought up at the beginning of the case. So following further hearings, I was eventually ordered to pay around £27,000 in costs which was effectively the time of their solicitors and barristers and other costs which totally amounted to just over £30,000.
The main problem with no win no fee solicitors is that if they win the landlord pays their fees. If they lose, the government pays their fees. I don't know of an unfairer system. It would be fair if they lost they did not get paid anything.

Reply to the comment left by Clint at 19/01/2021 - 12:41
That is terrible. I wish we could all join forces and get Government to look at this whole fiasco. I have read many judges comments that seem to agree.

Reply to the comment left by Clint at 19/01/2021 - 12:41
That sounds terrible. Only advice I can give is, before taking matters to court, check all the paperwork is in order and provide them to the courts and the other party as part of your bundle before the first hearing. If there are any cracks or possible issues that could be flagged, don't go to court. Situations like this, you are better off instructing a Solicitor from the onset.

Barbara,
Can I suggest you get in contact with us - for the very least, some free advice.

OMG Clint-as suggested we need a concerted effort by a united conglomeration of industry groups..I've decided land-lording is just not worth the pain/tax/frustration any more so we will not be growing and reinvesting into the portfolio for the time being..

Reply to the comment left by Prakash Tanna at 19/01/2021 - 12:58
I have been a landlord since 1996 and since then, have been to court countless times all to do with renting where, I have attended for possession cases involving section 8 and section 21 notices and, on the whole, have virtually always been successful on the mandatory grounds of section 8, and I cannot recall not being successful with a section 21 notice. I have also attended on several occasions for money claims.

I am generally very thorough, and have been successful with section 8 notices without having to, initially state the total amount that was owed with a spreadsheet when serving a section 8 notice. I always, produced a spreadsheet showing that the tenant was more than two months in arrears on the date of serving the notice, and the final amount owed, at the hearing and on that basis was given possession. It was only that one time this was picked up as not being compliant as, I did not serve the section 8 notice showing exactly how much was owed at the time.
Since that case with the no win no fee barrister and solicitors, I have attended several times prior to Covid-19 on section 8 notices and have been successful. I now have a template for everything associated with the notices and the forms for the court, but one never knows what will come up when in court.

Reply to the comment left by Barbara Farrington at 19/01/2021 - 12:48With the new "Breathing Space" legislation that will be coming into force in May along with all the other already draconian legislation that has come in, in the last few years, I would say, we would be fighting a losing battle.
All I can say Barbara is if no win no fee solicitors are involved, thread very carefully as, disrepair seems to be an easy way to fleece landlords. It seems to creep into most possession cases these days.
I had another section 8 possession case where shelter was involved and that case cost me around £4500 as, they stepped in to support a tenant who once again owed me over two months’ rent and had virtually wrecked a newly decorated property and, this was a minimal amount as I had agreed to wipe out the debt of the tenant so that she did not get a CCJ and could find alternate accommodation. The case was based on disrepair once again.
It may appear that I have had continuous bad luck. This is not the case as, I have quite a large portfolio and have only had no win no fee solicitors involved twice since I first started renting 25 years ago.
I have started selling up but that is another story as, with Covid-19 in the last year my sales have all either been at a standstill or going at a snail pace but at least, I sold one property.

My advice to anyone entering the property market right now would be "Don't do it"

Reply to the comment left by moneymanager at 19/01/2021 - 12:18
Unfortunately my tenancy agreement meant nothing as he would not allow access even to the police!

Reply to the comment left by Clint at 19/01/2021 - 12:41
I find it difficult to understand the outcome here.

Are you saying that the tenant won the case after a hearing and that your possession claim failed?

Did the tenant receive an award of damages and if so for how much and on what grounds?