decado
23-04-2008, 19:35 PM
Hi, I would appreciate any advice people with more knowledge might be able to give me.
My partner and I lived with a live-in landlord who was leasing the whole house and sub-leasing to us. He was always difficult to live with, although we always got on OK. He did things like moving in his girlfriend, her 6 year old daughter and their dog without telling anyone, (this was a house of 5 people in theirs 20s!) then moved everyone to another property further away with 1 weeks notice. We believe he was evicted for not paying rent.
We then left (on good terms, giving a months notice) the property and went on a short holiday before returning. He said he would return our bond but didn't. We called him several times and were always given various excuses. Eventually he stopped answering the phone. We wrote him letters which went unanswered and eventually filed a county court claim. He replied (at the very last minute) and claimed all sorts of false damages and lied about monies owed to him.
Any advice on what we can do? It seems like this will be a hideously drawn out process which in the end is costing us MORE money to take to court.
My main questions are: As a sub-letter, was he required to protect our deposit?
He is claiming late fees for a few times when rent was 2-4 days overdue, can he claim these after the fact as it was never raised as an issue untill now?
Are we likely to get our money back through the courts or shall we quit now?
Many thanks.
My partner and I lived with a live-in landlord who was leasing the whole house and sub-leasing to us. He was always difficult to live with, although we always got on OK. He did things like moving in his girlfriend, her 6 year old daughter and their dog without telling anyone, (this was a house of 5 people in theirs 20s!) then moved everyone to another property further away with 1 weeks notice. We believe he was evicted for not paying rent.
We then left (on good terms, giving a months notice) the property and went on a short holiday before returning. He said he would return our bond but didn't. We called him several times and were always given various excuses. Eventually he stopped answering the phone. We wrote him letters which went unanswered and eventually filed a county court claim. He replied (at the very last minute) and claimed all sorts of false damages and lied about monies owed to him.
Any advice on what we can do? It seems like this will be a hideously drawn out process which in the end is costing us MORE money to take to court.
My main questions are: As a sub-letter, was he required to protect our deposit?
He is claiming late fees for a few times when rent was 2-4 days overdue, can he claim these after the fact as it was never raised as an issue untill now?
Are we likely to get our money back through the courts or shall we quit now?
Many thanks.