Court proceedings-help!

[Mommabear]

Hi geeks

Coming here again for some geeks help again

Ill try and cut this story as short as i can so as not to bore you

Just moved into a new home after my other house was just a nightmare.

Old house- letting agency let us move in when the boiler was down as condemmed, took for my 4month old (at the time) to be admitted to alder hey hospital really poorly and my mum to threatrn with solicitors be4 they replaced it (took 2weeks) leak in our attic room and bedroom for over 18momths be4it was fixed. There the main things that were wrong with the house, there was more but just so you get the jist of it

Anyway, i was dying to get out of that house so as soon as thisone come up i was like a bunch of kids in a sweet shop

So, it was agreed that the last months payment and the interim payment would be paid when i handed the keys over....the man who owns the letting agency decided he didnt like it after a week......phones me up.....threatning me and allsorts......it takes a lot for me to cry and that man had me in hysterics!

This man is known very well by me, i think he hates women. He used to batter his ex wife, he also had a girl up a wall by her throat in her flat while her little girl was there. To name a few things ive found out.

Anyway, ill try and cut to the chase. Had the inspection all went well, even got my deposit taken off what i owed. Money hadnt been paid into my account so agreed a suitable date. Money didnt go in by that point either so he has sent my nan (gurantor) a VILE and i mean vile letter trying to take me to court. I phoned him on the bounce, as you do. Now heres where i think hes calling my bluff. The letter he sent to my nan stated he was instructing debt collectors. He said to me on the phone he was taking me to court and a short while after when i said i will pay him the money i owe he asked me when could i get it to him?

T me he cant keep his story straight. Now from what i have gathered from my boss, friends etc. he cant take me to court for anything less than £500 (debt is £446) and he cant actually do anything because i havent refused to pay him, i have said he will get his money, just when i have it.

My mum had a go at me saying well it shouldve been paid, yes it should, i get that, but for the amount of trouble and how horrible he has been i said it was either pay him what i owe or fall short on our new house, and i said im sorry one thing has to give and its that vile man, im not jeopordising my new house (landlady is lovely and is an old work collegue of my mum).

After me ranting (as usual hehe)

What are our opinions?
D you think he has really issued court proceedings?
This man is utter vile!!! I have heard of a family friend of his, all he ever is is money money money, how hes treated his old wife and family is ridiculous. This is a man that practically stole the business from his brother. His brother built it up to what it was an he just came in and took it off him, apparantly, after a lenghty court battle he had to pay his brother off a lot of money. Unfortunately for all the tenants that are with them he isnt the nice brother :-(
Sorry ive ranted again ill shut up now :-s xxxx

 

[persianista]

Firstly, his background is none of your business.
Secondly, if he has proof that you owe him this money, he can indeed take you to court. Your assertion that anything under 500 isn't collect able is wrong. We could all run up 499 pound debts and walk away if that was the case.
Pay what you owe is my recommendation.

 

[smallandcute]

Clearly he is tripping on his own stupidity. Let him call your bluff and if he gives you any grief i would be calling the police unless its via a solicitor which i take it its not?

Shame you dont have a few heavy weights to go ruffle his feathers a bit and put him in his place, that may teach him a lesson

Sent from my GT-I9300 using SalonGeek mobile app

 

[tonicj]

I would agree with Persianista on this one!! You have admitted yourself that you owe this man money and surely the decent thing to do would be to pay it otherwise you are stepping right down to his level. While past events appear to be a bad memory for you, there is still the future and if this man is as bad as you say, then I would anticipate that your future will become difficult. It would be better to wipe the slate clean, have dignity and look forward to a better life in your new home.

On a different note how would you feel if a client didn't pay you??

 

[Mommabear]

When he is threatning to send people to my house to, and i quote "do me over" his dirty past has everything to do with me when i get the police involved.

I havent once said he wouldnt get his money, he will, i just havent got it, ive had to request a top up on my loan to pay him which i should find out today if i can have it.

I know he can take me to court, its just if its under £500 he cant take me to our local court he has to go privately which will cost him (and yes me) thousands to do so.

Im fully aware of the fact i should pay him, i know that, and i will pay him. But the fact is he has threatned me and my family within every bit of contact i have had from him.

He is trying to take me to court for damages etc on the inspection he said to be fair the house is in really good condition (i respect my home whatever the situation is, cheeky mere thought it would be a mess) and agreed to give me my desposit back ( i have the whole conversation recorded on my phone)

So, really, he cant take me to court for any damages, only for the money i owe him?? If he was going to do me for damages surely he shouldve mentioned them in the inspection before i handed the keys over to him

Xx

 

[Scissorz]

Again I agree with Persianista, he can take you to court (for any amount owed) with money claim online, resulting in further costs to you as you will be charged the court fees, paper filing etc. if you don't pay it when it gets to this stage bailiffs will be sent to your new address and will try and recoup the money, again at a cost to you, not to mention CCJs, wouldn't it just be wiser to pay what you owe before it gets to this? Also what he does in his personal life is up to him, weather you think he's right or wrong you are admitting to owing the money therefore you need to pay it fast, the laws in favor of this man I'm afraid.

 

[tonicj]

I honestly believe that you are better to stay one step ahead of this man otherwise you will be subjecting yourself and your family to more and more stress. Once you pay him his money the problem will go away and you will be able to get some peace of mind. If you choose to go down the other route i'm afraid your expenses could be vast.

 

[ch-ela]

As in any area in life, it's wise to choose your battles.

This isn't one I would choose, pay him what you owe and get him out of your life.

Concentrate on looking forward to your lovely new home and being happy. I would choose not to have nasty people in my life, surround yourself with lovely things.

Btw, if he is well known to you, why did you rent from him in the first place? Learn the lesson and move on.

Best wishes x

 

[Scissorz]

When he is threatning to send people to my house to, and i quote "do me over" his dirty past has everything to do with me when i get the police involved.

I havent once said he wouldnt get his money, he will, i just havent got it, ive had to request a top up on my loan to pay him which i should find out today if i can have it.

I know he can take me to court, its just if its under £500 he cant take me to our local court he has to go privately which will cost him (and yes me) thousands to do so.

Im fully aware of the fact i should pay him, i know that, and i will pay him. But the fact is he has threatned me and my family within every bit of contact i have had from him.

He is trying to take me to court for damages etc on the inspection he said to be fair the house is in really good condition (i respect my home whatever the situation is, cheeky mere thought it would be a mess) and agreed to give me my desposit back ( i have the whole conversation recorded on my phone)

So, really, he cant take me to court for any damages, only for the money i owe him?? If he was going to do me for damages surely he shouldve mentioned them in the inspection before i handed the keys over to him

Xx

Sorry I saw this after I posted, you should get the police involved if he's threatening you or your family,and if he can't prove the damages were down to you he can't get you to pay for it, but he can take you to court for the money he can prove you owe, private court does not cost thousands (I took someone to court for a lot less) ultimately whatever it will cost him you will end up paying, if he does go down this route you can arrange through the court to pay it back over time as long as you stick to the agreement, the amount you pay will be decided by the court based on your earnings for example £10 a week for as many weeks as it takes to pay off, I'm not trying to have a go at you or say that your in the wrong, I'm just giving you the information to save you from further costs

 

[AmberExt]

Id get the money and get him paid off asap, while you might want to make him stew its not fair dragging your nana into it.

Whether he should or shouldnt be aggressive I think its pretty obvious he will be

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[Mommabear]

As in any area in life, it's wise to choose your battles.

This isn't one I would choose, pay him what you owe and get him out of your life.

Concentrate on looking forward to your lovely new home and being happy. I would choose not to have nasty people in my life, surround yourself with lovely things.

Btw, if he is well known to you, why did you rent from him in the first place? Learn the lesson and move on.

Best wishes x

He wasnt when i first rented the proprty, but after the trouble i was having i asked around and i had allsorts of horrible stories coming at me. :-(

Wish id have asked be4 hand haha xx

 

[Mommabear]

Thanks geeks

I will pay him by the end of the week, ive told him from the beginning he will get it. Although kind of wrong i would rather he not got his money than m new house. So he is out of my life for the better

It was just stressing me out he was threatning me with everything.....and another one "going to screw me over for everything" if you heard just one phone call youd all be up there with stakes and everything. He is just a vile man. When he first threantned me, my partner, dropped everything in work and flew up there. He had to stop and see his mum to calm him down (he has a bad temper at times, this time i didnt mind him going off on one lol) had it out with him, he was in my partners face and everything trying to get him to hit him, and my partner said as much as id love to of hit him, itd b me that would b in cuffs not him. After a shouting match outside the estate agents he backed down and practicaly cowered to my partner. But when he speaks to me hes just nasty.

To me he just couldnt get his story straight as to what he was doing, wether it be debt collectors or court of what :-s

Xx

 

[Mommabear]

Sorry I saw this after I posted, you should get the police involved if he's threatening you or your family,and if he can't prove the damages were down to you he can't get you to pay for it, but he can take you to court for the money he can prove you owe, private court does not cost thousands (I took someone to court for a lot less) ultimately whatever it will cost him you will end up paying, if he does go down this route you can arrange through the court to pay it back over time as long as you stick to the agreement, the amount you pay will be decided by the court based on your earnings for example £10 a week for as many weeks as it takes to pay off, I'm not trying to have a go at you or say that your in the wrong, I'm just giving you the information to save you from further costs

I was going to at first but because my partner went up there i decided against it an thought, thats the matter sorted lets just leave it. Oh how wrong was i lol

I realise it would cost me a lot of money if he did.

Im just convinced he was calling my bluff as the letter he sent my nana said debt collectors, on the phone he said court, and a bit further on in the phone call when i told him he would get the money he asked when?!? Just confused lol xx

 

[LocksOfLove]

Oh one I actually know! I used to work in an estate agents until 2 years ago that focused on lettings and know I'm a (eeeek) debt collector for people in arrears with their mortgage. Btw, I'm not evil I'm the nice kind haha! He can take you to court for under £500 he does have to give you plenty of notice though, the estate agent I used to work for we used to send them a simple warning letter which have them 7 days, if we got no response we was sent out to check on the property to make sure it's still being resided in ect and see if we can get an arrangement to pay the debt, if no response we used to send a letter before action giving them 15 days to pay up if not we instructed solicitors who again would issue a 7 day letter, and then apply for a hearing. It's pretty much the same in the mortgage world aswell. Unless you fall further into arrears with rentals then we could issue a section 21 notice giving you 8 weeks to vacate the property. At court it would have just been arranging a repayment plan and to discuss issues etc. I go to court all the time for these things (for our customers). Pay him within 7 days and tell him this is what your doing, he can demand his money through calls and letters and can advise will go to court or instruct debt collectors it's in his right. If he becomes aggressive and threatens anything else but collection or court related inform the police, try and keep evidence. He has a right to collect money he is owed. And any past he has has nothing to do with you and you can't use it against him. Xxx

 

[Mommabear]

Oh one I actually know! I used to work in an estate agents until 2 years ago that focused on lettings and know I'm a (eeeek) debt collector for people in arrears with their mortgage. Btw, I'm not evil I'm the nice kind haha! He can take you to court for under £500 he does have to give you plenty of notice though, the estate agent I used to work for we used to send them a simple warning letter which have them 7 days, if we got no response we was sent out to check on the property to make sure it's still being resided in ect and see if we can get an arrangement to pay the debt, if no response we used to send a letter before action giving them 15 days to pay up if not we instructed solicitors who again would issue a 7 day letter, and then apply for a hearing. It's pretty much the same in the mortgage world aswell. Unless you fall further into arrears with rentals then we could issue a section 21 notice giving you 8 weeks to vacate the property. At court it would have just been arranging a repayment plan and to discuss issues etc. I go to court all the time for these things (for our customers). Pay him within 7 days and tell him this is what your doing, he can demand his money through calls and letters and can advise will go to court or instruct debt collectors it's in his right. If he becomes aggressive and threatens anything else but collection or court related inform the police, try and keep evidence. He has a right to collect money he is owed. And any past he has has nothing to do with you and you can't use it against him. Xxx

Wow thanks for that. Thats fab. Being in the unknown and not knowing properly what will happen is the scary part. But thanks for that its put it all straight now.

While your here hes saying hes going to do me for damages etc to the property, at the inspection when i handed my keys over, he never said anything abbout damages and said how good the house was looking and agreed my deposit back to me, i have it all recorded if he tries to deny it, but just wondering, am i right in saying because i had already handed the keys over and he never mentioned about any damages, he cant do me for that can he?

Xxx

 

[Crystal colleen]

I would just pay and then it's done.If he is as nasty and violent as you say he is then imagine what he could be capable off and if your partner isn't home then the out come could be awful for you.

Just pay and forget it.I understand he has done wrong but if it were me I would have taken him to court when my child ended up in hospital because of his incompetence not left it to manifest itself to this.

Pay and be done with it x

 

[LocksOfLove]

Wow thanks for that. Thats fab. Being in the unknown and not knowing properly what will happen is the scary part. But thanks for that its put it all straight now.

While your here hes saying hes going to do me for damages etc to the property, at the inspection when i handed my keys over, he never said anything abbout damages and said how good the house was looking and agreed my deposit back to me, i have it all recorded if he tries to deny it, but just wondering, am i right in saying because i had already handed the keys over and he never mentioned about any damages, he cant do me for that can he?

Xxx

Normally when you hand over the keys and they check the state of the property etc we used to get our tenants to sign a form to say if we were not charging or if we was and they agreed. Did anything like this happen? Also you would require it in writing. And also I would have took pictures. When I moved into my property which I rent I went round and took pictures of all rooms and any little marks and then sent them to my landlord to state these were there when I moved into the property. You have the right to dispute this. If you put a deposit down if should have gone into a deposit protection scheme, you and the estate agent or landlord have to deal with these in regards to getting your deposit back and you can put disputes through these and they will decide whether you should get charged or not and what you should get charged.

for example my mum moved out of a rented property this year and there was a stain on the carpet, we couldn't remember if it was there when my mum moved in it was where the sofa was, we couldn't argue it out as we had no proof it was there it wasn't mentioned on the original check, my mum offered to pay for the carpet to be cleaned professionally and this didn't get the mark out, she offered to contribute 50% towards a new carpet as it couldn't be proved it was or wasn't my mum so she wanted to be fair the estate agent confirmed this was fine, however the land lady demanded £300 off my mum, since when did a carpet cost £600 for a medium sized living room!? It was only a basic carpet, my mum then got quotes from other companies and sent them into the deposit scheme who thence her pay £50, not the £300 the woman originally demanded.

Hope this helps xxx

 

[ch-ela]

Wow thanks for that. Thats fab. Being in the unknown and not knowing properly what will happen is the scary part. But thanks for that its put it all straight now.

While your here hes saying hes going to do me for damages etc to the property, at the inspection when i handed my keys over, he never said anything abbout damages and said how good the house was looking and agreed my deposit back to me, i have it all recorded if he tries to deny it, but just wondering, am i right in saying because i had already handed the keys over and he never mentioned about any damages, he cant do me for that can he?

Xxx

When you say that you recorded it, is he aware of this?

If not, I doubt that it would stand up in a court. Not sure of the legality of such things as I have only lived in the UK for a couple of years.

Can of worms! Be careful x

 

[Mommabear]

When you say that you recorded it, is he aware of this?

If not, I doubt that it would stand up in a court. Not sure of the legality of such things as I have only lived in the UK for a couple of years.

Can of worms! Be careful x

No he wasnt :-s i only recorded it because of him threatning me incase anything happened while i was on my own.

He was meant to meet me at 11am that day but the receptionist phoned me and told me he had been detained after an incident a bit earlier could it be made earlier. My mum was with me for that meeting, but had a wedding to go back to, hence why i recorded just incase anything was said/done
Xx

 

[Mommabear]

Normally when you hand over the keys and they check the state of the property etc we used to get our tenants to sign a form to say if we were not charging or if we was and they agreed. Did anything like this happen? Also you would require it in writing. And also I would have took pictures. When I moved into my property which I rent I went round and took pictures of all rooms and any little marks and then sent them to my landlord to state these were there when I moved into the property. You have the right to dispute this. If you put a deposit down if should have gone into a deposit protection scheme, you and the estate agent or landlord have to deal with these in regards to getting your deposit back and you can put disputes through these and they will decide whether you should get charged or not and what you should get charged.

for example my mum moved out of a rented property this year and there was a stain on the carpet, we couldn't remember if it was there when my mum moved in it was where the sofa was, we couldn't argue it out as we had no proof it was there it wasn't mentioned on the original check, my mum offered to pay for the carpet to be cleaned professionally and this didn't get the mark out, she offered to contribute 50% towards a new carpet as it couldn't be proved it was or wasn't my mum so she wanted to be fair the estate agent confirmed this was fine, however the land lady demanded £300 off my mum, since when did a carpet cost £600 for a medium sized living room!? It was only a basic carpet, my mum then got quotes from other companies and sent them into the deposit scheme who thence her pay £50, not the £300 the woman originally demanded.

Hope this helps xxx

Nope it wasnt put into a deposit scheme. My new house has been as i had an email yesterday stating thats were it was
He is very shady in the way he does things. I have a client who is an estate agent and she was shocked he said i could have my deposit back lol xx