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Case Studies – Tenants

Case Studies for Tenants

Below we have presented case studies of situations which we have dealt with in the past.

No deposit documents?
Repairs not done?
Worried about eviction?
In rent arrears?
Got a Section 8 Notice?


No deposit documents?

A tenant who was living in the UK for one year contacted us as a result of her landlord refusing to do repairs at the property, or pay for repairs the tenant had done. As part of our investigation, we found that the landlord had only registered the tenant’s deposit when he was confronted by the tenant about the deposit, and had provided the prescribed information late.

We served a Letter Before Action threatening court action against the landlord for 3 times the value of the deposit, and a Part 36 offer letter seeking an agreement to allow the tenant to end the tenancy early, for the landlord to pay for repairs carried out by the tenant, and for the landlord to repay the deposit to the tenant, along with one times the value of the deposit in damages.

The tenant then arranged to leave the property early to return abroad without needing to pay rent for an empty property, with her deposit returned, and damages.


Repairs not done?

We were contacted by three tenants whose clothes had become covered with mould from living at a property. The landlord refused to accept that the flat had a damp problem, insisting that the mould was as a result of condensation created by the tenants not opening windows to air the flat properly to dry their clothes. There were also plumbing issues.

We liaised with the landlord requiring disclosure to prevent a claim being issued. The landlord produced a damp report that contained evidence that the flat had previously had damp problems.

The landlord agreed to refund the cost of the ruined clothes and to compensate the tenants whilst she carried out another damp-proofing course at the property, and agreed to carry out repairs to the plumbing.


Worried about eviction?

A tenant had been served with a Section 8 and a 21 Notice by a well-known tenant eviction company. He was in arrears as a result of a delay by the local authority in paying his housing benefit.

It became clear that the formalities that would have enabled the landlord to serve a Section 21 Notice had not been fulfilled, and that the tenant had a defence and a potential counterclaim to the Section 8 Notice.

The tenant gave an email we had written to the duty solicitor setting out suggested submissions to be made to the Judge. This allowed the duty solicitor at the possession hearing to focus on the legal issues quickly and come to an agreement with the landlord, with the claim being dismissed.


In rent arrears?

A tenant who was sent a letter and rent statement detailing alleged rent arrears did not believe that all the payments she had made were included on the statement, and as a result the landlord was claiming that the tenant was in considerable arrears of nearly £2,000, and that he would begin the process of having her evicted.

As part of our investigation we discovered that the rent statement began when the tenant first began living at the property, rather than from the beginning of the most recent tenancy agreement.

As a result the tenant was found to only be in arrears of under £100, and we arranged a payment plan with the landlord for the tenant to pay her monthly rent plus £10 a month, leaving her able to pay off the arrears after 10 months.


Got a Section 8 Notice?

A tenant had been served with a Section 8 Notice, and was more than 2 months in arrears with her landlord at the date of service as a result of housing benefit payments not having been paid by her local authority. The Section 8 Notice had been served by a local firm of solicitors.

We did an investigation and found that the rent statement did not follow the prescribed form for a Section 8 Notice, which meant that the tenant had a procedural defence at court. We wrote out the relevant law in an email so that when the tenant attended the hearing she could make her submissions to the Judge based on the information we had provided.

As a result the claim was dismissed and the tenant had time to find another property and pay off the rent arrears without being liable for the costs of any court proceedings.