Small Claims Court

The Cowboy · January 19, 2015

On the back of that daft article about the woman claiming £16 for a kids party no-show, wondering if you've ever utilised the small claims court?

After a year-long battle to get our deposit back from a former landlord, we took it to the SCC and won. She'd claimed we'd damaged a fitted wardrobe door to the tune of £800, which we eventually found out would be replaced for free under the developers guarantee. But she still wouldn't budge, then claiming we didn't give her the requisite notice (which we clearly had done).

The mad cow didn't show at court claiming she was hospitalised, but the judge took about 5 mins and found overwhelmingly in our favour. The cost of me and the missus taking time off work (both contractors at the time) almost wiped out the winnings, but it was the victory that mattered.

arch stanton · January 19, 2015

I've threatened to use scc and that has worked to resolve the issue. I'd have carried on to court had I needed to, I hate people getting done over, especially when it's me

L4Everton · January 19, 2015

Good for you guys, could you have maximised the claims in return and did the tit heads trying to work you over get stuck with the court fees?

As for the landlordess, well, your fingerprints are already in the house legit like.

The Cowboy · January 19, 2015

L4Everton said:
Good for you guys, could you have maximised the claims in return and did the tit heads trying to work you over get stuck with the court fees?

As for the landlordess, well, your fingerprints are already in the house legit like.

The landlord had to stump up the full deposit, our court fees and the maximum loss of wages for the day of the hearing, so I think we took home £1200, which didn't really tally up to a years worth of utter stress but it was a good closer.

Having obtained her home address during the process I was certainly tempted to subscribe her to all manner of magazines, for starters. I also warned the following residents of the apartment about her, and told them to get themselves out of there as soon as they could. Hopefully that incurred her more letting fees, at least.

L4Everton · January 19, 2015

The Cowboy said:
The landlord had to stump up the full deposit, our court fees and the maximum loss of wages for the day of the hearing, so I think we took home £1200, which didn't really tally up to a years worth of utter stress but it was a good closer.

Having obtained her home address during the process I was certainly tempted to subscribe her to all manner of magazines, for starters. I also warned the following residents of the apartment about her, and told them to get themselves out of there as soon as they could. Hopefully that incurred her more letting fees, at least.

Excellent, she was dragging it out to test your will, you stung her in the end. There's online reviews you can leave the personal touch at too.

cosmo · January 19, 2015

she should've taken her case to the master...

The Cowboy · January 19, 2015

cosmo said:
she should've taken her case to the master...

Urgh, who's that creepy sod?

bignev23 · January 19, 2015

its one thing winning the case, I would imagine its another getting the compensation you've been awarded off the barstewards.

The Cowboy · January 19, 2015

bignev23 said:
its one thing winning the case, I would imagine its another getting the compensation you've been awarded off the barstewards.

That was the easy part. The threat of bailiffs and a criminal conviction soon released the money from her tight fist.

Amusingly, she sent the cheque in both mine and The Cowgirl's name, forcing us to open a new bank account rather than go back requesting a correctly titled cheque.

Foot Long Hot Dog · January 19, 2015

1 in 4 small claims awards are never paid up in full

If you get a slippery character then you can rack up more cost than the claims worth and they know that.

The Cowboy · January 19, 2015

Foot Long Hot Dog said:
1 in 4 small claims awards are never paid up in full

If you get a slippery character then you can rack up more cost than the claims worth and they know that.

Ours was a solicitor, and clearly knew the impact it would have on her reputation. But yes, I can imagine there are some folk out there who aren't so easy to collar.

bignev23 · January 19, 2015

The Cowboy said:
That was the easy part. The threat of bailiffs and a criminal conviction soon released the money from her tight fist.

Amusingly, she sent the cheque in both mine and The Cowgirl's name, forcing us to open a new bank account rather than go back requesting a correctly titled cheque.

Good on ya kid, did you have any legal representation or just do it all yourself?

Joey66 · January 19, 2015

If you win it does not guarantee you will ever get paid out!

The Cowboy · January 19, 2015

bignev23 said:
Good on ya kid, did you have any legal representation or just do it all yourself?

Did it all ourselves. Luckily the new tenants allowed us access to take some pics of the alleged damage, after that it was just a case of sending a comprehensive write up of our problem and sending as much supporting evidence as we could (including phone bills showing all the attempts to contact and resolve the issue).

Once we got a copy of the developers guarantee that proved they'd replace it for free, we were pretty confident the judge would side with us.