Housing Small Claims

If your landlord is not fulfilling his legal and contractual duties then it is possible that you will end up in court, who will resolve the matter for you. If a court appearance is required we will be with you every step of the way, to the best of our abilities.

Cost:

The cost of proceedings in the small claims court is very minimal around £50 and if you win you may be able to recover the costs of the proceedings from the other side. Also the fee will be waived if you are on low income, which is probably true for most independent students. The court service recommends that representation is not used; this is to keep costs low and allow the judge to get to the heart of the problem, without the views being blurred by professional representation, such as Barristers. However if you or your landlord do choose to use representation, costs will not be recoverable from either side whether you win or lose.

StudentLaw.co.uk will go all the way to court with you and help you prepare all relevant paperwork, on a pro bono basis, and even represent you if you feel uncomfortable doing so.

The County Court, small claims track deals with disputes under £5000 which is likely to be sufficient for most student landlord-tenant disputes. The Small claims track is not only there for landlord tenant disputes but for all sorts of issues, such as debt, personal injury and consumer claims.

If you win you will be entitled to the money owed to you if you had to pay for something that your landlord had to do e.g. plumbing repairs, or the court will serve an order making the landlord fulfil his contractual duty.

Proceedings:

  1. You will need to obtain an N1 form, which can be found at 

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/HMCSCourtFinder/GetForm.do?court_forms_id=338.

  1. You then need to fill in the form and send it to the appropriate indicated parties, as instructed.
  2. The defendant, i.e. your landlord, will then have 28 days to choose a course of action:Admit liability: Pay the amount owed to you.Make an offer: May offer to pay half of the costs, which you can accept.

    File a defence: The claim will be challenged in court.

    File a defence and issue a counterclaim: Whereby the defendant will deny there is amount of money owed by them and actually argues that your party owes them money.

    Ignore the Summons: Here the defendant will ignore your claim and a result you will receive a default judgment whereby you automatically win the case and are entitled to the money.

  3. If a hearing is to take place then you will be required to turn up to court to argue your case presenting all information. The student legal advisors will be more than happy to help you prepare your case.
  4. At the hearing the Judge will take an inquisitorial role, asking you questions and asking you to present evidence. Both will have a chance to speak and proceedings will be the same for both side.
  5. The decision of the judge is likely to be made on the day after a brief recess, payment can be made in instalments by the losing party or it must be paid within 21 days if an arrangement is not found.
  6. Appeal: It is possible, although unlikely, that you could appeal against the court’s decision, especially if both parties were present. Often the only grounds for an appeal would be a party being unaware of the hearing, or the Judge being wrong on a point of law.