Hi
I’m wondering if you could at all. My mother is an elderly landlord
She received a letter from a solicitor seeking £10.8k to be deposited under their account to avoid court proceed under section 213 of the housing act.
On 20th March she started a new tenancy with a tenant , but in the mayhem of covid she was 2 days later than the 30 days allowed to register the deposit.
For which the solicitors are claiming 3x deposit plus some.
The tenant vacated December 2022.
He broke windows, caused a lot of damage in the property , broke furniture, and so forth. His children drew on every wall and he left loads of refuse behind. his wife was running a hair business from the property that we later became aware of. He told us his wife had lost her job , so we gave him a 6 month discount from the rent.
The damages were for £3300.
Which fell heavily short of his deposit.
We went to claim this from the claims court and won.
He has been ordered to pay about £2000 beyond the deposit amount by the courts .
Which he hasn’t done so.
What im wondering is can these solicitors claim such a massive amount and take my mother to court for being 2 days delayed in the covid period given the tenant wrecked the place for which we have witness statement, receipts and evidence. We had a court claim going against him for more than twice his deposit.
His solicitors, which I expect are no win no fee, are seeking 3x deposit (1500) for each year he stayed, and their own costs which are coming to 10800.
This has totally freaked my mother out. And your advice or previous experience would be appreciated