The Guardian newspaper has given an aggrieved tenant the opportunity to explain how he and other renters took a landlord to court - and won.
Morgan Jones wrote that although he had worked around housing legislation for much of his professional life, he nonetheless worked with a renters’ union - Justice for Tenants - to help bring the case to court.
Justice For Tenants has provided training on enforcement powers to local authorities and sits on steering groups and multi-agency forums in the industry, alongside council licensing and enforcement teams, and sometimes Trading Standards.
In his article Jones says that the core of the dispute was over the landlord’s alleged failure to return some £700 of the total deposits paid by the tenants in the property, an HMO, when it was sold by the landlord in 2020.
Upon enquiring, the tenants discovered that the property was neither registered with the local licensing system nor was the deposit protected by being lodged with one of the mandatory protection schemes.
“For the proceedings, we provided various pieces of documentation relating to our tenancy, along with witness statements, and Justice for Tenants did the rest of the legal filings. Other organisations like Flat Justice, Acorn or your local renters’ union will also be able to help you with representation and advice if you think your landlord has been in breach of their obligations” Jones tells readers.
He continues: “It is helpful in cases like ours to keep records of a landlord’s bad behaviour – failing to fix appliances, damp, mould, not giving notice for inspections and so on – as these things, although not actionable in themselves, will strengthen the case by indicating the landlord was more broadly not fulfilling their responsibilities.”
He admits that Justice for Tenants operates a no-win no-fee system, effectively making law cases against landlords “straightforward” with the organisation instead taking a share of the fine payment made if the landlord loses.
In this instance the tenants each received £2,350 on an out of court settlement, with Justice for Tenants taking a similar amount.
You can read the article in full here.
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