Those ASSCLOWNS at City Hall have done it again! (rent dispute thread)

[dredd]

  So my landlord took me to the First Tier Tribunal with basically a fraudulent arrears letter (to cut a long story short) - and needless to say they gave it the rubber stamp of approval and I'm out 500 quid. Fucksakes.

[Famous Mortimer]

Find a no-win, no-fee law-person and rinse him? If he's trying to defraud you, should be pretty simple.

[Zero Gravitas]

Who you going to believe, someone that selflessly provides homes to the community? or dredd?

[Butchers Blind]

You must have been dredd-ing the outcome.

[dredd]

Find a no-win, no-fee law-person and rinse him? If he's trying to defraud you, should be pretty simple.

  Good idea. The first solicitor I talked to so far mentioned court appearance fees starting at £1000. When I asked about "No-win no-fee" lawyers he was dismissive (as you might expect) saying that those guys go out of business all the time because it's not a sustainable business model. He thought that the best option for me may be to apply for "Simple Procedure" which is another name for small-claims court.

Who you going to believe, someone that selflessly provides homes to the community? or dredd?

Spotted the landlord.

You must have been dredd-ing the outcome.

Savage. You have truly blinded me with your butchery.

[Sebastian Cobb]

You might not even need a lawyer, have you tried talking to the (other) Cab?

[Dr M1nx PhD]

You could (and probably should) take the sensible advice given in this thread about getting a lawyer/going to the other CAB.

But have you considered petrol bombing your landlord's house? I hear it's very cathartic.

[Vodkafone]

Shelter's legal advice services will take on a no-win no-fee (or 'conditional fee arrangement') if it looks like you've got a very solid case.

[dredd]

I'll give you guys a bit more of the background info to work with. Did not want to write a long essay in the opening post.

You might not even need a lawyer, have you tried talking to the (other) Cab?

Yes, this all kicked off about 8 months ago when we got a letter informing us of a steep (10%+) rent increase. So I'm in Scotland and we have a rent cap limiting rent rises to 3% - or up to 6% if the landlord can prove costs to RSS (Rent Service Scotland). We talked to RSS to adjudicate on the rent rise and they said we were under the rent cap and set the rise to 3% - with the caveat that they did not have the power to determine if our lease was exempt from rent cap. So the landlord completely ignores this decision, citing advice from SAL (Scottish Association of Landlords) that our lease is exempt from rent cap, and proceeds with legal action at FTT to obtain the arrears.

In my opinion his arrears letter is fraud because I am now 100% sure we are covered by the rent cap, but he has official guidance from SAL that says we are exempt, and now a favourable ruling from FTT. Never mind that the official scot.gov guidance page says we are covered by rent cap or that their legal argument is incoherent and raises more questions than it answers.¹

_{1. might get into that later...}

Shelter's legal advice services will take on a no-win no-fee (or 'conditional fee arrangement') if it looks like you've got a very solid case.

 Thanks, I will add this to the list!

[Sebastian Cobb]

I'll give you guys a bit more of the background info to work with. Did not want to write a long essay in the opening post.
Yes, this all kicked off about 8 months ago when we got a letter informing us of a steep (10%+) rent increase. So I'm in Scotland and we have a rent cap limiting rent rises to 3% - or up to 6% if the landlord can prove costs to RSS (Rent Service Scotland). We talked to RSS to adjudicate on the rent rise and they said we were under the rent cap and set the rise to 3% - with the caveat that they did not have the power to determine if our lease was exempt from rent cap. So the landlord completely ignores this decision, citing advice from SAL (Scottish Association of Landlords) that our lease is exempt from rent cap, and proceeds with legal action at FTT to obtain the arrears.

In my opinion his arrears letter is fraud because I am now 100% sure we are covered by the rent cap, but he has official guidance from SAL that says we are exempt, and now a favourable ruling from FTT. Never mind that the official scot.gov guidance page says we are covered by rent cap or that their legal argument is incoherent and raises more questions than it answers.¹

_{1. might get into that later...}
 Thanks, I will add this to the list!

Unlucky. I'm in Glasgow so know about the rent control stuff. I got served with a 3 month 'no fault' eviction notice last year as my landlord decided to sell up for health reasons. I support the controls but they've had unintended consequences as it's coincided with mortgage stuff and a lot of landlords are throwing in the towel. In the long term this is good but it means there's even more of a supply issue in the rental sector, all the agents I spoke to said they were mobbed and not to hold my breath, although I think demand had probably peaked around the time I was looking as it was around the time students would be looking as well.

[madhair60]

you can't fight city hall

[Rev+]

The first solicitor I talked to so far mentioned court appearance fees starting at £1000. When I asked about "No-win no-fee" lawyers he was dismissive (as you might expect) saying that those guys go out of business all the time because it's not a sustainable business model.

It's perfectly sustainable if you're not shit.  They have insurance to cover lost cases, so as long as you're winning the majority of them, you're quids in.  The problem you'd probably have would be that they tend to only accept cases with a big potential payday. I'm a few years into a claim with a no-win-no-fee outfit that will take at least a few years more, but the solicitor involved is going for several million, the mad bastard.  I spoke to others before going with that one, and there was a real reluctance to take it on unless they thought they could go big with it.

PS kill your landlord

[madhair60]

if you get millions of pounds can i have ten grand?

[Rev+]

Well it wouldn't be me getting the money, but assuming I'm seen alright for my part in it I'll stretch to a bacon bap.

[madhair60]

thank you. that's the kindest anyone has ever been to me on here. they hate me Rev. i've never quite figured out why. perhaps it's the content of my posts?

[shoulders]

if you get millions of pounds can i have ten grand?

Having looked into it, you don't get grand, but you do get ten

[dredd]

 Update: my application for a review into the decision has been rejected - oh well I still have the appeal.
 In other news I came up with an analogy I'm quite proud of, regarding SAL's legal case against me. So let's say the legislation has determined that horses are covered by the rent cap, and zebras are exempt. Their argument is nothing more than "Your lease has four legs, therefore it must be exempt from rent cap!".

[dredd]

Good news this week: a housing advice charity got in touch with me this week - they were dealing with a landlord who was citing my case at the tribunal to justify ignoring the rent cap. So they will legally represent me - the application for appeal they've written is probably one of the best things I've ever read, basically:
 1. the tribunal should never have made a decision at the original "case management discussion" when I did not have access to legal representation. You know, considering the fact that they are casually overturning government legislation and removing rights from thousands of tenants.
 2. Their legal argument is a fucking load of dogshit.
 3. If their fucking dogshit legal argument is somehow correct, then the relevant term in the contract is unfair based on the Consumer Rights Act and as such is unenforceable.

  It's early days, but it feels like my dream of doing my bit to dismantle the Scottish Property Mafia is one step closer...