Aibu: landlord taking us to court

[Awfullyconfusedwhat]

Hello
We moved out of a rental property before Christmas. It was a stressful move ending in the landlord screaming at us in front of our 3 children in the snow , " get out of my house" we ended up leaving some stuff in the garage, a bed and a wardrobe because we didn't have enough time to remove it . We asked the letting agent to send us a bill for the 10 days rent that we owed, we didn't receive it.we agreed to the landlord taking all our deposit because we realise that we should have cleaned it. We lived in the house for 3.5 years and always paid the rent on time and kept the house clean up untol this point.
Cut to March and we recieve a money claims online court summons ( no warning )
Landlord claims we haven't paid rent ( we had ) and they needed to replace carpets, and redecorate.They are trying to claim for £7k in total.
When we moved in 3 years ago , the carpets were described as soiled and threadbare and the walls scuffed.
No repairs were undertaken in the time we lived there ( I have emails asking for repairs and the landlord refused to do anything )
I find it quite incredulous that no attempt to contact us was made prior to this court action, no acknowledgement is made that they already have our full deposit.
Aibu to think that what they are claiming for is either betterment or claiming fir something that has been done through deposit ( i.e the house was dirty but it did not cost £1300 to clean )
Nothing was ever said in our quarterly inspections about the state of the property
Sorry for length, just so upset and amazed that somebody would put us through this

If every thing you say is true you have a good chance, just get some proper support and advice.

Your LL sounds batshit crazy!

How did you leave without some of your furniture with the landlord screaming at you to get out of his house? Surely you'd been given notice?
And if you realise "you should have cleaned it"... It must have been in a right old state.

Is this like Small Claims Court? If so, the judge will see right through the claims. I've been on the other end, an ex-tenant taking me to court demanding ridiculous 'compensation' for work she claimed she carried out (unasked) on the flat.

It might set your mind at ease to go along to a sitting beforehand, you'll see that judges give short shrift to chancers. As a counter-claim, I claimed for a bedroom carpet the tenant had thrown out, and the judge said "Wear and tear.". After both sides had presented their case (no solicitors involved) she said to me "you just want this to go away, don't you?". I agreed, and she dismissed the tenant's case. Lots of the cases that day went in the tenant's favour. Judges deal with this kind of nonsense all the time.

Definitely get advice - CAB and Shelter as others have said. It would definitely be advisable to shove in a counterclaim if there were repairs the landlord did not do. A landlord is responsible for keeping in repair structure and exterior, and installations for heating, hot water and sanitation. If you notify the landlord of the disrepair, and they do not carry out the repairs within a reasonable period, they are in breach. Any emails, letters are evidence. Any retaining of the deposit should cover reasonable cleaning costs. The fact that you have a description on your inventory of carpets being threadbare and soiled will mean the landlord cannot succeed in a claim for new carpets.

you should seek legal advice but be honest when you do - don't try and present the best version of events.

It sounds like you weren't ready to move out on the day if you stayed an hour beyond the agreed time but still had to leave behind furniture etc. There may be totally valid reasons for that, or it may be that there is more to this story. Either way, make sure you tell your solicitor everything as they will be in the best position to help you that way.

So what if you went past the agreed time. They couldn’t physically throw you out. I’m a ll btw. Yes, it’s annoying if someone doesn’t leave as agreed. But really, I’ve never heard of anything so ridiculous. You should have been allowed to take your things out of the garage. Why did you return the keys and loose your stuff? Legally you could claim against them for loss of property if you made an attempt to retrieve it.

Did they have new tenants lined up and had a quick turn around because you overstayed?

A landlord is unlikely to go to the lengths of taking someone to court unless you left that property is a seriously shitty state.

What? 35 quid and writing a few paragraphs on moneyclaimonline? It's really not any hassle at all (I've done it a couple of times, although not as a landlord)

Get legal advice so it's worded correctly, but the landlord absolutely cannot charge you for new carpets - they could only charge you for any damage done in excess of wear and tear - eg. if a carpet should last 10 years, and they've had to replace them 1 year early, then they can charge you 1/10th of the cost).

Don't let anything else wind you up - stick to the facts, the magistrates (I think) who deal with these have always been reasonable in my experience.

Before issuing a Court Summons a letter before action should be sent.

Get on to Shelter or CAB and get advise from them. Did your landlord put your deposit in one of the deposit schemes? If not they are breaking the law.

Sounds like they are just trying it on and even if it went to Court it is very unlikely the Judge would find in their favour

I am a LL and think reading this :-
1, the LL doesnt have a claim if she kept your deposit.
2, Why would any LL bother going to court without proof, the judge will throw it out.
We had an Algerian drug dealer in our flat , he stole from our neighbours,
did drug deals, had herion parties, didnt pay rent for 6 months owing us 6k rent , thrashed our flat and caused 12k of damage.
went to court and we won!!!
Except he was then re homed by the council and even though he got a CCJ we have never received one penny from him.
I dont think you have anything to worry about OP

Did you have a check out inventory done? All deductions from your deposit should have been agreed by you and the landlord before the deposit was released. I would definitely go and call.shelter and ensure that all the steps taken by the landlord have been legal.

As a landlord i also think yours is on to a loser. He has the deposit and that's all there will be, the rest does sound like betterment. He would need an inventory proving that carpets were immaculate at start.

And 7k to carpet? Place must be huge!

The judge in a small claims case will take an extremely dim view of the fact that the landlord has jumped straight into taking legal action without trying to resolve the issues amicably. I don't think you have much to worry about.

.

Mediation doesn't mean rolling over. It means having an adult discussion about your perspective. Why is the LL claiming for cleaning carpets that are being replaced? Etc

Mediation will swing heavily in your favour!

Also, whether you begged or whether you didn't is irrelevant. The point is: you asked, landlord agreed. Don't even know why they're mentioning it!

Oh goodness this sounds awful for you op. We had a nightmare landlord, so relieved to move out of their house in the end.

As people have said I’d get legal advice. The fact you have the inventory describing said carpets I really can’t see them having a leg to stand on. Hopefully you’ll end up with an award in your favor as you say it doesn’t cost £1300 to clean a house.

Your not in Nottingham or Derby by any chance are you? I would think that moves like these are very likely to be my old landlord - they had several properties