Can I have an expert in court from RLA?
Letting Agents

Amal
Amal
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21 Posts
9 years ago
0
I had a letting agent who did not take deposit from tenant, nor prepared a inventory. I had asked him to do both and he had not. The tenant was a council tenant. For 24 months he paid me rent per calender month, the tenants became difficult and moved the sitting room furniture to the car parking space of the block and started being late in payments. I contacted a solicitor who told me if I wanted them to vacate I must not accept rent from them. I then asked the agent to keep the rent in his account till further notice. I gave the tenant notice to vacate. The council contacted the agent and said that we have to have a court order. The Agent applied and made a blunder of it and charged me with the expenses. I then had to resort to a solicitor to apply for a court order to vacate my flat.The solicitor asked the agent for the account and showed me a different amount going in than coming out and we both could not understand. I then contacted the agent who realised that he collected the rent 4 weekly and paying me monthly. As he had the money he deducted the surplus in retrospect and realised that the arrears are far greater than he thought. He had denied receiving deposit . I phoned the council myself and realised that they paid him a month rent as incentive in lieu of deposit or arrears.As he was found out, he paid me that month. He suggested to store my furniture from the car park and never gave them back to me.He denied that he had the property on a full management because he charged me only 8%.He hardly responded to my e-mails. I complained to the ombudsman who supported my complaint about the deposit,about the agent did not inform me that the rent was paid 4 weakly in arrears and that he was not making reasonable efforts to monitor rent received and informing me when arrears occurred. The ombudsman also supported my complaint about the Agent failing to communicate with me and answering my e-mails re:sofa and chairs.In conclusion the ombudsman decided to make a financial compensation because he was persuaded that I had experienced a degree of avoidable distress and aggravation as a result of shortcomings in the service provided by the Agent. The financial compensation was: (Hold your breath) £300Which I refused. I have now applied to small claim courts court for £10,000 they are asking if I want to provide an expert. Can RLA help?
Thanks
Amalia

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