Alex. I have a few remaining questions regarding my hearing

Alex it is:

07742 425 847

Available now

Thanks

Matt

Just got a missed call?

Pls try again

Ok thanks for the phone call, will close this box now

Alex

I attended the court hearing last Friday, and before I saw the Judge the defendant's solicitor and barrister approached me. As I had sent them & the court a copy of the Tenancy Agreement & estate agent's tenancy deposit scheme certificate, they decide to change their position.

The barrister handed me a one page document which I will copy directly:

Draft Directions:

1. The first defendant's application dated 23 March 2015 be adjourned generally with liberty to restore if so advised, costs reserved.

2. The claim be allocated to the small claims track

3. the claim be transferred to the County court at Ipswich (defendant's home court)

4. The claimant do make the original copy of the document he alleges to be a tenancy agreement dated 6 September 2008 and documents relating to the alleged deposit payment available to the first defendant for inspection by 4pm 15 May at (solicitor's address)

5. The claim be listed for a final hearing on the first open date after 23 June 2015 with a time estimate of 2 hours

6. All parties should file at court and serve on the other parties any further witness statements and documentary evidence on which they seek to rely at trial not less than 14 days before the final hearing

We then went into the hearing. I expected to give a 5 minute pitch outlining the main points, but the Judge spent the majority of the time going through the draft with the defendant's barrister. There were a few details changed which I have already included.

The barrister conceded to me prior to the hearing that it looked like a judge would not throw out this claim as the defendant's name was clearly marked on the Tenancy agreement.

The 7 day period to get documents to the court & the other side was not mentioned

What are your thoughts from reading the draft?

Thanks

Matt

It seems that they were not expecting the defendant's name to be so clearly linked to the Tenancy Agreement. In addition they did not know that I had sent a pre-action letter. I got the impression that their client had not disclosed all of the facts leading up to the hearing.

I have asked the estate agent's for an original copy of:

1.The Tenancy Agreement

2.Their in house Tenancy Deposit Certificate stating the deposit was to be protected in an approved government scheme

3. Evidence that the deposit was paid from me to them and then to the landlord

4. Evidence that the landlord consented to have his name on the Tenancy Agreement - apparently they would not have entered his name in error on the agreement, (instead of his company for example) he needed to sign a document stating that he was the landlord before they entered his name

I think that covers it when it comes to documents. I will also make available the emails I have to the Tenancy Deposit Scheme. They clearly state that my address and my name were not registered with them.

At this stage my only concern is regarding obtaining the original documents. The estate agent's are doubtful that the originals are still available as their records for me are electronic. The Judge also seemed surprised that I only had a copy of my Tenancy Agreement and not an original.

Could this be a problem in proving the authenticity of documents?

Matt

Please can you elaborate.

If I can not obtain originals can the defendant dispute my claim, stating that a photocopy / a print out is not evidence of an authentic agreement? In other words is there a law stating that only originals are acceptable?

Thanks