Taking ME to court? please help!

A question about : Taking ME to court? please help!

My mother passed away September 2012 and she was living alone in a privately rented bungalow, she was the only tenant, as the house wasn't in the greatest condition we were fine about the landlady keeping the Ј400 bond.

I received a letter in October saying the bond was being held by a deposit protection service, and I was to send them a copy of my mothers death certificate also and to sign an already typed out letter from the estate agents saying I gave permission for the landlady to keep the bond , as I was grieving so badly and trying to hold down my job as a nights prison custody officer, it slipped my mind.

I received another letter in December and a threat of: if I didnt sort the deposit out the landlady would take me to court, so I sent the letter to the deposit protection service with a copy of my mum's death certificate.

I thought it had all gone through and the landlady had received the bond back as I didn't hear anything else, until today that is, today I have received a letter from court saying she now wants Ј700 (Ј760 with the court fee) from me because I hadn't sorted the bond out, I immediately rang the Deposit protection service asking what was going on as I had sent them the death certificate as asked of me, I was told that I should have been sent a form to fill in from them to state that I was my Mum's next of kin, I hadn't received anything at all from them, they said they would send one, but what now? True it took me a while to sort out the bond, but I did what was asked of me back in December.

I am absolutely broke so don't have the money and my mum had nothing bless her, so there is no estate from my mum's to pay it, when I was paying the bills etc she had left when she died of course I was the executor of all that but she left no will or no money, I even had to pay myself towards her funeral, there is zilch left of my mothers money as there was hardly any in the first place she was basically living hand to mouth with no savings.

Can anyone offer me any advice? I feel that it isnt my fault when I sent in the death certificate, I wasn't told I would need to do anything else until I rang them today. Also can they do this? My mother was the sole tenant of the property, so why is she chasing ME for extra money? The court letter is in my name. What do I do now because I only have 14 days to reply to this court summons.

Thank you in advance.

Best answers:

• Someone with legal qualifications will correct me, I'm sure, but I can't see that there's any responsibility to you and a court, if it got that far, would find in your favour. That doesn't make it any less stressful.
  When you say you were the "executor" (your quotes) do you mean you were actually the executor to a will? It doesn't appear so: she died intestate, and you are no more responsible than anyone else. The estate may or may not owe the landlord money, but if it hasn't got any, the landlord is out of luck.
  On what basis are you being sued, and by whom? You should go to a CAB and get advice. On the face of what you say, you are no responsible for the alleged debt than I am.
• Thanks for the response!
  There was no will all my mum had was a few hundred pounds in the bank which i used to pay her final bills, it all went on that, she left nothing else whatsoever. Apparently by law I was classed as the executor of her estate, even though she left nothing ad i was the one sorting out all the bills, thats it.
  So she also doesnt have a case against me even though I am my mum's next of kin? I have no idea how the law works to this.
  She is basically suing me (the landlady herself) because she claims she had contacted me multiple times (in reality it was twice) about getting the bond to her through the deposit protection service company as they have the bond, I was a little slow due to grief, but sent in the death certificate to them early december (that is ALL that was asked of me then), as she hasn't received the bond money yet, she has decided she has waited long enough so is taking it to a claims court.
  Thanks for the advice, so much appreciated!
  Also wanted to add that the original bond was Ј400, she is now asking for Ј700 thats the bond with additional interest charges or something.
• What exactly have you been sent from who, please describe it in detail.
  is it a letter ?
  is a form with a court stamp and a case number and if so which court stamp seal is on the form,.
  We need to establish this first.
• The letter is a claim form from Northampton county court, that is the stamp also, it has a claim number and the claimant is the landlady of my deceased mothers rented property. It has my name as the defendant.
  The particaulars of the claim are basically saying she asked me twice to complete the paperwork to release the bond to her, yet I have ignored the requests (which is not true) It says the bond is to pay for dilapidation of a living room door and a pvc window that has a cigarette burn on it, it says she claims interest under section 69 of the county courts act 1986 at the rate of 8% a year from 08/10/2012-10/01/2013 and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgement or earlier payment at a daily rate of 0.09%, she is claiming Ј700 plus a court fee of Ј60.00, even though the bond was only for Ј400.00
• Do you have any household insurance with legal cover ?
  Dont worry, we are going to crucify her !
• Landlady has to chase the person responsible for the damage that was your mum not you. Very confident the Judge will throw this out when you show him death certificate and tell him there was a simple administration error by the deposit scheme that has prevented the bond being released to the landlord sooner.
  As there is no money left in mum's estate the landlord has no way to recover and they will have to eat any loss they have incurred as a business expense.
  The forms you have from Northampton should allow you to login to the MCOL website and submit a defence or ask for more time, its a bulk processing centre they dont even check if the claim by the landlord is correct! given what you have told us i suspect the landlord has no clue they are chasing the wrong person and the debt can no longer be chased.
• First you were not an executor as your mother died intestate you were in fact the administrator. As such your duties are to dispose of all your mothers debts out of the estate and then dispose of any residue as you feel your mother would have wished. In reality that is to you.
  I doubt very much that any court once aware of the facts would confer upon you any charge because they would take into consideration the circumstances of the case, your emotional state at the time in question etc. You did inform the bond protection company of your mothers death and has you have no experience in this area you assumed that your duties has administrator were discharged by sending the requested documents.
  Whilst a solicitor cannot represent you in the small claims court you are entitled to legal aid if your finances are below a certain level and you are entitled to free 30 minutes consultation with a solicitor who should be able to advise you further and tell you how to proceed.
  I am really surprised that the landlady has gone down this road because the bond is protected anyway and if you tried to claim the bond back she would have been asked for any costs she incurred making good any damage which would then be paid to her before you got anything. If you hadn't agreed to this then the bond company have set procedures in place.
  If the case is to be heard before you can see a solicitor, go to the court and put forward the fact that whilst you did forget to send in the required information this was due to the grief you was suffering and then further explain that on receipt of the second and final correspodence from the landlady you sent these in. Explain that you have since found out that you should have been sent additional forms by the bond company but these were never sent or received by yourself and that you have only discovered this after contacting them when you receieved the summons.
  Whilst the county court is a legal building the proceedings are not like a criminal court. Yes they are formal proceedings but they are friendly compared to criminal courts. The judges who sit across a normal sized table are far more thoughtful and I would expect that he/she would discharge this case with no compensation being offered to the claimant. I would also expect that as the landlady didnt hand deliver you a letter or send a letter that required a signature that the judge will say that any letter she claims to have sent that you dispute cannot be taken in to consideration but thats at their discretion.
  Rob
• Further to the above
  Before you make a claim, you must write to the supplier of the goods or service
  giving them a specific time, such as 14 days, to correct any fault and that failing this,
  you will take action in the county court. This is called a 'letter before action' and
  should be sent by recorded delivery. The court will not allow you to make a claim
  unless the defendant has been informed and given a chance to correct any fault
  before you do so.
  If you didnt get this then the case will fail.
  Also you need to inform the court within 14 days of their letter that you intend to defend the case and your reasons for defence. See https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct...41018144,d.d2k
  whilst this is for someone wanting to make a claim it does explain the procedure the landlady should have laid down prior to court. So your defence is grief and the fact you have done everything in your power for these funds to be released and you contest the small claim
  Rob
• The problem is that if there was not enough money in the estate to pay all the bills you should have probably done nothing.
  You can't be forced to administer an estate.
  It does not happen by default even if people tell you it does.
  You had no duty to do anything.
  What exactly have you done and paid out from her accounts.
  It may be you have done enough to make you administrator but may not.
  if not there may still be the approach that you have no legal duty to do anything.
• Thank you all so so much, you are all wonderful!!! All lifesavers!
  I decided to ring the estate agents telling them all you told me and what had happened that I had done my side of the bargain, the lady said she would pass it on to the landlady and that should be the end of it, but we shall see, I am truly disgusted that she did this knowing how grief stricken I am over the loss of my mum.
  I can't thank you all enough and will keep you updated in case she decided to be a cow and go ahead with it anyway!
• It wont be the last you hear of it, you should still move ahead and file a defence against the claim, otherwise a default judgement will be entered and you will owe the money.
  However until you answer the very important question on if you have any house insurance with legal cover we can not direct you on a good defence.
  You may be able to claim for harassment in return as well.
• Spacey, no I don't have any house insurance with legal cover. Can't she stop the court proceedings?
• You have to act in a timely manner until you receive a letter from the court itself instructing you it has been withdrawn.
  I would not trust anyone, the agent or the person making the claim.
  If you log in with the number you have it gives you some options.
  You need to select defend whole case, read this https://www.gov.uk/respond-to-court-...money/overview
  fill in the response pack but ask for more time
  This buys time, then start putting a defence together, which will be based upon You have no contract with the landlord.
  The person that did is deceased.
  Start making a list of what money she left and where it has gone and to pay who.
  get all letters she has sent together in a file
  find the one that says "letter before action"
  if you can not find this as she never sent one, that is good.
  But for now respond.
  It will not just go away, do nothing and you will get a judgement and bailiffs will attend .
  Once they get notice the case is to be defended they may throw it in then.
• Thanks for the responses, I went online and filled it out saying I was going to defend the whole case and that I needed more time, so now what happens next? I will begin to make a list. Thanks for your help, it is so appreciated!
• This needs proper legal advice - I suggest applying to have the case struck out on the grounds that it should be against the estate of the late .... rather than against the administrator personally.
  This moves any possible ccj one step further from home. You still need to prepare a defence in case applying to have the case struck out is not upheld or to address the case when it is brought against the administrators.
• They are several complicated issues around this and a good defence is going to need sight of all the documents.
  The Citizens Advice may be able to offer a free consultation and help you defend the case or failing this a local solicitor should be able to fill in the defence form within an hour .
  As the deposit is in dispute and now she appears to be coming back for more, I would suggest that you call the bond holders as administrate and have the payment stopped to the landlord.
  Request the deposit is returned to the account of the deceased
  The Landlord wants cake and eat it.
  They will bet what's left, which will be nothing if they bring a legal case as legal fees come first.