Here is a question to the blog clinic from Mandy (not her real name), who is a lodger landlord in England.
Can I take my lodger to court to seek damages if I don’t have a signed contract or inventory?
My lodger has caused substantial damage to my wood floors (amongst other damage) and 2 floor repairers have quoted over £3k to repair it across the four rooms and they say it is serious damage in parts.
My lodger accepts that she caused the damage but says it’s wear and tear over two years and that my furniture (bed, chairs, sofa) is at fault for breaking and causing the damage. She is morbidly obese and my furniture was in excellent, almost new condition prior to her moving in.
I sent her contracts which I signed, but I can’t find her signed one. Would I have any chance of success at getting any of the costs back without a contract or inventory?
She’s handed in her notice and is planning to disappear as she says she hasn’t got the money and is refusing to discuss meditation, payment plans or any other options.
Grateful for your advice before she disappears and before I submit a costly small claims application.
Answer
It is not unusual for there to be no signed contract or inventory in lodger situations, and I don’t think the lack of these will be a barrier to bringing a claim. Presumably, the lodger will not try to pretend that she never lived in your house as a lodger at all.
However, there are a number of important considerations that need to be taken into account before issuing any legal claim. Probably the most important is – is it worth issuing proceedings at all?
Is it worth bringing a claim?
In particular, is your defendant in a position to pay any judgement you may obtain?
For example, if a defendant is on benefit and does not own anything valuable, the chances of getting paid are low. You cannot get blood out of a stone.
If defendants fail to pay voluntarily, then you are left with the various court enforcement procedures, which I have to say are frequently ineffective. I discuss the court procedures in this post which please read.
There is also the fact that you need an address for the defendant in order to bring your claim and then (if it is not paid) enforce it.
Although you have an address at the moment (your address), if she moves out it sounds as if she is not going to provide you with any forwarding address. So you would need to find out what this is before proceeding. If your claim has already started, it may have to be paused until you know what her new address is and can give this to the Court.
Assuming that you are able to overcome these problems, what about your case? Do you have a claim?
Do you have a valid claim?
Well, if your lodger has damaged your furniture and floors, yes, you should have a claim. If it is going to cost over £3,000 to carry out repairs to your wooden floor this sounds to me like more than fair wear and tear.
Although it is possible that damage to the furniture could come under fair wear and tear if the furniture provided was clearly unsuitable for her. After all, you must have known that she was morbidly obese at the time you rented the room to her.
As you do not have a signed inventory, there may be problems in proving that damage
- Was done during the time your lodger was living with you and
- Was done by her
So if she disputes the claim, you would need some evidence to show that the damage was done after she moved in and was done by her.
You need to consider what evidence you could bring. Do you have friends who can back you up? Otherwise, it will be down to who the Judge believes when giving evidence at trial.
Make a schedule
You will need to set out ‘particulars’ of your claim when going to court. This is a list of all the items of damage you are claiming for.
For every item, you will need to prove
- Liability (i.e. that the defendant is liable for the damage) and
- Quantum (i.e. assuming the defendant is liable, what damages should you get).
So for example:
- Item: Wooden chair in lodgers room
- Liability: The chair was in good condition when the room was let. On [date] it was discovered that the legs were broken. As the chair was at all times in the defendant’s room the damage must have been done by her.
- Quantum: The chair will cost £X to repair or
The chair will cost £Y to replace
To prove the quantum you will need either an estimate of the repair cost or a receipt for the original item or proof to show what it would cost to replace it today. Catalogues, such as the Argos catalogue, are a common way to prove the current value of something.
Note that if you are claiming for the replacement cost of something, the Judge may not award the full replacement cost depending on how old it was, as you cannot claim ‘new lamps for old’.
It is important that you have a detailed schedule, as the Judge will expect this if your case goes to court and is challenged. You should prepare this before issuing proceedings – it is a good way to work out exactly what you are owed.
However, note that you may not need to rely on it as the majority of court claims are never defended. In which case you will be able to get a ‘default judgement’ for the sum you are claiming.
The court will send out paperwork when you bring your claim telling you how to do this. There are also online guides on bringing a claim, such as the guide here.
And finally
From what you say, it sounds as if this defendant will try to evade payment, so if you go to court you may end up out of pocket, particularly if you use solicitors to bring your claim.
I suggest that before issuing proceedings, you speak to your insurers and see if the damage can be covered under your insurance policy.