Illegal landlord - lawyer recommended

[fido]

A Swiss colleague of mine has been duped by a dodgy landlord - even told him he couldn't have his deposit back. I know you can go Small Claims but can someone recommend a solicitor in Central London who can bend this LL over a barrel .. ?

[fido]

The deposit wasn't protected. Don't want to go in to the details but the LL sounds like all the worse stereotypes you could conjure on PH(!) My colleague is happy to spend his £s/SFr to screw this guy over ..

[fido]

TooMany2cvs said:

Some local authorities already have licences. But is somebody who's ignoring other legal requirements going to be overly worried about another piece of paper?

Sounds like this particular LL. He is using a solicitor in East London now. I explained that he could go to Small Claims but he doesn't seem very clued up. Fair enough I wouldn't know what to do in Geneva.

[fido]

KevinCamaroSS said:

Which country was the tenancy in? From this post it implies Switzerland?

In London. Sorry, if my post was confusing. Colleague is actually ex-colleague (was fired) from Geneva. He turned up in London earlier this year and seems to be contacting me all the time about LL problems! I haven't rented for a few years now but always checked that the deposit went into the TDS - wouldn't rent a flat without one. It's about time they cracked down on this - it's quite unacceptable.

Edited by fido on Monday 19th September 15:09

[fido]

C70R said:

One important point for note - did your mate ever sign a tenancy agreement for this property, or was it a casual arrangement?

Yes he has a contract. Just to add my colleague is an experienced financial services employee and this was not a cheap flat / houseshare. From the description of the landlord it sounds like his deposit has been used to finance large expensive alloys for a bling-mobile. I've taken a note of the lawyers mentioned ..