Is landlording becoming too litigious?

When Joe Bloggs turns into Judge Judy. Is landlording becoming too litigious?

photo courtesy of stockmonkeys.com@Creative Commons

The number of solicitors in the UK has tripled in the last 30 years. According to experts, it’s a by-product of British society following its transatlantic cousins down a road where legal action is the default position when something goes wrong in life.

Until quite recently, you couldn’t turn the radio or TV on without hearing “Have you been involved in an accident that wasn’t your fault?” And lo, solicitors sprang up all over the place to encourage the ‘slightly vexed’ into a ‘don’t get mad, get rich’ state of mind which clogged the courts up for years and has been cited as one of the reasons for rising insurance premiums.

Indeed, policy makers have identified the draining effect this trend has had on ordinary consumers and victims of crime, who suffer long delays in getting their case heard due to court backlogs. The move to eradicate ‘no win, no fee’ lawsuits  promises to reverse this ‘see you in court’ culture.


Four legged fury

I pondered this trigger happy attitude to legal action the a few weeks ago, when I was accused of being a ‘puppy killer’. Having replaced the leaky roof on my tenant’s shed some months ago, I went round to do a routine visit to the property where I was met with unexpected ire from the next door neighbour. “You killed my pups!!” he shouted at me over the garden fence. And slowly, the story unfolded.

Allegedly, according the neighbour’s impassioned account, when the shed roof was fitted months ago, some wood on the neighbouring roof came loose, which later caused it to collapse, killing the puppies the neighbour (a dog breeder) was keeping in there. The neighbour was clearly so devastated by this, he waited two months to tell me about it, in spite of having my mobile number at his disposal after unsuccessfully applying to rent the house next door from me last year, only to renege after realising he couldn’t stretch to the deposit. Claiming to have photos of the poor dead pups and the loose wood, he confronted me with the 64 million dollar question: “What are you going to do for me?”

Cue the “che-ching” sound effect as said neighbour waited for me to buy his silence with a wad of cash. I politely invited him to contact my solicitor. I await his call....

I don’t know if the puppies ever existed, or if the wood came loose. What I do know is that unfortunately, many people go through life seeing compensation as a source of regular income. Time to check if my landlord insurance covers legal expenses methinks!

Have you been embroiled in tenuous legal proceedings? Post your comments to help fellow landlords stay vigilant against would-be Judge Judys in our midst...

Alison Doering is a north east landlord who caught the BTL bug three years ago and has never looked back. Going from zero to six properties in three years and juggling a high pressure job in marketing means every day is a school day; there’s always something new to lock away in that mental filing cabinet marked “Never do that again!"