Law student wins year-long battle with landlord over ...

A young law student has won a year-long battle against a landlord over the state of his rental accommodation.

Jack Simm, 19, described winning the case at a civil court last month as “the best bit of revision I’ve ever done”.

Various national newspapers have reported that Simm, who comes from Newcastle and is studying in Norwich, sued his landlord for an alleged breach of contract over his flat being “like a construction site” when he moved in back in September 2020.

He had found a flat to rent in Norwich but had been unable to visit in person before moving in; upon arrival he discovered the accommodation was unfit. It allegedly had no heating or Wi-Fi and there was work still going on. He moved out after a week and stopped paying rent, and from then on began to build a 10-page legal case for a refund on his deposit and the return of his first month's rent amounting to £859.

The Daily Mail quotes Simm as saying: “In my room the floor was covered in dust and there were loud noises from people hammering away. It was freezing at night with no heating. A smell was coming out of nowhere. We gave the landlord a week to sort everything out and at the end nothing had been resolved so I moved out and handed my keys in.

“Other people are more lenient and they just get taken through the long grass [by complaining]. I thought ‘I’m not being taken for a fool’. The most taxing part was making sure the case was tight. I kept tweaking the case right up until the court date.”

Newcastle County Court recently ruled in Simm’s favour and ordered that he be paid £859 to cover his deposit and first month's rent, plus an additional £140 to cover court fees.

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