After years of complaining about the lack of care the landlord had for the property I was renting from them I finally got served an eviction notice.
I moved out, and 2 weeks later because of terms in the tenancy agreement I was still renting the property but there was a water leak from a bathroom pipe.
I was issued a demand for £4,500 worth of damage to the property which would partially be covered by the deposit which i refused to pay.
I went to my insurance company who told me that they would sort everything out until the landlord claimed that I had deliberately damaged the pipe in the bathroom.
At this point the Insurance company offered me only advice but would not handle the case.
I raised a dispute with the tenancy deposit scheme in order to recover my deposit giving lots of evidence showing that I had continuously complained about the bathroom the whole of of the time I had been living there, at one point the landlord sent their brother in law to fit a whole new bathroom (poorly I might add) and yet all of this was shot down by the adjudicator with the reason being ...
The landlords report states that I damaged the pipe so due to "the balance of probabilities" I was in breach of my tenancy agreement and my full deposit has been awarded to the landlord to cover renovation costs.
I am also aware the landlord intends to sue me for the rest of the cost I refused to pay outside of the adjudication process.
My understanding (which may be wrong) ...
In a civil case the law seems to state that if I am "probably at fault" (in this case, I had a set of keys which appears to be enough to implicate me) then I likely am liable.
In a Criminal case it would have to be certain that I did indeed cause the damage and proof to that nature would need to be provided in order for me to be deemed liable.
So, my question is ...
Given that the landlord claims I "criminally damaged" their property but never provided a single shred of evidence to back this up what can I do to fight this with no help from my insurer?
... or ...
Is there some way I can force this in to a criminal court or in the event that this can't be forced that way perhaps force my insurer to step in and help?