Has my landlord crossed the line?

moneysavinmonkey

The employers may well have been given in the OP's references, but surely just in the context of confirming she was employed by them + her salary. It is not for them to say anything of the OP's cleaning skills, credit record or her children's tidyness etc.

I can't see any justification for the landlord sending photos to the employer - what is the need of that? What do they expect the employer to do. If they didn't have the OP's forwarding address then fair enough to write for that but that doesn't seem to be the situation. The OP could well have some civil complaint against the landlord for harassment but I doubt it would be worth the time/effort to prosecute.

The OP themselves have acted pretty dishonourably and admit they owe the landlord a fair sum of money. I think in order to get this sorted out in the cheapest/most dignified way the OP needs to contact landlord directly. Keep things civil. Ask them not to contact employers again as they can speak directly to her + arrange to repay the money owed.

arealbasketcase

devils_advocate wrote: »

Nothing? If the employer had given a guarantee? If the employer had made a representation on which the landlord relied?

WE've heard one side of the facts here, and a lot of emotion.

I stand by my comments, as you say, we don't know the facts and I'm not going to get into a guessing game.

I rented my home out to an employee of a national chain of restaurants, they paid her rent AND her deposit. When she was asked to leave, because we were returning to the UK, our LA did an inspection and informed us that the house would need professional cleaning to return it to the state in which it had been left. Did we tell her employer, no, I asked our LA to contact her directly and give her the chance to pay for the work rather than soil her reputation and working relationship with her employer. She paid for the work and the deposit was returned in full. No-one has the right to presume that any damage they may have felt justifies them in inflicting damage themselves. That is revenge not justice. Civil law only allows for restitution not persecution.

tbs624

moneysavinmonkey wrote: »

The employers may well have been given in the OP's references, but surely just in the context of confirming she was employed by them + her salary....

..and sometimes an employer will give a more personal recommendation on a tenant's behalf which is why I asked the question (as has another poster). It's always difficult when we only get the one side on here.The OP hasn't yet filled in any gaps in the story and I did say:.

tbs624 wrote: »

.....On the issue of them sending this info to your employer, I agree with what neverdespairgirl says, in that no-one can effectively menace or harrass you to get debts repaid, but was your employer involved in any way by say providing a personal reference to the LA/LL for your tenancy to be able to proceed?

I am not condoning what your LA/LL has done but without additional info this seems one of those classic cases that has arisen because there was to be a total lack of respect and proper communication between both Tenant & LL.

moneysavinmonkey wrote: »

The OP themselves have acted pretty dishonourably and admit they owe the landlord a fair sum of money. I think in order to get this sorted out in the cheapest/most dignified way the OP needs to contact landlord directly. Keep things civil. Ask them not to contact employers again as they can speak directly to her + arrange to repay the money owed.

Agree with you and maybe the OP will take your suggestion up.

tbs624

arealbasketcase wrote: »

................The rights and wrongs of this situation should have been discussed and sorted in private,....!!

Agree .......with both parties taking a share of the responsibility for coming to an amicable arrangement.

arealbasketcase wrote: »

.. IMO the landlord could leave himself open to a charge of slander/defamation of character by persuing this course of action.

........ if what the LL has said is untrue: it's possible that there is much jumping to conclusion here.
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Defamation is based on a false statement: for clarification - slander is transient form or the spoken word, libel the permanent or written: the key defences to a legal action on libel or slander are privilege (n/a), fair comment, or justification, ie it was true. AFIAA if what was said is true then that would be a complete defence.

It would therefore depend on what the full facts of the situation are & what was actually said/written : if the LL wrote along the lines of "as you provided a personal reference for Jim Smith, one of your employees, I feel that you should be aware that he has (a) left owing rent and (b) caused damage to my property (photos attached). Whilst I realise that the actual contract between Mr Smith and I is nothing to do with you, I felt that you should be made aware in case you are asked to provide any future references" my view is that there could be no action.

Even where whatever was said could be shown to be untrue, before starting any action for defamation or malicious falsehood you'd be expected to have taken specific steps such as trying for an apology, mediation etc. (& no legal aid for these cases)

Contacting someone's employer is IMO generally a morally dubious way for anyone who is owed money to behave but, as I say, from the gappy account here it does look as though neither party has been honourable in their actions.