Please help - potential harrassment by landlord

Head-Out-Of-Sand

What a horrid landlord, poor you!!

Get advice, inform him calmly that what he is doing constitutes harrassment and is illegal, and that if it continues you will be seeking further advice. Do not give this charlatan any more money than you are legally obliged to!! He's essentially trying to bully you into paying up. So he miscalculated the amount he should charge to cover utilities before setting up a fixed term AST? Toughies. His problem, not yours.

Start making enquiries about other available properties so that you're prepared to move out of this loony's poorly-constructed conversion as soon as you can!!

Good luck, & don't let him intimidate you - you do NOT have to give him this money, and he's breaking the law by harrassing you for it. It's essentially extortion!! What a bumhole.

mlz1413

Do not pay any more money towards rent or gas.

Get a copy of your contract, highlight the section about fixed gas charges and quiet enjoyment and any other section you consider relevant.

Write a letter to him saying that you have been a model tenant paying rent on time, using the flat as a home and not a party place. That you are entitled to use the flat and heating at anytime of day and that no extra money is due until such time as the TA is renewed.

State that you consider the level of notes and letters to be excessive and would prefer that any requests to be kept to a professional level.

This LL is a bully and as you have not said anything so he is now rail-roading you. A polite but firm letter should make him back off even if only until the TA is near an end.

I would look for somewhere else when you can, this LL is not going to get better.

Its horrible dreading going home so good luck with your next place.

zedyy

Don't pay, get legal advise.

mikegahan

His behaviour could be construed as the criminal offence of harrassment and once this ispointed out to him there is a good chance he will back off. Also he has no legal right to demand an extra contribution for the heating as he has made no provision for that in the agreement

mlz1413

** bump**

OP how are you getting on?

50plusabit

Get a copy of your contract, highlight the section about fixed gas charges and quiet enjoyment and any other section you consider relevant.

Write a letter to him saying that you have been a model tenant paying rent on time, using the flat as a home and not a party place. That you are entitled to use the flat and heating at anytime of day.

State that you consider the level of notes and letters to be excessive and would prefer that any requests to be kept to a professional level.

This is the way I would go, the LL is totally in the wrong, he is harrassing you with the letters and this is a offence, you are entitled to enjoy your property with out this harrassment.
The gas charges he can do nothing about if it is in your TA.

Fred1_2

help_a_tennant_in_need wrote: »

He has just separated off a section of his house with an additional wall - but the property is council taxed so the council must consider it a separate property. Obviously with one meter though, there is no way to work out who used what! It's so frustrating!!!

Check whether the flat has been registered as a separate property - see http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/wps/portal/Property_Search. If it hasn't my guess is that you are a lodger, not a tenant and you don't have the protection that a tenant has.

Once you have that info, speak to the private rental section of your council. I'd speak to Citizen's Advice and Shelter as well. All in all thought, you need to get out as soon as possible, the landlord sounds like a nutter.