I'm trying to leave my house but agency is making it difficult.. PLEASE ADVICE ME

Jowo_2

digitaly wrote: »

It's London so yes England. I did pay for a deposit in my previous occupancy contract. In the actual contract states that there is £1300 deposit (but I never received any notifications and I do not have any receipts). The date of my last contract? before this one? I don't know exactly as it was expired for more then 2 years as my ex flatmate where refusing to sign one to protest to the bad managing of the property. ( I had would have done the same now).

You need to find out the date of the last signed tenancy agreement as this will determine whether or not your landlord should have paid it into a Tenancy Deposit Scheme. Have a look at the Shelter website for information on TDS which will help determine (once you've identified the date of your last signed tenancy) what you can do about this.

For example, if it should have been protected but was not, an S21 will not be valid and the landlord can be taken to court and ordered to pay x3 the sum of the deposit to the tenants for not protecting it.

If a tenant is in the property and does not sign a new contract, it automatically becomes a periodic tenancy which rolls on until the tenant or landlord gives notice. Tenants cannot assume they don't need to pay rent if they remain in the property if the fixed term contract expires.

They are not permitted to withold the payment of rent, however strongly they feel about an issue - tenants must keep paying the rent regardless of the perceived failures by the landlord or their agents. What's so difficult for you and your ex-flatmates to understand about this?

You must pay your rent arrears. Are you the sole tenant or are there joint tenants on the contract?

digitaly

Jowo wrote: »

If you lived with your girlfriend, and/or if you earned income from the other tenants, chances are that you wouldn't be eligible for LHA anyhow.

I didn't know that but anyway I have not tried that. I knew that If I was sharing £1200 between 4 people I could have managed to pay and live decently without asking the government for more money. Also I was made redundant and I was told that in fews months I was going work back there on a new contract with a new company (but same managers and doing the same thing). So I was not expecting to be on JSA for this long. And when I phoned the JSA they asked if I wanted to claim for housing... But I said no! but they sent me the form anyway!!! never filled and never returned. So I can say I'm legally clean.

Jowo_2

For damp issues - environmental health.

For your debt and credit issues - Citizens Advice.

For tenancy issues - Shelter.

Pay the arrears. Pay your rent.

digitaly

Jowo wrote: »

You need to find out the date of the last signed tenancy agreement as this will determine whether or not your landlord should have paid it into a Tenancy Deposit Scheme. Have a look at the Shelter website for information on TDS which will help determine (once you've identified the date of your last signed tenancy) what you can do about this.

For example, if it should have been protected but was not, an S21 will not be valid and the landlord can be taken to court and ordered to pay x3 the sum of the deposit to the tenants for not protecting it.

If a tenant is in the property and does not sign a new contract, it automatically becomes a periodic tenancy which rolls on until the tenant or landlord gives notice. Tenants cannot assume they don't need to pay rent if they remain in the property if the fixed term contract expires.

They are not permitted to withold the payment of rent, however strongly they feel about an issue - tenants must keep paying the rent regardless of the perceived failures by the landlord or their agents. What's so difficult for you and your ex-flatmates to understand about this?

You must pay your rent arrears. Are you the sole tenant or are there joint tenants on the contract?

Ok! you have rise a good point here.
Now I got the old contract which is dated 21-09.2005 and expired on 19-09-2006 (my name is not there as I was an authorised occupant ) 2007 2008 we have paid the rent on time all the times with a max of 2 day delay. It was then £1026 x months and there is £1300 deposit that the agency claim has used to pay towards the last month September. We only paid £540 only as a rent because 2 people refused to pay their last 40 days rent.

digitaly

On the old contract there is £1300 deposit could this sum rolled on my new tenancy agreement as it also states the same £1300?

Jowo_2

Your queries are still something to run past Shelter due to the complexity. We cannot be expected to answer them given the depth of them and you failure to provide full concise information. Your posts are quite garbled.

In some circumstances, a tenancy is created when the landlord directly accepts rent from an occupant,even when there is no AST signed by them.

The tenancy deposit scheme does not apply retrospectively - if you haven't got a signed tenancy agreement after the date of its introduction, it doesn't apply.

PasturesNew

digitaly wrote: »

they asked if I wanted to claim for housing... But I said no! but they sent me the form anyway!!! never filled and never returned. So I can say I'm legally clean.

They would still have considered your lodgers/tenants as you having an income, so if you were on "Contributions Based JSA" it would be OK, but if you were on "Income Based JSA" then you should have declared the rent income and you would not have received JSA.

You are in a mess on many different issues, for breaking many different regulations, rules, laws. You really need proper help, face to face with somebody to sort out everything because your situation is really complex.

In black and white:
- you took on the tenancy for 12 months, it is your responsibility to pay the rent
- if you had lodgers/tenants, it is your responsibility to ensure the housing standard is good enough for them. If you have problems with the housing standard that your landlord should sort out then that is between you and him, but he is not to blame because your tenants moved out because he didn't know they were there (they were illegal).
- your eligibility for JSA could be in question.

There are no loopholes.

The quickest/easiest way out is to accept the landlord's offer, pay the £3000 and move out. The longer/more you try to "fight" your side, without any paperwork/evidence/leg to stand on, the more money it will cost you and the more stress you will encounter.

Speak to Shelter etc as others have suggested. Your situation is far too complex for a forum, especially as you keep adding in more complications to the matter.

digitaly

Jowo + others
Thank you very much for your time here. I don't know how to thank you all. I do help other people in other forums on what I got on my knowledge. But I'm learning all this the hard way (unfortunately for me).
I will try to get in touch with all the autorities you suggested above and see what they can do for me.
But looks like I'm going to get a CCJ Or I might have to get transferred abroad since I was working for a German firm.:(

digitaly

PasturesNew wrote: »

In black and white:
- you took on the tenancy for 12 months, it is your responsibility to pay the rent
- if you had lodgers/tenants, it is your responsibility to ensure the housing standard is good enough for them. If you have problems with the housing standard that your landlord should sort out then that is between you and him, but he is not to blame because your tenants moved out because he didn't know they were there (they were illegal).

Tenants where not illegal as I have notified them before arrivals (verbal) I also got emails sent to agent passing complains from my new tenants regarding the conditions of the house (I was not hiding them to the agency) We had a verbal agreement that once found new tenants he would have added to the tenancy agreement. I was transparent all the times!!! they even sent someone to see check the property and I introduced one to another. Believe me I'm a honest person maybe ignorant to law but honest.

Jowo_2

By the sounds of it, you've ended up in some kind of lead tenant or intermediate landlord role which further complicates matters and its clear that you can't manage this arrangement since you've not been able to effect repairs and you've not been able to prevent arrears.

Shelter will advise you what you are responsible for as opposed to what you think you must do, plus they will clarify your landlords responsibilities.

At the end of the day, you must pay for the accommodation you live in, as per your contractual obligations and if you don't understand what they are, this is why you need to speak to an expert.

If you can't afford the rent, you must reach an agreement with your landlord to leave and pay back the arrears. Since it looks like there are large arrears and the landlord appears reluctant to attend to repairs, you run the risk of being evicted anyway. Your failure to apply for benefits and check eligibility is not your landlord's problem to deal with.