Should i pay landlord?

miner-dave

so from the beginning i've had my suspicions that my LL is not doing everything by the books.
1)he never gave us evidence that our bond had been placed in a deposit scheme.
2)he has only ever taken cash upfront each month and did not want the rent going into his bank. btw we never had any receipts (or asked for any, which i know we should)
3)all his post gets delivered to our house still.

recently our landlord had decided to evict us due to rent arrears. i have beeen trying my hardest to pay it all off but he is still badgering us.
what i want to know is theoretical.....
if the LL is not doing things by the books, are we still legally obliged to pay him rent? if he is on the fiddle (so to speak) would he be able to take us to court for not paying rent?

ok so thats one train of thought. the other is...
could anybody give me any advice on how to pay the rent arrears off?. are there any interes free loans, crisis loans etc available?
many thanks if anybody can help?

00ec25

the LL would be a fool if they were "not doing everything by the books" yet had given you a written tenancy agreement, so ... do you have one? If you do not have one then the situation may be slightly different, but not by much

miner-dave

yes we do have a tennancy agreement. so that probably means he's legitamate?

G_M

Two wrongs do not make a right.

If the LL is doing things wrong you should get him to put them right. So if your deposit is not in a scheme, you write to him, recorded delivery, asking him to do so and if he still doesn't you take him to court. See here.

"You can apply to your local county court. The court can order the landlord or agent to either repay the deposit to you or protect it in a scheme. If your landlord or agent has not protected your deposit, they will be ordered to repay three times the amount of the deposit to you."

Re rent payment - if you want to pay by cheque, you can. And you can insist on a receipt.
Re his post - not your business. But if you're not happy just write 'not living at this address: return to sender' on the envelope and put it back in the box.

"are we still legally obliged to pay him rent?" Of course.
"would he be able to take us to court for not paying rent?" Yes, though he may think twice as other matters might come out in court that he'd prefer didn't come out. But then again, he may not be 'on the fiddle'.

"are there any interes free loans?" - some credit cards offer interest free transfers.

Geenie

Neither side looks good.

Fire_Fox

miner-dave wrote: »

recently our landlord had decided to evict us due to rent arrears. i have beeen trying my hardest to pay it all off but he is still badgering us.

That is the most biased sentence I have read for ages - you wouldn't be being [STRIKE]badgered[/STRIKE] asked to fulfil your contractual obligations if you weren't in breach in the first place!

kai666

miner-dave wrote: »

recently our landlord had decided to evict us due to rent arrears. i have beeen trying my hardest to pay it all off but he is still badgering us.
what i want to know is theoretical.....
if the LL is not doing things by the books, are we still legally obliged to pay him rent?

What is about this site, why are people always looking to avoid paying what they owe

I would be badgering you too if i was your landlord. Whether he is on the fiddle or not has nothing to do with whether you should pay. Not paying is surely theft

it really winds me up, people are quite happy to spent/use services, but suddenly when it comes to paying it's everybody elses problem, and for some reason they shouldn't have to pay

miner-dave

ok in my defense i think it is only natural that when a person finds themself in a desperate situation, they will think of all the posible escape routes to rescue their family.
it does bother me somewhat to be judged and catagorised as exactly the type of person i am not. i have worked full time since i left school, moved out of home at 16. paid my taxes, bills, landlordsetc. i have been a hardworker, worked bank holidays, xmas, new year. along the way i have had landlords keep the bond money for ridiculous reasons, refuse to do anything about damp problems even when there was fungus growing over the carpet and the floorboards were rotten. and i have never complained, because i have always been able stand tall and get things together, without withholding a single penny of rent btw. that's not in my nature. but like i said this is a desperate situation, being faced with eviction with no money for a bond, hardly any income, and children to care for is a scary prospect. and one that will push you to explore all possibilities. ie- if i am LEGALLY obliged to pay rent to a landlord who is illegallly renting his property? anyway, it was just a thought, theoretical like i said. so does anybody have any ideas how on earth to clear these rent arrears? if you could help, that would be great, thanks :-)

caeler

OP I think the point others are making is you have become the person you obviously intended not to be by merely asking if you should pay. As others have said you are obliged to pay what you owe, even if he isn't running his business appropriately. Unfortunately there has been a large influx of new posters asking to get out of paying what they owe so its hard not to judge.

GotNo£

The DPS is over-rated. Last time out they just paid all the money back to the LL without us being able to do anything about it. So what's the point?

Fire_Fox

miner-dave wrote: »

along the way i have had landlords keep the bond money for ridiculous reasons, refuse to do anything about damp problems even when there was fungus growing over the carpet and the floorboards were rotten. and i have never complained, because i have always been able stand tall and get things together, without withholding a single penny of rent btw. that's not in my nature.

If you had asked for advice at the time we would have pointed you in the direction of the Environmental Health departments at your local council who have the power to enforce your landlord's repairing obligations. Of course you didn't withhold rent, that would have put you in breach of your AST.

miner-dave wrote: »

but like i said this is a desperate situation, being faced with eviction with no money for a bond, hardly any income, and children to care for is a scary prospect. and one that will push you to explore all possibilities. ie- if i am LEGALLY obliged to pay rent to a landlord who is illegallly renting his property? anyway, it was just a thought, theoretical like i said. so does anybody have any ideas how on earth to clear these rent arrears? if you could help, that would be great, thanks :-)

We can't help as we have no clear idea of why you are in your current mess, on a low income getting further into debt is not the answer. Are you claiming all the benefits you are eligible for? www.entitledto.co.uk
Do you know where every last fiver of your income goes? Budget planner used by Debt-free Wannabe board: http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html
Are you aware that the debt charities (CCCS and Payplan) regard rent as a priority debt, this your council tax and food must be paid before ANYTHING else? http://www.payplan.com/
http://www.cccs.co.uk/Services/Debtadvice.aspx