Evicted, locks changed, no notice...

surreybased

RedXIII wrote: »

What would be the best advice for people to avoid this situation?

Is it avoidable at all?

I think you've raised a very valid question. Can this be prevented ? Not sure, under current procedures. Tenants are referenced checked, their finances confirmed but LL's don't get checked. I've been a LL, no checks at all, strange when you think about it.

terryw

The potential tenant could always obtain a copy of the Land Register, and make a credit check on the landlord, and ask for banker and tenant references.

clutton_2

i have been a LL of 11 years... i always offer to provide current tenants details as referees to new prospective tenants... i have NEVER had one say "yes please"

Shakethedisease

Ah, but would you be happy offering up 6 months worth of your own bank statements. payslips and undergo a credit check too ? And pay for the lot yourself at the commencement of every new tenancy ?

I'd definately have said 'yes please' to that. I bet loads of potentail tenants would, especially if it cancels out the cost of their own checks and references !

Peace of mind both ways, everyone's happy and the agencies are coining it in too. After all, you never know who what kind of landlord you've let yourself in for. They may be living off their overdraft, or 3 months in arrears with the mortgage or worse..

;-)

Touche

I now have an appointment for Friday afternoon (the first in-working-hours time I had off work) to meet with a no win no fee solicitor with experience of housing/rental law locally. I had talked to a family friend (solicitor) in London on Sunday morning for initial advice.

I'm still gonna work the next few weekends... The rate I managed to negotiate was great (fuelled by my belief I was gonna need mega bucks). My girlfriend got a whiff and now wants me to book her a holiday to Cuba for the end of June! Women eh?

I'm not going to break in. I may well end up with all my stuff in a skip this time or with some burly guys waiting to kick my face in at the end of a days work. I don't trust her and I don't NEED to live there. I know I'm very fortunate in this respect.

I'm not going to check in to a hotel as I see it as an unnecessary expense. The floor is comfortable enough and very convenient for work. I also cannot be absolutely certain I'll get the money back.

ceridwen

RedXIII wrote: »

What would be the best advice for people to avoid this situation?

Is it avoidable at all?

Change the locks on moving into a new place - and then they cant get in except by literally breaking in. I learnt that it was necessary to do that any time I moved way back in my younger days (when I realised that my landlord had a tendency to come and let himself into the bedsits in the house whenever he decided to). I know my landlord had an excuse to do so - as the bedsits all had coin-operated meters in to pay for the electric. However - when I checked the legal position re him coming into my home behind my back the law (at that time - it might be a bit different since) stated that a landlord had to give a tenant 24 hours notice of their intention to come into the property. He never gave any notice and didnt even combine his visits with the ones he made to collect the rent money in person - so just gratuitous snooping then....

ceridwen

Maybe its just me - in that I would want all the details I could get about the LL if it were my life that she was playing around with.

I AM wondering about what the circumstances are that she is in - as regards being a LL.

Is she someone who has just the one property she has been letting out (ie buy to let or a house she used to live in herself - but went off to live with someone else)? Or, on the other hand, is this part of a business set-up she has and she is renting out a selection of properties?

MY guess is that its just one solitary letting property - in view of the fact she sounds as if she's pretty young and not that confident in how she handles things (clue = she brought her mother with her to a meeting with you I seem to recall). It sounded to me like mother is the real "troublemaker" here and daughter (left to herself) might be easier to deal with......?

EDIT: have you checked out Amazon and E-bay to see if your books are up for sale there?

Touche

I checked ebay and haven't seen anything that looks like *my* books. The resale value does seem to be pretty high though and I kept my books in pristine condition.

As far as I know she used to live in the property. She is self emplyed and worked from home. She then moved to spain and would occasionally pop back to the UK and stay in my flat. It was advertised to let for over 6 months with 4 agents at least with little interest (I had a discussion with a local letting agent before I moved in). The asked rent came down by about 33% over that time until it came into line with similar properties in the area (it had just come down 10% in the week I saw it).

She is currently in the UK and from her facebook (yeah, I facebook stalked her over the weekend :P) it seems she's working here at the moment. It might be interesting to drive past one evening this week and see if the lights are on?!

Wickedkitten

Touche wrote: »

I checked ebay and haven't seen anything that looks like *my* books. The resale value does seem to be pretty high though and I kept my books in pristine condition.

As far as I know she used to live in the property. She is self emplyed and worked from home. She then moved to spain and would occasionally pop back to the UK and stay in my flat. It was advertised to let for over 6 months with 4 agents at least with little interest (I had a discussion with a local letting agent before I moved in). The asked rent came down by about 33% over that time until it came into line with similar properties in the area (it had just come down 10% in the week I saw it).

She is currently in the UK and from her facebook (yeah, I facebook stalked her over the weekend :P) it seems she's working here at the moment. It might be interesting to drive past one evening this week and see if the lights are on?!

You should pop into your local council offices sometime and have a wee chat with them about it as well. You might not even have to take her to court yourself as regards to the illegal eviction if the council does it for you.

ceridwen

From what you say - it looks as if she might need the property to live in herself then? This could well be why you were summarily evicted then.

Is she going to be working back in Britain for long then?

EDIT: If it is the case that she wanted you out tout suite for her own personal reasons - then one would have thought she might have offered you a little financial incentive to go ("Here y'are - cheque for a £1,000 says you move out right away"). But I suppose - from the fact that she was trying to charge more than the going rate initially - AND the fact that you are earning good money (so wouldnt regard £1,000 or so as worth the effort presumably...whereas a poorer-paid person might have...) then I think she is probably too money-conscious to try and bribe you to go.