Intimidating Landlord

Margaret_Kirkham

I have lived in my privately rented house for 3 years now and have always paid my rent from my own resources, paying cash monthly directly into my landlord's bank account as per his instructions. In March this year I lost my job and for the first time in my 30 year working life had to succumb to Employment & Support Benefit and Housing Benefit. I was granted full housing benefit for the first 13 weeks of my claim, however the benefit was only paid 4 weekly in arrears and it did not fit in with my usual rent payment date of the end of the month. I explained this to my landlord, and told him that I could only pay in the rent once I received the benefit, and that this would mean his rent would be around 7-10 days late. He went totally ballistic saying that this was not acceptable and that I had to get the money from somewhere to pay on time as he had a mortgage payment and other direct debits all relying on my rent being paid in before the end of the month/1st of the next month. I got in touch with Housing Benefit to try to get the money sooner, but of course I could not be treated any differently than any other person. When I reiterated my position to my landlord, he said he was going to get in touch with the Housing Benefit people and get them to pay the money to him - I had no problem with that, in fact it suited me better, but what he did was indicate that I was in arrears with my rent, when in fact I was not, I was just going to be 7 - 10 days late making this payment due to the position with Housing Benefit. He then sent me numerous texts saying that he did not care where I got the money from, but that he wanted it in his account by the usual end of month, that he wanted me to "get back from wherever you are" so that I could meet with him and his wife, and he just kept saying it was not acceptable and that he wanted the money. I rang Housing Benefit and then sent them a long faxed letter explaining the situation and they said I had done nothing wrong and that my landlord would just have to accept the situation. They also said that he was not entitled to receive the benefit direct, as I was not in arrears with him. Of course, I paid him the rent immediately I received it from Housing Benefit but then, about a week later, he sent me a text requesting £75 which he said were bank charges because the late payment of my rent had caused him to miss paying 4 direct debits and his bank had charged him £19.50 per item. He said I have to pay these charges into his bank account by 18th June. Can he actually make me pay these charges ? I would never want to cause someone financial hardship because of something I had done, but I feel victimised here as the late payment of my rent was out of my control. He also says I have caused his credit rating to be affected due to his missing the direct debits. Has anyone any advice for me please. Thanks.

ormus

yes.
use some paragraphs.

snagglepuss16

what a !!!! your landlord is, he has no respect for you or your financial situation, nice. in reality surely only one month of his direct debits would be late? anyway i wouldnt give him anymore money than his rent. i'd say got to citizens advice for some professional advice, they would be the best people to talk to.and if you have a contract/lease agreement take that with you too.
hope this helps a little

pjcox2005

Hi,

I think the first thing you need to do is accept that whilst it was unfortunate circumstances you have inconvenienced the landlord by paying later than the agreed terms so should be apologetic and look to reason with him where possible to come to a workable solution. It isn't his responsibility to subsidise someone elses rent no matter what the circumstances.

It will certainly be important to have a working relationship going forward if you are planning on staying in the same accomodation.

That being said I would expect a landlord to have sufficent cover for missed payments etc as this is part of the risk of running such a business and therefore shouldn't be your responsibility. I would check the terms of your rental agreement to see if it covers this scenario so you know your own legal position.

If it doesn't then perhaps mention this to the landlord, ask for proof of the late payment fees and perhaps offer a token payment towards them as a peace offering (obviously this may be dependent on your own finances).

Good luck with future job hunting.

Paul

Margaret_Kirkham

Ormus - constructive advice was what I was expecting - not administrative criticism ! And what the hell is gorm ????

Margaret_Kirkham

Ormus - constructive advice was what I was expecting - not administrative criticism ! And what the hell is gorm ????

hippyadam

Margaret_Kirkham wrote: »

Can he actually make me pay these charges ?

If a clause exists in the rental agreement relating to late payments incurring bank charges, then yes he can. If not its highly unlikely he could enforce anything.

However as others have pointed out its probably for the best to maintain civil relations with your landlord, so maybe you can negotiate it down to 50%? As Pjcox said the LL should have had some provision to cover his expenses in the event of non payment so i certainly wouldn't accept all the responsibility...

mikey72

I don't think he has any chance, but post it up in the "house buying selling and renting" section.

ic

I'd agree that the landlord should be able to cope with a late payment, however after three years of regular payments he's perhaps become relaxed in this regard and runs his accounts on the line (but then evidentially so does the OP...). I think he'd be within his rights to pursue for any costs incurred + his own justifiable admin fees. The OP may well have notified him ahead of time, but he declined late payment yet still the OP paid late (regardless of the reasons). Sounds like it'd be worth a chat with the local citizens advice bureau to understand exactly what can and can't happen in this situation, but also to maintain a good relationship with the landlord and repay the costs as soon as possible, perhaps in in instalments if agreeable.

Tucker

Don't pay him any extra.

I doubt very much that your Tenancy Agreement holds you to such charges for paying 7 to 10 days late.

As a landlord, he has to be prepared for 'non payment'. If a tenant just stopped paying it would be several months before he could legally evict them, so it's his responsibilty to have a provision for such occurances. Did you pay a deposit or bond?

Take some advice from you local Housing Concern / Housing Advice who will know the law intimately in this area. They will also pretect you from any attempt to bully or illegally evict you.

There are risks associated with renting properties and it sounds like he's not the type who should be in the rental game.

The rules regarding him receiving direct payment under Local Housing Allowance are that you have to be 8 weeks in arrears before he can be paid directly. The are some special circumstance beyond this, but they don't appear to apply from what I can read into your situation.

ormus

Margaret_Kirkham wrote: »

Ormus - constructive advice was what I was expecting - not administrative criticism ! And what the hell is gorm ????

youre missing the point madam.
no one is going to even bother reading your post, if you dont break it up a bit.

it makes my eyes go funny.
and i aint got time to take my medication.