Got a letter from my landlord this morning...

clutton_2

Paul i thank you and i applaud the time and effort you have put into helping OP with her claim details...

But i am afraid that none of this affects my view that its her attitude to her life/benefits that sticks in my craw..

all along she has put other things... like her small childrens birthday presents ... ABOVE finding ways to keep a roof over her head..

i know some people will castigate me as a grasping landlord for this approach, but OP is soo typical of so many people who have been dependent on others for their livelihood - that they are simply unable to see the wood for the trees..

whether her landlord is sh i t e or not... and i utterly accept he may well be... this does not affect her opinion that paying her rent is clearly not her priority and i really believe that she is deluded if she believes she knows how to budget.... she absolutely does not......

whoever suggests a single parent advisor is spot on....

it remains to be seen if OP seeks such assisitance.. i am not holding my breath

having said all that i do know how utterly complex the benefit system is.. i have seen many many people go thorugh it... and have seen the utterly incomprehensible paperwork given to them

but

if the state is paying people taxpayers money in order to pay their rent - THEY have to take responsibility to make sure it happens ... and they must make sure that they have a handle on their debt..... if they dont understand it - there are CAB and other housing advice centres all over the country....

i do most sincerely hope that OP gets some back rent.. and that she pays it to the LL -

Whether he is incompetent or not.. she lives in a property for which rent is due.... and this LL could well have given her notice 6 months ago.. but did not....

lets hope we get a happy outcome

alasia

clutton- whilst I appreciate where you are coming from, the last time I paid the landlord was about 2 months ago and I paid him £300.

This meant borrowing money for food that week AND not paying bills. So how exactly am I not prioritising paying the rent!?

If the money goes into my bank account on a tuesday and on a thursday a dd for gas and electric is due out, then the bank will hold £110 of my money leaving me with £10 available to withdraw.

How can I do anything about that? Ive now got an unbelievable amoutn of bank charges due to the fact that ive not paid a bill to try and get some money for the landlord, and as for what wrangler said about the tv license; if I dont pay it I get a caution which is b****y scary!
Its swings and roundabouts...ok so I could pay the landlord and forget the bills,but then I get in debt to the bill companies and haver ccjs coming out my backside - which will further prohibit me from being able to get a new place!
And yes...Ive told all the utilities companies about my being single/unemployed and I am on the lowest rates/payment plans.

Im not making excuses, just saying that my money can only stretch so far...and btw when did I say I put a tv license over my kids shoes? I said I need to pay for both!

Also...he DID give me notice previously as I stated before.He has given me my notice twice "unless you pay me £300 before the end of the week" were his exact words. Then the next day he text me saying he had just been letting off steam as he had split with his girlfriend. Im not lying, thats what happened and its wrong to blackmail someone like that.


There was also the fact of his wording; whenever he has asked for rent and Ive paid him, I have said I will get some more to him asap and he has said (this is an exact quote) "dont worry about it...just pay when you have the money".

So yes I know I should have paid him, but he shouldnt have sounded a bit flippant about it.

And Im NOT just giving a series of "but yeahs" as certaion people on here like to call them. I am stating the another side of the story.

Paul - thanks for your advice, especially the bit about the HB being paid in arrears...I will look into that today

sunshinetours

wrangler5 wrote: »

Couldn't agree more. I said all along the OP had her priorities all ar5e upwards. The fact she prioritizes a sodding TV license above putting shoes on her own childs feet just about says all we need to know about her stinking attitude. I blame Jeremy Kyle.

The irony....

clutton_2

""So yes I know I should have paid him, but he shouldnt have sounded a bit flippant about it." always someone elses fault....

Paul says ""BUT when you leave the property on the 31st May he will get a payment for the month of May - on the 31st May.""

not so.... its more likely that the LL will have to wait till 30th June......when a benefit tenant leaves, it can sometimes be 6-8 weeks before the landlord gets the final payment ... its happened to me several times..

This then causes extreme problems with Deposit disputes timetables .......

tbs624

clutton wrote: »

i know some people will castigate me as a grasping landlord for this approach, but OP is soo typical of so many people who have been dependent on others for their livelihood - that they are simply unable to see the wood for the trees..

Erm, we're all dependent on others for our livelihood one way or another Clutton, and that includes you. See my previous comment about people *under stress* being unable to see the wood for the trees. As a single person with no kids, you will have little real idea of the pressure of having sole responsibility for a couple of young kids

I don't know why you feel the need to keep coming back for another "go" at the OP - if her "attitude" bugs you that much then maybe its best that don't read any more.

clutton wrote: »

whether her landlord is sh i t e or not... and i utterly accept he may well be...

Hmmm.....maybe not just a case of him being "sh*te" - if the LL hasn't given the OP an EPC, a gas safety cert etc then he is breaking the law Threatening the OP with notice on several occasions, and then withdrawing it, and failing to give her proper paperwork so that she doesn't know whether she is coming or going may well amount to tenant harassment.

clutton wrote: »

if the state is paying people taxpayers money in order to pay their rent - THEY have to take responsibility to make sure it happens ... and they must make sure that they have a handle on their debt..... if they dont understand it - there are CAB and other housing advice centres all over the country....

She knows she has a problem to face up to otherwise she would not have posted on here. She too has been a taxpayer and will be in the future.

clutton wrote: »

i do most sincerely hope that OP gets some back rent.. and that she pays it to the LL -

Would be nice if you had also tempered that with "I do hope that this LL is also doing all he should be - not least that he *has* had all gas appliances checked and is not putting a young family at risk"
and "I do hope that you get your LL to scheme register your tenancy deposit in line with the law"

How about a pursuance of the LL by trading standards and a fine for the lack of EPC?

clutton wrote: »

Whether he is incompetent or not.. she lives in a property for which rent is due...

Whether or not she has rent arrears the LL cannot fall down on his own legal obligations.

clutton wrote: »

. and this LL could well have given her notice 6 months ago.. but did not....

The fact that he did not may well be due to him letting he property "under the radar" and failing to comply with his legal obligations. Bit hard for him to go to court because then his own actions and omissions would be brought into the open.........? Any judge dealing with an action for possession arrears would expect the LL to have produced a formal Rent Statement for the T prior to moving on to court action.

Maybe what we have here is a criminal LL, letting out a substandard property. I don't condone Ts failing to deal with rent arrears but the OP has said she is trying sort it out. She does not need a virtual kicking, especially by those who have no experience of being in her situation and having sole responsibility for two small kids.

clutton_2

tbs - you have no idea what my life experiences have been... dont make assumptions

tbs624

alasia wrote: »

No EPC, not sure about the gas safety check as I have only been here for 9 months. He hasnt said anything about itso I will see what happens in September with regards to that.

Alasia - for clarification, the gas safety cert/check has to be done annually and the LL is legally obliged to provide the T with a copy of the cert that currently covers the property. Even if you had only been in for a month you should still have been shown the GSC as part of your original sign up for the tenancy. LLs who fail to (a) get checks done by a Gas Safe Registered engineer (b) get a gas safety certificate and (c) show it/give a copy to the T are committing *criminal* offences and can be prosecuted by the local council or the HSE ( Health & Safety Exec) and fined. See this link

If the LL has not scheme-registered your tenancy deposit , it really is in your interest to check up via the links I gave previously. Whilst your tenancy deposit remains unregistered your LL cannot serve a valid S21 Notice of Intent to repossess the property.

alasia wrote: »

And I am not by any means trying to shift the blame from myself; but the landlord did promise me when I moved in that he would fix the back door (change it for upvc as it is just wooden and very draughty) and sort out the water pressure on the bathroom taps within 3 weeks of me moving in.

He didnt, and despite regular reminders he only recently got around to changing the taps upstairs - meaning that for 8 months I have had just a trickle of hot water upstairs.

The LL has statutory legal obligations under s11 of the LL&T Act 1985 and has to maintain the hot water/space heating in good working order. he has to get repairs done within a "reasonable time"

alasia wrote: »

There is also mould behind the sofa on the wall that has been there since I moved in, not sure what that is or if it can be fixed,but I told the landlord when I moved in anyway and nothing has been done.

Did you have an inventory of the property, fixtures/fittings etc when you moved in? Did you note the mould on that inventory or, if no inventory, did you tell the LL in writing and keep a copy of your letter ? Make sure that you keep furniture away from walls so that air can circulate and try to keep condensation to an absolute minimum, so that you are not seen as contributing to the problem.

If you have problems with repairs/maintenance issues you can seek help from the Tenancy Relations Officer (private sector rentals) at the local Council. Many LLs will seek to serve a retaliatory S21 to kick a T out when a T does this but refer back to comment re deposit registration.

alasia wrote: »

Obviously this is no excuse for not paying the rent, but I feel a tenancy is a mutual thing and the landlord should be keeping to his promises regarding the maintenance of the property.

Just as a LL not doing things doesnt entitle the T to deliberately withhold rent ( except where following the Izzet case principle) , a T being in arrears does *not* negate a LL's legal obligations on maintenance etc.

tbs624

clutton wrote: »

tbs - you have no idea what my life experiences have been... dont make assumptions

Not an assumption, or do you you tell porkies - my comments are based on your own posts in other threads

alasia

Wow, this gets more complicated by the second...I think I will ask the LL for a copy of that gas certificate, just because Ive had a lot of problems with the heating (it takes a long time for the radiators to cool down plus other things), and as the gas meter is in the living room I want to be sure that nothing is leaking...although if it was I would have known by now I think

Can I just clarify something though please?

Paulthepainter said in a previous post that the HB is paid in arrears, so if I were to move out on 31st May, the LL would get the final payment on the 1st...this confuses me (I know, easily done).

As it stands, I owe £981.16. Does the thing about the hb being in arrears mean that I only need to pay him the equivalent of a months rent, plus the £30 a month I will owe him from now until November to cover the rent the HB doesnt pay- and then the final HB payment will cover the rest meaning I am no longer in arrears? Or do I need to pay him the full £981 before I move out?

The HB I think gets to the landlord around the middle of each month, at the moment I am working on the basis that I will move out November, so am trying to work out exactly how much I need to pay the landlord to have cleared the arrears...any help with this is appreciated as I really dont understand the HB arrears thing...

Just to clarify, I moved into the property on the 28th Sept 09.
The previous week I had paid £200 deposit plus £495 for a months rent.
I missed a payment in December and the second one in March I think, due to the confusion about the HB being suspended - the LL came round and told me he had rung the council to find out why he hadnt been paid after he requested it to be sent to him, and they told him the claim had been suspended for some reason.
He didnt go into details...

The council have been paying him direct since April, I think.

So do I actually owe £981, or half of that? I apologise if I am missing a point somewhere, I see now where I got myself in such a mess by not writing down what I had paid the LL, as now I cant remember any of it.

Oh and questions that have been asked: there was no inventory, he didnt do one and I didnt like to ask as like I said before, he made me feel he was doing me a favour by letting me move in.

The budgeting loan; I borrowed £812.

Oh and btw I have just got myself a part time job, so will be a taxpayer from now on (ish! - working in a chip shop 4 nights a week; woo!)- no longer any need to berate me for living entirely off the state

looby75

congrats on the job