private renting problems

leighby

Hello I hope that you can help me, my partner and I have rented our house for over 2 years and recently we have had a few problems and have got behind with our rent as I have had to give up work and claim incapacity benefit. We do not get on with our landlord and landlady very well, but we have tried to keep them informed on our situation.

However, of late our landlord has been coming around and doing maintenance on our property, laying new grass and the like. On the days when he comes round he doesnt ask us if it is convenient and he doesn't even knock when he arrives, he just goes around the back of our property, which doesnt have a gate and gets on with it. Yesterday, sunday, he was outside for 10 hours and our next door neighbour was providing him with food and drinks, and again, he didnt let us know he was there. I have woken up this morning at 9.30am to hear a noise outside my bedroom window, we have a box window for our lounge, to find my landlord standing on the box window looking into my bedroom window! I was totally naked and freaked out! I have been sick and as I have numerous health problems, its not the best way to start the day!

He posted an eviction notice through our door on friday evening after another spell in our garden, so we have the statutory notice of 2 months, but I am wondering if this can be considered harrasement. In our tenancy agreement it states that he has to give us notice of a few days if he wants to come round and come into the house, but I wonder if this is the case for the exterior.

I had to use all my strength when I woke my boyfriend up to stop him going out and having a go at him, but I do not know what to do, is this legal?

any advice gratefully received as I do not know whether to contact the police or the council or CAB etc.

zar

Hi, I would think that if you rent the entire property that means he has to give notice to go into the garden as well as into the house but I'm not sure. Have you read shelter's advice on landlord harrasment? You can find it here. Since you don't get on with the landlord I also suggest you read the various threads on this board about getting your deposit back as he may try and withhold it from you.

If you are fed up with your landlord and think you can find another house quickly then you may want to consider handing in your 1 months notice so you can get away more quickly (you can only do this if you are out of your first 6 months at the property and on to the rolling month-to-month part of the agreement).

gingin_2

I would be furious if it was us. No way does he have the right to enter the property (and that includes the garden) without a reasonable amount of notice and at a time that is convenient to you. Our Landlord has been around twice in the 2 1/2 years that we have rented the property and both times he notified us in writing of what he needed to and for us to give him a suitable time. I agree with the other poster about deposit return, it sounds like things could get fairly acrimonious.

Good Luck.

silvercar

Sounds to me like the landlord is annoyed that he is not getting his rent and wants you to leave voluntarily. Although you do have a right to enjoy the property, he also has a right to his rent. To complain that he is breaching the tennancy agreement is reasonable but be aware that you are also breaching the agreement by not paying the rent on time. Your housing benefit claim is not his problem!

going2die_rich

Ring the Citizens Advice Bureau. You should easily find your local number on yell.com or on the local council website. They should be able to help and point you in the right direction.

They do have offices thats you can pop in but if you are unwell you can just phone them.

Hope this helps

Scarlett1

leighby wrote:

He posted an eviction notice through our door on friday evening after another spell in our garden, so we have the statutory notice of 2 months

you can refuse to leave, he will then have to go to court to get you out, it just depends on how far you want to take it, me personally would find somewhere else to live asap

amboy

silvercar wrote:

Sounds to me like the landlord is annoyed that he is not getting his rent and wants you to leave voluntarily. Although you do have a right to enjoy the property, he also has a right to his rent. To complain that he is breaching the tennancy agreement is reasonable but be aware that you are also breaching the agreement by not paying the rent on time. Your housing benefit claim is not his problem!

I have to agree and also wonder if he is making improvements in time to show the next potential tenants round.

Clearly you have to say something or he will think you dont mind and keep behaving in this way, whilst you are having your polite conversation with him you could also explain your intentions regarding his lack of rent.

People shouting about your deposit may be a bit premature as it sounds like your in arrers anyway

inmypocketnottheirs

As previous posts above, unless you are upto date with your rent and leave the property in an acceptable condition, you will find that some or all of your deposit may be withheld.

leighby

thanks to everyone who posted a reply, I have just had to have a quick bath so he doesn't end up looking through that window at me. We are now getting housing benefit which at his request is being paid directly to him, and we are paying the £150 extra a month, I am paying off the arrears at £50 a month as the council will not pay benefit on the full rent as we had a rent increase this year and they do not consideer this reasonable.

My boyfriend wants to call the police but I am going to go to the council offices to talk to them about it.

On another note, my landlord have only recently december of last year, got a buy to let mortgage and they asked us to lie to the surveyor who came round saying that we were only staying there as a favour to them and not a tenant. They also asked us to lie to the housing benefit about how long we have lived here, any ideas why?

gbmacqueen

this sound very interesting, like a soap. Hope we will get futher episodes to see how the plot develops.

seven-day-weekend

leighby wrote:

On another note, my landlord have only recently december of last year, got a buy to let mortgage and they asked us to lie to the surveyor who came round saying that we were only staying there as a favour to them and not a tenant. They also asked us to lie to the housing benefit about how long we have lived here, any ideas why?

Maybe he hasn't been declaring the income to the Tax Office and doesn't want to be done for two years arrears.