landlord rights

Jowo_2

terryw wrote: »

Perhaps there is scope in the criminal law for deliberate damage to property let?

Doubt it. The landlord has a contract (i.e. civil law) with the tenant who has an obligation under housing law to look after the property (i.e. civil law) so any damage made during the tenancy would tend to be expected to be sorted out through civil means (i.e. small claims court).

terryw

clutton wrote: »

"criminal damage - but you need to be Very persuasive with the police as they will almost inevitably call it a Civil Matter.....

Sorry, my bad phrasing. I meant "for future amendments or alterations to the criminal law".

I agree with you absolutely - at present the police will not become involved as it is a civil offence.

terryw

Jowo wrote: »

Doubt it. The landlord has a contract (i.e. civil law) with the tenant who has an obligation under housing law to look after the property (i.e. civil law) so any damage made during the tenancy would tend to be expected to be sorted out through civil means (i.e. small claims court).

Sorry Jomo. My bad phrasing.

lizzielondon

LadyLawyer wrote: »

The comment about landlord and tenant legislation is useful. If your friend used an open source tenancy agreement it is likely to include the right to inspect upon reasonable notice i.e. 24 hours in writing. All he needs to do is given written notice. If he does not want to go himself he needs to employ a letting agent to do it on his behalf. Given that inventory clerks charge £100 plus VAT including paperwork this would be worth doing - send an agent in with a copy of an inventory and ask them to inspect. Keep this on a thoroughly business footing. Have a report written and if there are breaches of the tenancy (i.e. they are trashing the place) then put it in writing to the tenant asking for them to fix things; copy whichever public authority is paying their rent, and give them 14 days for example to respond with proposals. If this does not work your friend can try to get them out under Section 8 of the Housing Act by claiming "other breaches" of the tenancy agreement i.e. not just rent arrears. If the signed agreement is valid then great, if it is no good then the tenancy will still be an Assured Shorthold Tenancy and your friend can give two months notice for them to vacate. If that expires and they do not leave then he/she will need to apply for a possession order at the Court which is what costs £150. This can be done online (google possession claim online) via the Courts system which helps you through the necessary forms. The key thing is to have as much information as possible available including things like sending any letters or notices by special delivery so you can prove they have been received.

It's a long road but much the best way to keep your distance and use the systems that are there to help you if you can bear it, the better behaved you are, the more likely a judge is to see in your favour.

Good luck!

i may not hae understood correctly but are you saying this is enforceable? because it's not and a tenant can deny entry

clutton_2

a LL cannot force entry without a court order EVEN for a GASSAFE inspection.... i went through all that last year..

I would have needed to get a Court Injunction to force entry to do this H&S inspection had the tenant not left when she had....

neverdespairgirl

terryw wrote: »

Dave,

She has done this....the friend does not want to be involved.

Some friend!

lizzielondon

clutton wrote: »

a LL cannot force entry without a court order EVEN for a GASSAFE inspection.... i went through all that last year..

I would have needed to get a Court Injunction to force entry to do this H&S inspection had the tenant not left when she had....

lol please tell me you're going to evict them as soon as possible?

tbs624

LadyLawyer wrote: »

The comment about landlord and tenant legislation is useful. If your friend used an open source tenancy agreement it is likely to include the right to inspect upon reasonable notice i.e. 24 hours in writing. All he needs to do is given written notice. If he does not want to go himself he needs to employ a letting agent to do it on his behalf. Given that inventory clerks charge £100 plus VAT including paperwork this would be worth doing - send an agent in with a copy of an inventory and ask them to inspect. Keep this on a thoroughly business footing. Have a report written and if there are breaches of the tenancy (i.e. they are trashing the place) then put it in writing to the tenant asking for them to fix things; copy whichever public authority is paying their rent, and give them 14 days for example to respond with proposals.

My highlighting. If you are going to have a user name like yours you need to check the content of your post.

Such a clause in a tenancy agreement doesn’t add anything helpful - there is already an implied covenant under all ASTs (LL&T Act 1985, s11(6) as given in post 5

The OP 's friend has obviously now been into the property, but the fact is that if any T refuses to permit access the LL’ s only option is to seek a court order, as several of us have pointed out.(posts 4,5,8 et al) Contrary to your assertions, it doesn’t matter what clause the LL has in his contract, neither the LL nor anyone acting on his/her behalf, should enter the property against the Ts wishes.

OP - your friend needs to draw up a written rent statement: dates rent due, amount paid and when, and balance outstanding, so that both he and his Ts have a clear idea of what figure remains unpaid. A copy of this should be given to the LHA office, particularly as you say they have suspended the LHA payments. Tell the Ts in writing that they have x days in which to come up with a firm settlement date or a discuss a payment plan. They will probably ignore the letter but your friend should keep a copy

Agree with Clutton - using special delivery for delivery of notices can be self-defeating and asking Ts who have trashed a property to “fix it” may produce a result that the LL hadn't bargained for. The letter should be sent to the T listing the damage as seen by the LL and reminding them that they will be held responsible for all damage that goes beyond what can be deemed to be "fair wear and tear".

As TerryW says, this LL is way, way out of his depth even on the basics.We can all blather on about S8s and S21s but a novice LL trying to deal with this type of T will very probably create further delays. Get the dates wrong on the notices and the Ts will be in there for a good few more months.

Best sources of guidance for your friend are the LL association ( National LL Assoc, Residential Landlords Assoc) as already mentioned in several posts , and/or Tessa Shepperson’s LandlordLaw or the guys at LL Action, who will handle the Notices for him for a Fixed Fee. These costs can be set against the rental income for tax purposes.

As Clutton has said, your friend may have to “write off “ both the costs of putting right the damage and the unpaid rent even if a judge awards in his favour, because although getting the actual judgement is straightforward enough , it’s often getting it enforced that’s the problem.

Heelixx

Wouldn't mind peoples feedback about a current situation I am going through concerning harassment from my Landlord.

Key:~ Paragraph = Landlord Letter,
Response to Paragraph = My Response back.

Mr. A, Mr.B(individually & together)
30th August 2010

Without Prejudice

To all concerned,
I am writing in response to your letter addressed to myself “only” Mr. A on the 16th August 2010. I do hope that when you say “You” that it is intended to both Mr. B & Mr. A together not singular. As the contract signed is a Joint Tenancy this would indicate that both people would be held liable. I read through your letter & found a few issues, like the one above which I would like to bring to your attention, not only to clear matters up but also to inform you of your roles and responsibilities to us, the Tenants.

As mentioned above your letter concerning the rent discrepancy & notice to quit was addressed to solely myself, Mr. A. This cannot be the case as Mr. B & Mr. A both signed a Joint contract between COMPANY & ourselves for the rental of *****************************. Therefore would you please refer all letters of correspondence to both parties named on the Tenancy Agreement, signed by COMPANY, Mr. B & Mr. A & witnessed by Mr. C.





3rd Paragraph:-
“You were not unable to pay the amount due on the 1st of July therefore the deposit held by me was paid to the landlord, this covered the rent due for that month, you have since passed to me the sum of £500.00 this covered the rent & utilities from the 1st August 2010”.
Response to Paragraph 3:-
We were “unable” to pay the full amount due on the 1st of July due to my personal circumstances previously explained to you that the Housing Benefit Office was starting up an initial claim which doesn’t get paid in advance but in arrears in fortnightly payments.
I would like to know how you came to the notion that we were “Not Unable” to pay as you have no idea of our finances.
4th Paragraph:-
“This leaves a balance held by me is the sum of £70.00 towards utilities & rent, your rent is due again on the 1st September, the sum due on that date will be £360.00 plus the return of the deposit of £430.00 a total of £790.00”.
Response to Paragraph 4:-
The amount paid to you (which we never received a receipt)as rent for the month of July 2010 equalled £300.00 leaving a discrepancy of £133.33 only to be paid for that month of July 2010.
Under the “Tenancy Deposit Protection” legislation introduced by the Housing Act 2004, Landlords are required to protect the deposits for all “Assured Shorthold Tenancies” that have been created since 6th April 2007 in a Government-approved Scheme. It is the responsibility of whoever holds the deposit (that would be COMPANY) to ensure that the money is properly protected in an authorised scheme.
Failure to protect a deposit has serious consequences for the Landlord. Firstly he or she will be unable to gain possession using Section 21 (Notice Only) of the 1988 Housing Act &, secondly; the Landlord can be fined up to three times the amount of the deposit if he or she fails to protect the deposit within fourteen days of having received it.
Within 14 days of receiving a deposit the Landlord or Agent must give the tenant/s details about how their deposit is protected, including:


· The contact details of the tenancy deposit scheme being used;
· The Landlord or Agents contact details;
· How to apply for the release of the deposit;
· Information explaining the purpose of the deposit;
· What to do if there is a dispute about the deposit.
It is our understanding you have failed to produce any of the above laid down via Government Legislation.

· No deposit was ever paid from Mr. B or Mr. A as you never asked for it verbally at the beginning of the tenancy.
· We (Mr. B & Mr. A) paid on moving in to COMPANY property the amount of £866.00 only, this payment was witnessed by your friend Mr. C as rent in advance commencing from said date on the tenancy agreement.
· To this date neither Mr.B or Mr. A have received any proof that COMPANY have ever paid a deposit into any Deposit Protection Scheme, as required by the legislation put together by the Government.
· PD&S Inns Ltd never supplied a Rent Book to either Mr. B or Mr. A, despite this you are legally obliged to hand to us, Receipt of Payment or a Record of Payment. To this date, even after being asked for receipts you have failed to provide.

Paragraph 5:-
“If you are unable to cover the whole amount due, or come to an arrangement with me then I would therefore request that you hand over the keys and vacate the room & flat by 1800hrs the 30th August 2010”.
Response to Paragraph 5:-
Your letter, dated 16th August 2010, reads that PD&S Inns Ltd is serving just myself Mr. A with a notice to quit.
COMPANY has no right to demand a notice to quit the premises due to the fact that the rent is not 2 months in arrears. If the amount was 2 months or more in arrears you should then give me a special form called “Notice Seeking Possession of a Property let on Assured Tenancy or Assured Agricultural Occupancy”. (You will also need this form if it is Shorthold). The form states which grounds for Possession the Landlord is using. Additionally, Mr.B.or Mr. A have not received a copy of the Landlords application to the court for possession proceedings. COMPANY need to apply in court to start proceedings for a Notice to quit the premises under the grounds which COMPANY have chosen, which in this case seems to be “Non-payment of Rent or Rent Arrears”.
In order to clarify the above, I have drawn out a spreadsheet that explains payments to COMPANY, the discrepancies owed & the balance of what is to be paid. You should find enclosed the print out of my records of Payment to COMPANY from May 1st 2010.

We would like to a copy of how your calculations come to the sum of £790.00 when a deposit was not paid to any member of COMPANY or deposited into any Government Deposit Protection Scheme from either Mr. B or Mr. A.


We, (Mr. A & Mr. would like to hear from COMPANY regarding any of the matters brought up within this letter. This letter is sent in good faith on behalf of Mr. B & Mr. A without malice or ill intent to you, COMPANY. We are sure that an agreement can be found to settle this matter by Legal Proceedings or an out of court agreement in writing only.

Yours Sincerely


Mr. A


Mr. B


I would like to also add:~

Entering the property @ 10:45pm without 24hrs notice in writing.

Threatening to break my legs

Throwing a Kettle filled with water over my personal property (e.g. My Bed) then informing me that I couldn't get him arrested for Criminal Damage as it isn't deemed to be that offense.
(I would have thought if he knew, it would have been premeditated) ?

tbs624

Heelixx- welcome as a newbie poster

Will read through and respond more fully (as am sure others will) but you may want to remove real names from your post. Mr A and Mr B will do the job.