Tent thread

RAS

What a pity.

Jowo_2

sequence wrote: »

There was an update on Ellas' blog, but it doesn't reveal much more than we already know. It's quite long, so I won't reproduce it here...

....

As I've said before, it is completely the tenant's right to seek legal address for the appalling breaches of her rights.

And it is equally the right of both previous landlords who have allegedly suffered many thousands of pounds worth of arrears from this tenant to serve court papers against her using the residential address she gives on her papers.

I can't remember the alleged sums owed and I appreciate that Butler's alleged arrears were inflated with some kind of ridiculous daily penalty but I did calculate this as coming out at around a year's worth of rent, quite a feat to wrack up when those on low or no income should be entitled to LHA.

So the tenant and landlords can take legal action but I don't think the tenant's reputation is necessarily going to get restored during any publicity that is generated.

SouthCoast

New update to follow today, big thank-you to Paul Shamplina and his teamYesterday at 02:54

Still waiting!

tbs624

Jowo wrote: »

....

As I've said before, it is completely the tenant's right to seek legal address for the appalling breaches of her rights.

redress

Jowo wrote: »

And it is equally the right of both previous landlords who have allegedly suffered many thousands of pounds worth of arrears from this tenant to serve court papers against her using the residential address she gives on her papers.

I can't remember the alleged sums owed and I appreciate that Butler's alleged arrears were inflated with some kind of ridiculous daily penalty but I did calculate this as coming out at around a year's worth of rent, quite a feat to wrack up when those on low or no income should be entitled to LHA.

AFIAA no-one is condoning the running up of rent arrears.

What most people object to is the publicity stunts pulled by Suzy Butler and her attempts to portray herself as a mere victim: her behaviour towards her tenant Ms Nobre semed to me to be utterly nauseating.

There seems to be a failure to understand that if a mortgagor behaved in this fashion towards a mortgagee who had fallen into arrears, wrongly referring to the mortgagee as a squatter, discussing personal information in front of a camera crew, online and on the radio, doorstepping with a camera crew in tow, displaying the mortgagee's bank details/mobile phone number etc on national TV, then there would quite rightly be an outcry from middle England.

Is all that okay if the "target" is a tenant? Of course not.

If Suzy Butler had quietly and professionally followed the correct court procedures to regain possession of her home and then publicised her struggle over any rent arrears ( not seeking to pile on penalty charges) I may even have had a modicum of sympathy, despite her apparent inability to understand the rules around the right type of tenancy agreement to use, with clauses that could stand up to scrutiny in a court.

Jowo wrote: »

So the tenant and landlords can take legal action but I don't think the tenant's reputation is necessarily going to get restored during any publicity that is generated.

Has anyone suggested that it would be? However, there would probably be, to use one of Suzy's/Jezza's marketing-speak phrases, a "rebalancing" in the public perception of Ms Butler. She seems to have had support from friends with useful contacts to present herself as an utterly blameless golden haired charity worker, whose own actions in all of this were totally fine and dandy.

Failing to pay rent in full and on time is wrong but sometimes life events mean that Ts struggle with their payments and no LL should ever feel that it is acceptable to behave as Suzy Butler appears to have done.

That this should happen in an area with one of the highest percentages of PRS properties, and remain for the large part unchallenged, makes it worse.

I struggle with the idea that someone who has enough drive to set up a charity, with all that that entails, did not seem to know how to correctly research what might be involved in letting out her own home including how to properly regain possession of the property.

Those vile shots of Suzy Butler,in her hoodie, chin jutting forward as she confronts Ms Nobre in the property, seem to me to offer a clear example of something tantamount to tenant harassment.

The most important message that should come out of any subsequent court action is that although, yes, Ts are legally obliged to pay their rent, all LLs must:

(a) understand how tenancy agreements work, which type to use and when
(b) know how to effectively serve the correct notices in varying circumstances
(c) understand that the law affords a T quiet enjoyment, even when rent is owed
(d) not seek to take the law into their own hands but instead follow the correct legal procedure via the courts
(e) understand that is is never acceptable for a LL, amateur or experienced, to publicly humiliate a T in the fashion that Suzy Butler did , whilst allowing it be stated on her facebook support page that she had "legally" regained her home.

Others may have different views.

john539

SouthCoast wrote: »

Still waiting!

As always, more hot air.

tbs624

For your perusal http://www.atro-online.com/prosecutions.html

Comment to a LL from the Chair of the Mags Court in one of the cases in which the T was in arrears:

"As a landlord you have certain responsibilities. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. You have been the victim of unscrupulous and determined tenants but they have rights as well."

john539

Can people see the signatures on their petition or are they hidden now ?

I can't see them anymore.

neverdespairgirl

tbs624 wrote: »

Comment to a LL from the Chair of the Mags Court in one of the cases in which the T was in arrears:

"As a landlord you have certain responsibilities. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. You have been the victim of unscrupulous and determined tenants but they have rights as well."

Fair point!

<sebb>

Did anyone actually listen to the radio interview with Paul Shamplina they linked to on facebook? Unfortunately it's no longer available.

I was particularly disappointed about the woman who phoned in chuckling that she'd boarded up the house while the tenant was out, knowing he wouldn't go to the police.

I was also appalled that Paul's opinion of the letting agent that put the rent dodger signs outside a tenant's house was "creative", though he thought that some people might consider it harassment.

He also thought the LL who took the front door off the property while the tenant was out was also "creative".

Oh and the interviewer who was genuinely shocked that it was illegal to cut off the gas and electricity shows exactly the damage that Suzy Butler and co have done with their publicity stunt. Does anyone really think that should be legal?

What a joke.

RAS

Hi

I managed to listen to it last week. What really struck me was that most of the time Shamplina was telling JV and the punters that what they were doing was possibly illegal or at best likely to allow the tenant to counter claim. I think the risk of legal action if he said outright that anyone was breaking the law and possible committing a crime may have tempered his responses to people ringing in.

Why O why SB and her cronies think that this broadcast was favourable to their position I do not know?

And they have removed a link to the Shelter campaign. As an exemplory landlord I would have expected SB to support the campaign.