Fighting a losing bettle with Landlady AND Letting Agency

paddedjohn

What right has the LL got to dictate to the OP who can or can not stay? if her boyfriend moves in its got nothing to do with her

clutton_2

""What right has the LL got to dictate to the OP who can or can not stay? if her boyfriend moves in its got nothing to do with her ""

every right... moving someone else in is called subletting and is not allowed in most ASTs......

having friends stay over a few nights a week is fine....

tbs624

dollydiva wrote: »

Mostlycheerful...great post! Some folks just don't get irony, so think you're banging your head off a brick wall there mate....

Dd

The real irony is that so many of mostlycheerful's own posts go on.. and on... and on....often with no apparent pause for breath.

Perhaps s/he's worried that there may be competition for the Eccentric Waffler of the Year Award;)

tbs624

The LL may well still be grieving , in which case she should just pay the LA to deal with everything on her behalf. The problem is that when you get a novice LL like this their attitude is often one of " my dad lived here and had no problem with these things, so what is your issue?"

She needs to understand that she cannot simply let herself in to the property once a tenant has been granted exclusive occupation and that the Council can assess any rented property under HHSRS. LAs are generally pretty useless and when you combine that fact with a novice LL it tends to be a recipe for communication failure and misunderstandings.

You've got young kids, moving is stressful , and you obviously got fed up with the LA messing you around and the LLs subsequent rudeness. You should be upfront about who will be living at the property and you know that you should not have painted the walls without the LLs written agreement.

If the asbestos is white asbestos cement sheeting it doesn't need to be dealt with by expensive specialist contractors - it needs damping down , double bagging in polythene and taking to the nearest dumpi it with an asbestos facility. There should be info on this on your council website.

I have to say that if the use of the pit was that important I would have met the LL halfway - you said one charge for removal was 100 quid and the LL offered you a 50 quid rent reduction?

She may well now have taken advice over the pit, small kids at the property etc, and decided that concreting it in is the best & quickest option

paddedjohn

clutton, its not subletting as the op is sill in the property and is just cohabitating. its got nothing to do with the landlady and the staying over a few nights rule is only for the housing benefit

clutton_2

it has everything to do with the LL - a legal agreement - AST - states WHO can live in the property.... and that is ONLY those folks who have signed the agreement.... end of.....

Reasons why it is the landlords business ?

anyone other than the signatory who lives there and pays towards
living there is a sub-tenant... which is not allowed by Lenders

a tenancy agreement is signed for Exclusive use of the property by the signatories of the agreement...

unauthorised occupants (ie those not on the AST) are not covered by LLS insurance.

unauthorised occupants with a HB/LHA tenant risk the LL having his/her rent being clawed back by the council if fraudulent claim is established...... and possibly charged with fraud if the local authoirity can prove collusion


so... it has a GREAT deal to do with a LL who lives in their property....

paddedjohn

So by that reasoning, when the op's twins leave school and get jobs and pay keep then that is breaking the tenency aggreement? Im not arguing just confused.

MemmaJ

Thank you for all of your replies (I did say my OP was going to be a long one - I've posted on here and other forums before and kept the first post brief, and then people have replied wanting more information/details about something, or asking questions about something related to it... So I thought I'd just get it all in straight away!)

I have to say that if the use of the pit was that important I would have met the LL halfway - you said one charge for removal was 100 quid and the LL offered you a 50 quid rent reduction?

No, that was the cost of clearing the workshop (which was full to the brim with all her dad's old tools and general old 'stuff' that he had hoarded). There was never a cost quoted for clearing the pit, as I was under the impression it was going to be done anyway. My boyfriend offered to clear what was left when she took the asbestos out last week, but now having seen the asbestos sheets in there (and the sheets are not concrete-mix), he is not happy to do it.
Your post was very helpful, and I do agree that this is a case of 'novice LL'. I don't know much about being a LL myself (obviously!), but it as always come across like she doesn't know what she's doing, and actually doesn't care that much either..!

patman99

If you can get in writing that she is happy for you to dispose of the stuff in the workshop and garage, then you can sell them on ebay and make yourself a few quid, or take the metal tools to a scrapyard.

MemmaJ

This is obviously an old thread, but didn't want to start a new one when it's kind-of related, so thought I'd just add onto this one...

It's coming up to the time of the 6 month break clause in my tenancy agreement (February), which states that either party must give 2 months notice if they wish to end the tenancy at this time.

I have found another property which I'd really like to go ahead with, however that property is currently empty and therefore the Landlord understandably can't wait 2 months for me to move in (although the Letting has said he would probably wait 1 month, based on the fact that most people have to give 1 months notice wherever they live at the time....

I have been wondering if anything that the landlady has done up until now, would work in my favour and allow me to give 1 months notice instead of the stated 2....? For example, that she hasn't upheld her obligations as a landlady: the notice she was served by Environmental Health to have all the work completed by the end of November - she has done some of it, but not all of it. She removed some of the asbestos (and left half there), and hasn't had the asbestos waste pipe in the bathroom sealed, as was requested on the Notice.
There is also now mould in the property, which the Letting Agent has seen and taken photos of at my Inspection a couple of weeks ago; but when informed of this, the landlady basically said 'well there wasn't any mould when I lived there...' and has left it at that. The garage roof leaks terribly (therefore making it pretty much unusable), to which she says 'well its always leaked, I'm not having it repaired now'... etc etc...

I don't know if anyone can advise me wether I can give a shorter notice period than stated in the tenancy agreement, based on all of this and the premise that she hasn't upheld some of HER end of the tenancy agreement?