Help with a pushy landlord.

wakojako

Hello all,

Firstly i will let you know what has gone on.

Myself and my girlfriend have been renting a flat off a private landlord for a year and 1 month.

I have informed him that i have had a problem with my money at work and im expecting it to be sorted in the next couple of weeks at the latest he will be fully paid at the end of the month. He has received half the rent off my girlfriend.

Yesterday he turned up at my partners work place when she was busy and one staff member short loitering around and pestering her with questions about my finances. she told him she was obviously busy and at work but he kept with the questions about him wanting her half of the rent, so he harassed her to the point of my partner walking over to the cash point to get the cash with him in tow. Im not happy with this as he had a time later on that day to collect her rent.

I understand that it is my problem about my half of the rent but he has a full deposit of ours and we have been of no problem to him in the past 13-14 months. So with his behaviour being so erratic today i have asked him for the new copy of our tenancy agreement that he has not yet dropped off (we still have the old one) does this affect us? and for the details of what deposit scheme he has our deposit registered with.

The property he has us in is an old 3 storey Victorian house that has been separated into 3 self contained flats that he calls "rooms" all bills are inclusive in the price of the rent and this has had me thinking over the last day or so are we putting ourselves at risk with being booted out because he is not totally legit?

if he does not have this property down as a buy to let mortgage with his lender i have read that we can be booted out quite quick? the more i think about it the more dodgy he seems, why would he call them rooms when they are obviously flats?? are all bills inclusive because he only pays one lot of council tax, tv licence and all bills for all flats?

sorry for rambling on a bit im just quite worried that his actions may cost us in the long run.

many thanks for taking time to read this.:(

Rainmaker_uk

Regardless of the other points you raise your LL cannot visit either of you at your place of work - this is harassment under the law.

wakojako

thanks for your quick reply.

mlz1413

Visiting someone at work is wrong and to follow them to the cash point harrasment.

Late rent is something a LL cannot evict you for until you are over 8 weeks late, so telling him you maybe a max of 4 weeks late was polite and fair.

Your other concerns are different points and your LL may not have a mortgage on the property. Do you have your own council tax bill? utitlies being included I think may just be to save costs, but if the c/t is also inclusive then it maybe worth further digging - if you ultimately wish to move.

antrobus

Well, according to something called the 'Landlords Bible' at http://www.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/index.php?page=bible&id=140 :-

"faxing a letter about rent arrears to the tenants work resulted in a successful claim for harassment being bought resulting in damages of £750 being awarded against the landlord".

So physically turning up at the tenants work and inducing them to visit a local cash point to collect the rent ought to be worth a couple of grand. (Maybe.)

are all bills inclusive because he only pays one lot of council tax, tv licence and all bills for all flats?

I'd have thought that you should be paying your own council tax and tv licence. If you're not then there probably is something dodgy about the set up.

wakojako

he has spoke about the mortgage in the past.

We don't have our own council tax bill, after having so many messages and calls off him in the last 2 days since i have asked for the details about where the deposit is registered he has not got back to me? seems suspect to me!

Planner

What do you want the outcome to be?

From your post, it seems you want the outcome to be a new tenancy agreement. Obviously the LL behaviour is unacceptable, but threatening harassment charges isnt going to be conducive to your desired outcome of a new tenancy agreement.

If it something best forgoten?

- your rent was late, naughty you, its a one off and wont happen again.
- The landlord did something he shouldnt, naughty him, but it wont happend again because it was only a one off late rent payment?

treetrunks

mlz1413 wrote: »

Visiting someone at work is wrong and to follow them to the cash point harrasment.

Late rent is something a LL cannot evict you for until you are over 8 weeks late, so telling him you maybe a max of 4 weeks late was polite and fair.

Your other concerns are different points and your LL may not have a mortgage on the property. Do you have your own council tax bill? utitlies being included I think may just be to save costs, but if the c/t is also inclusive then it maybe worth further digging - if you ultimately wish to move.

i wouldnt say telling a landlord you are going to be 4 weeks late is polite or fair. You can hope that the landlord understands a late payment and is accomodating but you shouldnt expect it. At the end of the days the majority of landlords have mortgages to pay as well, i doubt many would accept their employers paying them 4 weeks late.

G_M

This is harassment which may be a criminal offence. See Shelter's advice here.

Why do you need a new tenancy agreement? What kind? If it was fixed term agreement (6/12 months?) and has expired, you now have a periodic (monthly) tenancy which is perfectly legal. The terms are exactly as before except for notice periods to end it. See Shelter here.

You paid a deposit. Has the LL placed it in a recognised scheme? You can contact the 3 schemes here to check.

Write (WRITE!) to the LL saying you are unhappy that he harassed (use that word) your partner at work, that you do not expect him to do so again, and that if he has concernes he should write to you. Keep a copy of the letter.

Whether the LL has told his mortgage lender makes no difference to your security UNLESS he stops paying the mortgage AND the lender reposseses the property. However, if your fixed term agreement has run out and you have a periodic tenancy he can give you 2 months notice without needing a reason.

You are probobly right that he calls them rooms (makes no difference - if they are self-contained flats you have an Assured Shorthold Tenancy) and keeps the bills in his own name because he has probobly not told his mortgage lender OR the taxman (so no income tax on the rent, and no Capital Gains Tax when he sells). This is his concern though, not yours (though You could always threaten to tel the taxman.......)

All bills included? I'd never do that. What if my tenants left the lights and electric fires on all day, and left the hot water taps running so the boiler was constantly heating water? It would cost me a fortune!

princeofpounds

His conduct does amount to harrassment.

Your best course of action here (unless you want to just brush it off, which is possible) is to send a brief but firm letter (with some kind of proof of postage or recorded delivery) stating that whilst you are very sorry there has been an unavoidable disruption to your rental payments you found these actions unacceptable and that they might be construed as illegal harrassment. Say that you are confident that the arrears will be cleared quickly and that it is your highest financial priority at the moment. Note that over a year's occupation has gone by without a problem until this surprise and that it should be viewed as an unfortunate and isolated delay.

If it (or anything similarly threatening) happens again then consult a lawyer.

It sounds to me like he is being a dodgy landlord on a few grounds. He probably is running an HMO without it being registered. He has probably subdivided the property into three households without informing the council (bet he is charging you all for council tax and only paying one amount). You have a few levers here if things get nasty.

You should ALREADY have the details of your tenancy deposit scheme. Ring around the three schemes to check, it only take a few minutes. If it is not protected he cannot evict you unless you fall badly behind on rent or trash the property until it is protected. You may also be due a 3x deposit compensation although he can probably avoid this by protecting it late.

As for the new contract, unless you have both signed a new contract the old one continues to persist even after it 'runs out' of the fixed period. It becomes something called a statutory periodic AST which is the same as what you have in all respects except the timescales; now you must give 1 month rental period's notice and he must give 2.

missile

Whilst I can appreciate your irritation. Be careful, he may consider you are now an unreliable tenant and take steps to evict you.