Very worried, please help!

drgreenthumb1238

Hi everybody, I'm looking after some advice please. I'll explain the situation first of all.

I live in a student house with 5 other tenants. Last night I hosted a New Year's Eve party. Now there were no other housemates present, so I didn't disturb them. I had possibly 25 guests at the very most. Some of my friends are DJs, so a sound system was set up. It was noisy, which with hindsight wasn't ideal. In my defence, the terrace on one side is unoccupied (the lady who lived there had to be taken into sheltered accomodation) and the other adjoining terrace is used as an office, during office hours only.

The party was going well, no damage was done to any of the landlord's property, as I'd hidden everything breakable out of sight. Nobody had been sick, well the average age was around 25. I'll admit, it was messy, in terms of beer cans, and some spillages on a tiled floor. Unfortunately, there were people smoking inside the house (my contract doesn't say you can't), but there were no burns anywhere as people were using empty cans as ashtrays.

I was keeping an eye on who was attending, so things didn't get out of hand. Also as I have some expensive items in my room. At 2.30 AM, the landlord (clearly drunk) lets himself in. I was sat on the stairs, so saw clearly what occured. My landlord, before even speaking to me (I was 6 feet from the front door) agressively challenging my guests. As the landlord wasn't someone known to my guest, one or two thought he was a gatecrasher.

My landlord took great exception to this and started "squaring up" to the few who were asking him who he was/what he was doing here at that time. He screamed at everyone to get out of his house immediately. Then, the landlord drags me by my arm and frog marches me outside.

Apparently he'd had noise complaints and decided he would let himself in to see what was what. As I mentioned earlier, I have no direct neighbours, and the two a little further along are also student houses who were having their own party.

I'm a little confused as to how he would've been alerted to the party. The house was rented through a letting agency, although there is no sign outside with their number, much less my landlord's. He refused to identify the source of these complaints, despite me offering to go and apologise.

Once outside he launched into a torrent of abuse. He said he wanted everyone to leave immediately, or he and his brothers would return in half an hour, and "Cave mine and any other (expletive deleted)'s head in". I was very apologetic, and said I would get everybody to leave. At this point he was squaring up to me and shoved his face right in mine. He was clearly drunk and his pupils were massive. I'm only 5ft4 and weigh 8stone, so naturally I was VERY intimidated by this. He also took exception to people smoking, and told me that it was against the law for that to happen.

He then returned inside the property and screamed at the top of his voice for everyone to get the eff out. As he was leaving he told me he would be round with his brothers today to do an inspection. As of yet nobody has turned up thankfully. I spent about 20minutes tidying last night and have mopped everywhere, so the house is spick and span.

This has had me all very worried and frightened. While I was clearly in the wrong by causing a nuisance, I feel he overreacted massively. After being threatened, I don't want to live here any more in all honesty.He has a key and lets himself in at will. We apparently have a cleaner, but he won't tell us what she is supposed to clean, or even when she will turn up. In an unguarded moment, he said she was employed "to keep an eye on us".

Like I say, I accept that there were "wrongs" on my part, but I feel there has been a breakdown in the tennant/landlord relationship. Ultimately, I would like him to release me from my contract, as being threatened with violence is something I can't see us moving beyond.

If anybody could give me some advice on what to do next, I'd be very grateful.

freezspirit

Just out of interest what does it say on your contract about landlord access to the property?

Brb

Call your council and ask to speak to the tenancy relations officer and tell them what has occured.

They should tell your LL that he cannot conduct his business in this manner and could face harrassment charges. I imagine you have plenty of witnesses.

Do you rent jointly (ie share whole house) or have individual asts for the room you are in ?

drgreenthumb1238

It says that he can access in an emergency at any time. Other than that 24 hours notice is required. This has been flouted on a number of occasions, ie when he came round at 9pm one evening and let himself in. This was to drop off a letter to arrange a viewing the following day at 4pm. That viewing didn't happen (no notification that it wouldn't, or had been cancelled) and then he shows up with 6 people the day after(a Saturday) at 5pm. He tried to claim that he'd said about both. This was patently untrue, as the letter specified Friday only (who would go to the trouble of writing a notification letter and omit a day?).

This whole thing has left me very shaken, and I'm embarassed to say that despite being 30, I'd like to go back to my Mum and Dad's.

drgreenthumb1238

Brb wrote: »

Call your council and ask to speak to the tenancy relations officer and tell them what has occured.

They should tell your LL that he cannot conduct his business in this manner and could face harrassment charges. I imagine you have plenty of witnesses.

Do you rent jointly (ie share whole house) or have individual asts for the room you are in ?

We are all on individual ASTs. He wants to rent to one group next year, so that they are all jointly liable(think that's the correct term)

Brb

On individual asts I believe your LL is allowed access whenever (to communial areas) for cleaning/showing prospective Ts around. If that's wrong I'm sure someone'll correct me soon enough

It doesn't excuse his behaviour though so still worth speaking with a TRO.

Please don't be embarrassed about wanting to leave. I am actually older than you and I become flustered when faced with someone bellowing at me. I don't fare well in confrontations.

BitterAndTwisted

Your landlord is a moron. Popping round and letting himself in is not reasonable, especially when he's drunk and threatening you and your friends. Throwing a party on New Years Eve, no matter how noisy, does not constitute an emergency by any stretch of the imagination.

In your position I would pop round to B&Q tomorrow and buy some new barrels for the locks. Keep the old ones so you can replace them when you vacate. Replacing the barrels is a five minute job with a screwdriver. Get enough keys cut for your fellow tenants.

As long as you have a current rental agreement he can't either enter the property or evict you.

Sod him!

G_M

Ignore the rubbish above. WHATEVER it says in your contract, you have the right to 'quiet enjoyment' of your home. This does NOT relate to the volume of noise!! but refers to your legal right not to be harassed or interrupted by your landlord.

He can only enter with your permission.

Your were probobly in breach of your contract (I'm guessing there is a clause about noise and/or nuisance to neighbours) but that does NOT give him the right either to come in unannounced/uninvited (he was trespassing) or to intimidate you (harassment by a landlord is a criminal offence).

My advice:
1) change the lock. Take out the barrell (keep it to replace when you leave) and put in a new one (£5 from B&Q?). That stops him from illegally walking in.
2) report the drunken threats to the police - get it on record even if no action is taken at this point.
3) write to the landlord - yes, a letter. Make it official. a) apologise (no point aggrevating the situation b) ask him to make an appointment if he wants to come to inspect c) Remind him you are entitled to have guests round d) tell him if he gets complaints in future (whether about noise/anything else) he should approach YOU, not your guests, and should do so by phone or at the door, not by trespassing. You will be happy to speak to him if there is a recurrance, but in an appropriate way and at an appropriate time/place - ie not by gatecrashing/trespassing.

Yorkie1

Are you in England and Wales?

Are you still in the duration of the fixed term tenancy? When does it end? This incident doesn't allow you to end the tenancy early, unfortunately.

The usual rules are that, irrespective of what the contract says about access, the LL can only gain access in an emergency. He does NOT have the right to enter at any other time if you refuse permission. Even if the contract says he has only to give 24 hours' notice, the law provides you with the right to quiet enjoyment and thus overrides the contract. That being said, I'm not sure how the fact you are on individual tenancies affects that right and whether he retains the right to access communal reas.

You could contact Shelter to discuss your rights, also your student tenancy relations officer. What he has done is potentially criminal behaviour and you may wish to discuss with them whether you approach the police. There are no excuses for his actions.

Finally, consider whether you wish to change the barrel of the lock on the front door after discussions with your fellow housemates. Again, you may not be able to do this if the fact you're on individual tenancies affects this - wait for other posters to advise on this.

Good luck.

drgreenthumb1238

Thanks ever so much for the advice. Much appreciated. I think the door is a yale lock so I don't know if I can change that easily. Also as it's a houseshare, it would make things difficult for my housemates, which is the last thing I want to do. It seems as if he regards it as him doing me a favour "letting" me live here. This is despite me paying nearly £4000 per year in rent.

Errata

Get a door chain and USE it !