Very worried, please help!

slummymummyof3

G_M wrote: »

slummy - please stop giving erroneous advice when you are not sure.
The OP has already been told the tenancy can only be ended early with the landlord's agreement.
Even if the LL were charged by the police with criminal harrasment and/or assault, and convicted, that would not alter the (civil) contract which the tenant signed. (civil as opposed to criminal, not civil = 'friendly'!)

The tenant is contracted to pay rent, and must continue to do so unless the contract is ended by agreement.
The landlord must act in accordance with the laws governing tenancies (no harrasment etc) and that is separate. That is what needs addressing here.

Oh - and can we avoid 'heightism' please?

Sorry I seem to have rattled your cage.......bad day was it?

When you've quite finished being patronising...........

PasturesNew

G_M wrote: »

slummy - please stop giving erroneous advice when you are not sure.
The OP has already been told the tenancy can only be ended early with the landlord's agreement.
Even if the LL were charged by the police with criminal harrasment and/or assault, and convicted, that would not alter the (civil) contract which the tenant signed. (civil as opposed to criminal, not civil = 'friendly'!)

The tenant is contracted to pay rent, and must continue to do so unless the contract is ended by agreement.
The landlord must act in accordance with the various laws governing tenancies (no harrasment etc) and that is separate. That is what needs addressing here.

Oh - and can we avoid 'heightism' please?

What he said.... in every post on this thread, because that's the legal situation, not guesses.

tbs624

slummymummyof3 - don't take it personally. You can't be patronised unless you allow yourself to feel that way. Its only a forum/pixels on a screen but.....

....it's important that Ts who have a LL who is "misbehaving" ( whether the sort of thing experienced by the OP or a failure to repair something, for example) aren't wrongly told by others that the LL's acts/omissions will give the T grounds to then simply renege on the Fixed Term of their tenancy agreement. (It does seem wrong when certain breaches on the T's part can give rise to repossession proceedings by the LL but it is how it works)

Some LLs will happily agree to a T relinquishing the tenancy early if there is a poor LL&T relationship but most will not unless there is an agreement from the current T to fund the "reasonable" costs of finding an acceptable replacement T. A student T is unlikely to have the funds to pay the rent/deposit at a new place as well as continue to fund the former tenancy until that new T is in situ.

The OP clearly needs to be able to prevent further "surprise" visits from the LL ( especially whilst the other Ts are stillaway) and should seek urgent TRO support and/or qualified legal advice to move the situation forward and ensure that there will be no recurrence of the LL's drunken antics ( Shelter, Community Legal Advice, local Law Centre or law firm with experienced LL& T solicitor)

A webcam plus something like the Uni-lock link or Lifelock link can be useful for any T with a LL who likes to try to randomly access the property without appropriate notice.

Brb

Thanks for the correction folks. I did honestly think that when they are on individual asts that a LL had more of a right to access the common areas for cleaning/showing prospective Ts round so I did think in that instance that a T had lesser rights to quiet enjoyment. Not for a moment though was I condoning the LL's behavour of course.

Won't make that mistake again and I apologise for the wrong info given earlier in thread.

dizzybuff

The landlord accessed a communal area of the house . If you are in the UK this would fall under the public order act , he made you and other members of the party personally feel Harrassed alarmed and distressed. Therefore I would hope the Police would record it as S5 or S4a public order. It does also come under the Harrassment act , but there needs to be one or more incidents that count as a harrassment incident and the LL may be warned under the Harrassment act. Ensure you speak to your localStudent liason officer at uni they will help you record the crime correctly . I say crime as I do belive it would be public order.

Hope this helps

Diz.

paddy's_mum

The OP was assaulted - "then the landlord drags me by my arm and frog marches me outside".

It seems to me that a physical assault in front of many witnesses is more than enough of a lever to suggest to the landlord that being released without charge or penalties from the contract might be a better bet than his tenant going to the police with allegations of serious criminal behaviour.

drgreenthumb1238

Thanks to everyone again for taking the time to reply. It seems like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place in all honesty. There is part of me that wants to be bullish with the LL but the problem is that I can't see him releasing me from the contract. I'm more than happy to remain in the house in terms of my housemates and other than the NYE incident feeling quite settled.

My concern is that if I escalate things, that he will then make life difficult for me. As I'm sure from my username you can guess that I have certain predilections as do a few of my friends. While I would never partake in such activity in the house(the smell is far too strong). I don't want him to decide to make trouble for me. It seems to me his ego is easily pricked(no pun intended) and I just want to get this resolved and move forwards.

darkpool

If I was the OP I would inform the police of the assualt threats. If you move out next week he might claim rent for the rest of the tenancy. If you have a police incident number that "proves" the assualt threat no sheriff would expect you to pay the remainder of your rent. Anyone really think a court would force a tenant to pay money to a landlord that threatens physical violence?

tbh if you don't feel happy in the house I think you have to move out.

Just remember in cases like this it's not what happens that is important. It's what you can prove that's happened that's important.

G_M

This thread reminds me of Sugarbabe. Scared of her lodger and scared to do anything about it in case she aggrevates the situation.

When she finally got the courage to take action she was like a woman reborn!

drgreenthumb1238

G_M wrote: »

This thread reminds me of Sugarbabe. Scared of her lodger and scared to do anything about it in case she aggrevates the situation.

When she finally got the courage to take action she was like a woman reborn!

Very true! It's a strange dynamic, the landlord/tenant one. It seems he forgets that I'm the customer. Like I said, he's not doing me any favours when his rent swallows up so much of my annual income (SLC borrowings).

Thankfully I've only moved 10 miles away from the parental nest, so going back there for a few days. I think I'm going to send him a letter calmly outlining my issues and asking where we go from here....It wil of course be apologetic, but assertive at the same time. I want to emigrate in the none to distant future, so if he decided to stir the pot(again no pun intended) re my "extra curricular" it could have catastrophic consequences for my future!