Help LA Issues!

Mopsypops

Hi All,

I had posted back in Nov (I think) that we were having difficulty paying the short fall on our rent but thankfully hubby found a job pretty quick :T

Anyway at the time i called the LA and explained our situation and asked if there was anything we could do or to see if the LL could lower then rent until hubby got a job, I explained that we might need to find somewhere cheaper,

I spoke to the Admin assistant who deals with rent etc but she really didnt know what to do so passed it to her boss, I told her our situation and she said she would give LL a call and phone me straight back which she did but she said she checked the system and that i was in credit with my rent!

I said "oh is that because HB pay in advance?" and she said "no the way it works is that the rent is paid in 13 monthly instalments of £460, We did write you to say stop paying the short fall of £40 per month but you just kept paying" (Ive rented this flat for 3 years and have been paying the short fall every month!! and have NEVER got a letter to tell me to stop but have got the letters to say i have to pay the £50 admin fee every 6 month....Funny that!

I then asked how much "Credit" im in and she said she would have to check the system to make sure but she agreed when i said it was roughly £1300 odd pounds :eek: when I asked if she could take the £50 admin fee and 6 month shortfall from it and i could pick up a cheque for the rest she changed her tune and started to back track saying it wasnt as much as that maybe just a couple of hundred and anyway she keeps it incase i cant afford to pay my rent then she uses it and if theres any left i get it back when i leave?

She then said she would check it and call me back the week after well that has been about 6 weeks now and she still hasnt called back and i have phoned numerous times to be told she isnt in the office etc etc etc

My lease was due to be renewed on the 10th of Dec but it was cancelled the week before due to bad weather and i havent been contacted since and again when i phone no one is in the office apart from the previous mentioned Admin assistant!

My hubby started work on the 6th of Dec (We were eligable for a extended payment for 1 month from HB as hubbys wages arent great therefor the rent doesnt need to be paid until the 10th of Jan) and we should get a little help from HB but i dont have a standing order from them to pay the rest, What the heck am i supposed to do? :mad:

BitterAndTwisted

Stop ruddy-well phoning and start writing! The very first thing you should do is request a full statement of account showing every single rent-charge and payment made from the start of your tenancy within about ten days or so. if you don't receive it, follow it up with another letter until you do receive it.

Once you've got your statement you can either decide to withhold any future payments until you've caught up or request a refund. The problem for the agents is that if they're not holding onto your funds themselves and have paid it over to the landlord they won't have anything to pay you with and you'll have to ask for the refund from your landlord who is quite possible happily sitting on your money in their deposit account.

Mopsypops

Thanks for that BitterAndTwisted

Im not very good at writing letters but im sure i can rope my sister into helping me and hopefully between us we can get this sorted out!

Im going into the HB office tomorrow to give in my husbands wage slips so they can decide how much, if any, HB we're entitled to so I could ask them for a statement showing all payments made from them

The thing im really worried about is the fact that we're living here without a lease at the moment, Ours ran out on the 10th of Dec and hasnt been renewed because of the bad weather that had actually cleared up by then!

BitterAndTwisted

Don't worry about the lack of lease as that could work in your favour. As it expired in December you are now on a statutory periodic tenancy where all of the original conditions apply bar the notice period required on the other side. That's IF SPTs are the same in Scottishland as they are in Ingerland and Wales.