could someone advise me on what to do please.

DVardysShadow

lovecrafting wrote: »

The only thing i have signed is the tenancy agreement and i signed for a letter the other day (to all tennants) saying if rents were not paid by the 28th of the month we would be receiving a £50 penalty) and if rent goes into arrears for 2 months eviction procedings will begin.

There is so much wrong here. A penalty payment cannot be enforced if it is a penalty rather than relating to the costs arising.

But you are being too soft here. If the Landlord does not give you a reciept, why did you sign for his letter? You do need to stand up for yourself on issues like this or he will walk over you even more. In your position, I would be moving.

lovecrafting

I didnt know it was his letter when i signed for it.

the only way i would be able to move, is by not paying rent next week (wich he is saying is januarys, i dont see how it can be if i pay a month in advance, it would be marches wich would put me 2 months behind not the one month he is saying. ) I am going to speak to shelter on monday about it again, i had a horrible night, and have managed to frighten myself into thinking he is going to evict me as soon as he can, and/or make my life difficult.

what makes it worse is, my partner's emplyers have the administrators in so we will have to claim LHA wich is going to make it harder to even find a house nevermind a deposit.


the letter sais its because any payment after the 28th causes the mortgage company to give him costs and then in turn he is passing them on to us.

Gorgeous_George

Why are you living in a house like that? You say you cannot afford to move butI would argue that you cannot afford to stay. A better maintained house will be cheaper to run even if it costs a bit more each month.

Do you have a record of the dates that you paid rent? If he phones demanding a dupicate payment ask him to write to you and say that you will deal with it. Try to get everything in writing and keep records (a diary will do). Shouldn't you have a rent book?

As a landlord myself I am extremely wary of a landlord asking to be paid in cash (is the gharage a commercial premises or a personal garage?). Probably not declaring it to the taxman. Speak to the Council as well as Shelter. If he harrasses you, go to the Police.

Take charge of the situation - you deserve better. Be strong.

GG

ETA - My post crossed with your latest. The advice remains - talk to the Council, Shelter and/or the Police. He cannot evict you, he needs to take you to Court and you will be able to put your side of the story to the Judge.

BitterAndTwisted

I would have thought that a cash withdrawal of the exact amount of the monthly rent would be pretty compelling evidence of your having paid the landlord. Get copies of all of your bank statements together, just in case. He's going to have a pretty hard job proving any rent arrears if he has never issued you with one receipt during the entire tenancy.

I think I'd advise you to consider withholding the rent once you find somewhere else decent to move on to. I really don't think this thug deserves anything else.

lovecrafting

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

Why are you living in a house like that? You say you cannot afford to move butI would argue that you cannot afford to stay. A better maintained house will be cheaper to run even if it costs a bit more each month.

Do you have a record of the dates that you paid rent? If he phones demanding a dupicate payment ask him to write to you and say that you will deal with it. Try to get everything in writing and keep records (a diary will do). Shouldn't you have a rent book?

As a landlord myself I am extremely wary of a landlord asking to be paid in cash (is the gharage a commercial premises or a personal garage?). Probably not declaring it to the taxman. Speak to the Council as well as Shelter. If he harrasses you, go to the Police.

Take charge of the situation - you deserve better. Be strong.

GG

ETA - My post crossed with your latest. The advice remains - talk to the Council, Shelter and/or the Police. He cannot evict you, he needs to take you to Court and you will be able to put your side of the story to the Judge.

The only record i have is records I have kept myself, he refuses to sign them. I am also a bit concerned about him asking for cash, but he wont give us any bank details and any time we have taken a cheque in he refuses it saying he needs cash only. (we tried in march and september to take a cheque in because we was concerned about this)

it would be cheaper to run a well maintained house, but in order to move i would need a deposit, and removal fee's. since my partner is no longer being paid by his emplyer we are living on the savings that would have been ok for a deposit,

I have applied for jobseekers allowance and hope he will be working (paid) before i actually need to go to the apointment. we would also need credit checks and refrences, i dont think my landlord is tyhe best person to ask for a refrence, so we are stuck with people out of the paper that will hopefully not ask for one (i am quite sure giving a landlord the full story would help, but a friend advised me it might go against me because they will think i am trying it on)

thanks for the advice on telling him to write to me, I will ask him to do that, and give me the dates he thinks i have paid so i can cross refrence it, I have kept my bank statments showing me withdrawing the correct ammount each month and kept that with the notes about when i have paid, I ahve also looked again at it this morning and will be asking him t do the gas saftey check as it expired in november.

the garage is a comercial garage he repairs cars, sells cars and has a racing team (stock cars) cant really say much more as it would probably break some rules on revealing who he is and liabel for companies or something.


half of me is thinking i should just grow some balls and say, see you in court, keep his money in a seperate account until he agrees to provide receipts. Problem is this would actually put me in arrears and i would then be in the wrong.

the other half is racking my brain trying to think if i could have made a mistake. but i can see clearly what i did on that day (i am a bit ocd about my diary) i went to tesco, paid 15.48 for bits and bobs, went to the gp to order a prescription,they had an issue with there computer so i had to phone the ermatology nurse asking for her to provide an emergency one. it was soft start at school for the wee one so went to that, I also returned a jumper to marks because it was too small. on the way home i paid him 620, 520 for the rent and 100 for the shortfall. i didnt pay the extra 5 because he didnt have a 5 pound note aparently and said just pay it next month, i asked him to sign the rent book i had downloaded from shelters website and he commented on how he didnt have time for pettiness and he wouldnt sign it. we had fish cakes for tea from the fish mongers and i went to zumba that night, saw his mum at zumba who blanked me.

lovecrafting

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I would have thought that a cash withdrawal of the exact amount of the monthly rent would be pretty compelling evidence of your having paid the landlord. Get copies of all of your bank statements together, just in case. He's going to have a pretty hard job proving any rent arrears if he has never issued you with one receipt during the entire tenancy.

I think I'd advise you to consider withholding the rent once you find somewhere else decent to move on to. I really don't think this thug deserves anything else.

sorry i quoted this, answered the question and then realised i didnt answer it properly.

I have copies of all of my bank statments. and have also written in the rent book downloaded from shelter, altho there is no signiture from the landlord, he does have a piece of paper he writes on with all the properties, but it isnt signed by him or me.

BitterAndTwisted

If he's insisting on being paid in cash and will not issue any receipts you can be quite sure that he's not declaring the rental-income to HMRC. But on the other hand he will be utterly unable to prove your rent is in arrears unless he's been keeping separate records somewhere which he's not sharing with you. Such a person is very unlikely to issue court proceedings to collect any alleged arrears but is very likely indeed to employ other more sinister methods.

I think you need to get in touch with Shelter Scotland and your own Local Authority's private rentals section for advice.

lovecrafting

I will be calling them monday, I have treid calling them again today but the answer machine message sais they are open monday - friday 9-5

i am really gratefull for all of your replies, thank you.

DVardysShadow

lovecrafting wrote: »

I didnt know it was his letter when i signed for it.

OK, you signed for delivery by Royal Mail. Different matter.

There is an element of bullying in this, but effectively he cannot change the contract without your agreement and the £50 penalty charges do not stand.

lovecrafting

Thank you, i havent slept so am a little confused but here is the plan so far?

Monday morning 9am, call shelter and see what they say.
then ask the LL for something in writing to say what he thinks i have paid and when.


in the mean time (ie over the weekend) I am going to sell what i can to try and get a deposit to move, i need out asap, even if i get it sorted this month, what about next month and the month after etc.

i am also going to pack what i can (ie an emergency bag) because i really dont feel very safe living here at the moment and want to make sure we have medication, nappies, ventilators etc if we need to get out fast, i know that seems over the top but given the gut instincts both my partner and i seem to be having i think its better safe than sorry.