Nightmare neighbour & landlord. Help!

LouisB_2

Hi,

After waiting to turn my life around I finally moved into a place of my own which I rent off of a private landlord agency. I have been there only 2 weeks and already I have had to try and resolve the following problems:

*The landlord was using the property as a base for flytipping various waste (mattresses, furniture, rubbish etc.) without permission. I caught them even laughing as they did it before driving off.
*My inventory descriptions do not match the actual condition of the property, and there are some items which may incur health & general safety problems as well as additional costs.
*They sent me my contract to sign a week after my agreement and on it it said I have 14 days to sign and return it otherwise it counts as agreed. The amount of time disputing the legitimacy and accuracy of it elapsed past the extra week I had remaining.
*Now this is the big one. My neighbour under the same landlord tried to break into my property and kill me regarding the flytipping as they believed i planted the blame on them. They were drunk and it was racially motivated as well. There was criminal damage done to my property and the guy got arrested. He was released on bail without my knowledge and allowed back into the property. The landlord REFUSED to evict him and ignored evidence given (as well as letters addressed to the building from the Council regarding noise/pollution/behaviour issues before I moved in). The landlord is now treating ME as the problem tenant.

Due to the above I am under a lot of physical and emotional stress. I am having to take time off of work. I am no longer living in the property I am currently renting but I have been back there every day providing someone is with me. I cannot even be on my own most of the time now as I am too frightened/still in shock.

What rights do I have in a case like this? I am looking to go to Victim Support for my region, as well as the CAB for advice. I think I am also entitled to legal aid. I wanted to do 2 things:
*Get an injunction on the offender.
*Sue the landlord for breaches of contract and duty of care, as well as for damages upon my person and things I have already had to pay out for (utilities, rent and such).

Please if anyone can point me in the right direction it would be great. I went from being a fairly open, confident guy to being a complete mess in a matter of 4 days (since the incident).

Kyrae

So sorry to hear you're going through this There are some really terrible people out there, and I honestly don't know what to advise as your neighbour obviously has issues and isn't the type that you want to anger more for fear of what he might do. On top of that your landlord sounds like a nightmare! Do you think theres any way the landlord would let you out of the contract just to get rid of you? If he thinks you're the problem tenant perhaps he'd agree to let you move out and he can find someone new. Then you could go find somewhere with a decent landlord!! All well and good trying to sue him, but he'll probably just try and make your life even more hellish in spite... he sounds like the type that might. If I were you i'd forget the trying to sue him, and concentrate on finding a way out of there as it's effecting your emotional health and thats not good You say there's health & general safety problems, if he won't let you out of the contract then it might be worth investigating further down the health and safety route and reporting the house as unsafe to live in... when he realises how much it's going to cost him to put the health and safety issues right he might be more willing to let you leave your contract and move out.

LouisB_2

Thank you for your reply. Some further information - the landlord is not an individual but an agency. I would be suing the company rather than an individual. As for the neighbour I am still seeking legal action against them. I am not sure how I go about this in the proper way though. I think it would be best I cancel any standing orders and request to end the tenancy and have a refund due to the contract being breached.

jamie11

LouisB wrote: »

Hi,


*The landlord was using the property as a base for flytipping various waste (mattresses, furniture, rubbish etc.) without permission. I caught them even laughing as they did it before driving off.

Was this before you moved into the property?


*My inventory descriptions do not match the actual condition of the property, and there are some items which may incur health & general safety problems as well as additional costs.

Did you agree the inventory?

*They sent me my contract to sign a week after my agreement and on it it said I have 14 days to sign and return it otherwise it counts as agreed. The amount of time disputing the legitimacy and accuracy of it elapsed past the extra week I had remaining.

Which contract? Do you mean the tenancy agreement?

My neighbour under the same landlord tried to break into my property and kill me regarding the flytipping as they believed i planted the blame on them. They were drunk and it was racially motivated as well. There was criminal damage done to my property and the guy got arrested. He was released on bail without my knowledge and allowed back into the property. The landlord REFUSED to evict him and ignored evidence given (as well as letters addressed to the building from the Council regarding noise/pollution/behaviour issues before I moved in). The landlord is now treating ME as the problem tenant.

You are misunderstanding the powers of the landlord, he cannot instantly evict anyone, no matter what their behaviour has been like.

Your remedy might be to apply for an injunction to stop the neighbour from approaching you, certainly you should be speaking to the council environmental health department about the build up of rubbish.

Due to the above I am under a lot of physical and emotional stress. I am having to take time off of work. I am no longer living in the property I am currently renting but I have been back there every day providing someone is with me. I cannot even be on my own most of the time now as I am too frightened/still in shock.

What rights do I have in a case like this? I am looking to go to Victim Support for my region, as well as the CAB for advice. I think I am also entitled to legal aid. I wanted to do 2 things:
*Get an injunction on the offender.

That's ok, but the police are dealing with it already, is he going to be charged with assault?

*Sue the landlord for breaches of contract and duty of care, as well as for damages upon my person and things I have already had to pay out for (utilities, rent and such).

You will be wasting your time. It was not the landlord that attacked you, why should you expect him to refund you for things you have clearly used, such as utilities. If you move into a property it becomes yours almost as much as if you were the owner, that means you also have to deal with things as they are, not as you would like them to be.

No doubt you had the opportunity to inspect the place before you decided to rent, that is when you should have decided to take it or not.

Please if anyone can point me in the right direction it would be great. I went from being a fairly open, confident guy to being a complete mess in a matter of 4 days (since the incident).

Sorry if this comes across as harsh, I have taken your post at face value. I feel you may not fully understand the things you have already agreed to.

thegirlintheattic

The LL does not have the power to evict someone for attacking you.

jamie11

thegirlintheattic wrote: »

The LL does not have the power to evict someone for attacking you.

In fact the landlord could serve a S8 g14 notice to the tenant. Since it was an arrestable offence, the landlord would still have to wait for a court date and then a further wait until the possession date, so that could be several months down the line before possession occurs. Also, since g14 is a discretionary ground, there is absolutely no guarantee that a judge will see the matter as serious enough to warrant putting the tenant on the streets.

As a professional landlord myself I try to steer well clear of any disputes my tenants may have with neighbours.

My motto, be nice to everybody!

LouisB_2

Thanks for the comments. I'm aware of S8 notice to quit. I asked them to do that, and they refused over the phone. I'm also aware it is not instantaneous and I was willing to wait it out elsewhere and pay for the following month or so if they agreed. Regardless of the outcome of the court appearance on the 26th September, the guy has been proven to have caused niusances to other neighbours (letters from the council regarding complaints, witnesses etc.). The landlord KNOWS this person is a threat to neighbours, has breached his contract in several areas (he also did criminal damage to my property and therefore his as we are part of the same building).

Regarding the flytipping, It was AFTER I moved in!!! Before I moved in it was only my neighbours' overflow of rubbish (I was understanding as basicly the binmen have been on strike here for months). But then the landlord was opportunistic, they flytipped mattresses, furniture, household waste and more and it seems they planted the blame on me as although I explained and tried to prove it wasn't me my family got grief from a stranger one day who didn't even live there, and this crazy person also refused to believe me. It's also on police record it was his main reason for aggravated burglary/intent of GBH. The landlord is denying this and said the neighbour said it was "to do with music". I then proceded to tell them about the police record and offer them references and they lalndlord said "I don't want to get into it".

When I inspected the property, I liked it but was not given a reasonable amount of time to view it, and someone was going to beat me to it there and then. Also, I signed the paperwork with a 3rd party who are also a letting agency but acting as scouts for this main letting agency. I then received the tenancy agreement from the landlord a week after I got the keys. The let started the 18th of August. I moved in on the 20th. When I finally had time to live there property I noticed there were faults but thought nothing of it til I got the inventory.

That's the other thing, as time has been on and I have actually been living there cracks have started to appear in the walls etc, as well as damp. Bear in mind when the violent incident occurred....I had only just ended my 2nd week of my first month, and I would have been living there about 12 days. Oh yes, the cooker was put down as clean/working. There are some problems, though...

1. The cooker can be pulled out of place (it is not secured down). Sometimes even when trying to open the oven door.
2. You cannot access the power supply or circuit board of the cooker if it does something like not turn off (common fault, and an actual fault I have right now which keeps setting off the fire alarm!!).
3. All the numbers are scratched clean off the hob's dials. This is highly unsafe as you could leave them on by accident and it's a fire hazard yet again.
4. The light for the cooker doesn't turn off.... 5. The kitchen hobs, fridge freezer and cooker are all on the same circuit breaker. If I want to at least not worry about the faulty light on the cooker I have to defrost the fridge freezer.

Other problems?
*Oh yes, buzzers do not work (I missed 2 deliveries as a result). Surprise surprise not on the inventory.
*Also not on the inventory, storage cupboard which has a gas meter that hasn't been capped off (but apparently I won't have to pay any charges).
*In that same cupboard is a huge storage which is great but it is not boarded up on the floor so there's a risk of vermin and insects and I've had a lot of spiders come in since I moved in.
*Hole in the front wall where 2 Sky connections used to be? I got 1 filled up with Sky connection. The other is still wide open (about 22mm hole).
*The double glazing is shoddy. The guy who tried to get in managed to break a whole pane with a single punch. He might be strong but that is worrying. They have yet to call in another double glazer after 5 1/2 days.
*The paving stones leading up to my communal entrance are almost all unsecured (cement work is gone). Could cause a fall and very unpresentable. This also wasn't much of a problem before I moved in.
*While the mail was tidied in the hallway, I checked and it hadn't been rerouted or reposted as far back as 2010. I had to remove a few names off of the electoral role and reapply. I also had a previous tenant come at my house and try and come in to collect mail.

As you can see I'm in my 3rd week and this week I don't even live there. At this point I am going to ask that the landlord only contact me in writing due to the shock I'm in I don't wish to speak in person to any parties involved. I'm going to bcc in via email my guarantor and possibly a solicitor. In that letter I will mention due to the circumstances I no longer live at hte property I have rented from them. They have breached the contract several times as well as allow other tenants under their wing to do the same thus endangering my life/health and the condition of my property and that it is recommended they refund me for the agency fees, my deposit and first month advanced rent as at best only the first day or so of living there were of satisfaction. I will hasten to add I did not sign their tenancy agreement (but what I won't tell them is I am going to get legal advice on the paperwork they have given me).

EDIT: As per previous post landlord is not an individual but an agency themselves.

Emmzi

you know, you have given us a huge list of rants. Some of your points are valid and some are "should have looked more closely before you signed."

What I can't work out is what you actually want to happen to resolve this matter. Can you state that in a SMALL number of SUMMARISED bullet points? Then people will know what to advise you on.

LouisB_2

I appreciate what you are saying. At this moment in time I am not completely recovered so I apologise for the rants.

In clear bullet points, these are what I want to happen at the minimum.
*My deposit back, the first month of rent and the agency fees.
*The neighbour to be evicted so no one else goes through endangerment. There is enough legal/ local evidence for this request to be met.
*My feedback not to be affected as a tenant as I have met every part of my agreement and the landlord/agency is at fault.

I will still be worse for wear but will live with the above and (try to) move on with my life.

At best, I also want the following to happen:
*Small claims such as missed delivery fees due to the buzzer not working.
*First month of water and electric reimbursed as electric heating system and electrics/water heating not fitted in a standard and regulatory way (plus I haven't been there enough).
*Compensation for negligence, failure to meet duty of care, refusing to act within regulations/law.
*Compensation for psychological damage and standard pay lost at work due to having to take time off.

This scenario would help me finance the end of my dad's mortgage and convert the place into 2 properties which we could both live in peacefully and out of harm's way.

Emmzi

Well, in the real world

- you may be able to come to an arrangement on refund of rent. MAYBE. What are your actual, solid grounds for the landlord having breached his contract? Not little niggles, large, materials problems in breach of contract.
- you can't dictate who evicts whom
- the landlord can say anything factual he likes.

Missed delivery fees - tough. Should have put up a sign saying "please knock buzzer out of order."
Water and electric reimbursed - if you haven't lived there, there'll be no usage.
negligence and psychological damage? Dream on, this isn't America.

Focus on getting your contract ended and deposit back if you can. That is the very best I think you can hope for.

kmmr

I know the thread is "nightmare neighbour and landlord"... but is it just me, or is anyone else thinking 'nightmare tenant'?