Harrassment from LandLady what are my rights?

Blackpool_Saver

Werdnal wrote: »

Before you leave, take detailed photos of the property, showing the condition of every wall, carpet etc in every room, as proof you left it in good condition.

Yes, I did this, I was so glad i did too, I sent the pictures off to the dispute service and I got 3/4 of my deposit back, and that was from the baaaaaaah stard ha ha

billybear1

bonniesweetheart588 wrote: »

and I would just like to stipulate billybear we werent living rent free, the rent was being paid by the council since march. The landlady failed to inform us of a shortfall between the amount the council were paying her, and how much she was asking. Hence hiking up our arrears over the months when we thought they were indeed being paid.

Ok, so proportionally rent free and realistically, completely rent free in the landladies eyes. After all, at this point you never had the cash to give her directly and so represented a far greater risk in terms of a tennant than say, someone who had the income to cover it. Imagine their fear whilst you were there.

In essence you defaulting on the rent to your landlady costs you very little, as you cannot be forced to leave without an order from the court. A reposession company would not smile so brightly on your (ex) landlady not paying her mortgage. In this case she had everything to lose, you had nothing.

I am not suggesting in any way this is right how your were treated, but every coin has a flip side!

johnbusby

At the end of the day the LL runs a business and should be able to cope with a non paying tenant for a couple of months without resorting to harassment. If they want a hassle free investment return then they should invest in their money in gold or government bonds....

billybear1

johnbusby wrote: »

At the end of the day the LL runs a business and should be able to cope with a non paying tenant for a couple of months without resorting to harassment. If they want a hassle free investment return then they should invest in their money in gold or government bonds....

Agreed they do know the risks, but I am sure that it doesn't make it any easier when the worse case scenario (not that this is that WCS) arrises.

By the way, head over to the debt free wannabe section for help. They are used to people who have huge debts and are very sympathetic!

Imp

What a bunch of miserable, critical gits so many posters are on here. My commiserations to the OP and the predicament she has found herself in. It is very difficult and stressful being thrown out of your home.

BonnieSweetHeart, the great and the good of this county recognise that shelter for an individual is more important than money for a landlord, and have put measures in place to protect tenants from aggressive landlords. While these measures are not as good as they used to be (and I am talking about English law here, I don’t know Scottish law), a landlord cannot bring a tenancy to an end. Only a tenant or a court can end a tenancy and for a landlord to try and circumvent the court by bullying a tenant out of their home amounts to illegal eviction, a criminal offense.

I am sure your landlord feels you owe the rent arrears. Her failure to start any court proceedings makes me wonder why. I would ask her for a statement of accounts demonstrating how the arrears accrued, and ask a numerate friend to go through it in fine detail, making sure everything the landlord says is owed, is actually owed. It is not unheard of for landlords to add spurious amounts to arrears because they feel compensation is due to them, and you need to protect yourself from this.

Well done for finding alternative accommodation, and for committing yourself to paying off the arrears. Don’t forget, you can only pay back what you can pay back. Don’t allow this one debt to result in other debts. If you show good will and moral fibre, you will be looked favourably on, if not by the landlord, then hopefully by the courts (if it ever gets that far).

Good luck with the move, and I hope the future is better.

Imp

RabbitMad

OP - you want advice that helps you. Try this:

If I were the OP I would use draw up a deed of surrender that stated in the LL was wiping out all money owed and accepted that the state the property returned in was acceptable in return for the OP surrendering the tenacy.

I would ask the LL to sign it on the saturday morning and if they refused I'd shut the door and say well I'm staying then.

Given the OP's description of the LL I would then expect the LL to illegally evict the OP and the OP could clear their debt and have a windfall on top when they sue.

Clearlier

Hi Bonnie,

You've had the misfortune to come out the wrong side of this forum's groupthink. Basically, one person had a thought and several others piled in repeating the same thing. Given the nature of an online forum it's easy to make invalid assumptions. This may or may not have happened here but I don't believe that it's something other posters can know.

That said, there is lots of good advice within the thread too. Your main issue appears to be with arrears and Werdnal last's post contained advice that you should carefully consider following.

It does sound to me like your landlady decided that she didn't want you in her house anymore and that the best way to do that was to be aggressive and force you out of the house. She has succeeded in her aim.

Also, if you haven't already got somebody find someone that you can talk to. It's important to be able to vent a little sometimes and a forum is no substitute!

Good luck!

dawyldthing

bonniesweetheart588 wrote: »

We are handing back the keys on sunday, she has demanded the full amount on that day. I cannot magic up £1500 to pay her on sunday. I tried the option of offering what I could afford when she asked for the extra £200 a month, that I would increase it when I went back to work to clear the arrears quicker. But she wasnt interested. It was 200 or we were to move out.

I just really feel like everyone's being incredibly harsh towards me right now. I'm trying to figure out the best way to sort out this mess and all I keep getting is people getting the wrong idea and having a right go at me.

I have to say i think some of you are being a bit harsh. Shes said that she wants advise about how to pay it back.

If it was me I'd offer what i could afford ( £100 a month) until it is paid off. Some of us don't have loads of relatives to borrow off (i'm not in debt, so have made sure i've saved so that if i'm in any problems theres some way of solving it - not having a dig other person as its not what you need at the moment). A bit of something is better than a lot of nothing, and if it was me i'd rather someone have food on the table and somewhere to live rather than be homeless, especially when it involves kids. Anything to do with social security takes generally a few weeks to handle (i've known it upto 5 weeks before for some things, others a lot longer) and she just asked for help not to be bashed.

Sometimes in life we do make mistakes (don't we all) she just wants help to sort it out.

Also if you can put your statement of affairs on here to see if some of us can help you as there may be mobile bills that can be reduced, satalite tv cut off to save money and other bills switched to pay the bills off sooner/

drc

When you leave don't forget to check with HMRC that as a landlady she is paying tax on her rental income. She sounds like a landlady from hell. Good luck with your move.

She will keep your deposit to pay towards the rent arrears/any damages and she will have to go to court if she thinks it is worthwhile to get the rest of what you owe.

I would suggest taking photos of the place before you leave so she can't accuse you of leaving a mess/damaging things that you haven't.

If you have offered to pay once you are able and she has refused then I would just leave it up to the courts to decide. They are neutral arbiters and will decide how much you have to pay.

gravitytolls

jojo_2012 wrote: »

I agree with the environmental health thing, but your landlady might be right about needing a window open for the wall mould. Also not cutting the grass and leaving bin bags exposed after bin day is a big no no. Next you'll be making her pay to deal with a rat problem.

I don't agree with your landladys approach at all. I would call the police if anyone behaved in such a way outside my property!!!

It was one time, she could've been on holiday for a fortnight and the grass would've grown, rubbish mebbe not collected. It's only a problem if it's all the time or never done.