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Landlord issues RE: Cleanliness and rent. (Epic length)
WhistleBlower
Posts: 164 Forumite
Ok, long story short, i lost my job in sept, applied for jobseekers (Am at 2nd stage interview for a new job, wish me luck!) however application was seriously messed up and final confirmation didn't arrive until start of dec. (Award letter) due to issues, in the meantime with no income i couldn't pay the rent.
Dec 9th i went to claim housing but didn't have a copy of the TA, called the letting agency that day to ask for a copy to be sent to me.
Jan 4th no TA yet, i'd left it until after christmas thinking they were probably closed/needed to get hold of the paperwork. Got a letter from them threatening to evict if i didn't get it sorted. Called them and explained i was waiting for the TA, copy was sent and arrived last friday.
First thing monday i went and got the housing claim sorted out, the advisor tells me the first payment (dec and jan) would be heading out that night direct to the letting agency and they would be paid at 4 weekly intervals thereafter. The back rent is being sorted.
Ok, that brings us more or less up to date. Yesterday (Wednesday) i was in bed (fighting bronchitis) when i was woken by Hubby who told me the landlord was at the door and he was being a [not nice word]
The guy was belligerant from the start, i won't bother going through everything that was said, we'd all be here for hours. It boils down to
"I own this house, Raar!"
"You owe me money"
"I don't believe you've applied at all " (Quoted verbatim)
"And where is this payment now then?" (Implying i'd kept the housing benefit payment, not possible it's paid direct)
"You've applied for the wrong thing" (Said when presented with the paperwork showing i had claimed and where the payments should be going and when)
He also said that the interior of the house was "A dump" and he was Horrified at the mess it was in, and then insisted that he needed to come in and look around. I refused. I don't like strangers in here at the best of times, especially not ones acting so aggressively. We had a five minute round of "This is my house and i'm going to have a look at what you've done to it" and "The house is fine, if you want to see it come back later, i'm not letting you into my home"
He also says we have to get rid of our pets, which we have written permission for.
He eventually left without coming in but says he'll be back within a week to check the place is tidy to his satisfaction and the anmials are gone.
He says it's my fault he can't pay the mortgage on the place, ok, the rent hasn't been paid, i totally sympathise with him there, but it's not my fault my job went under, not my fault the benefits office screwed up and not my fault that the council won't backdate the rent, i'm paying it off £10 or £20 at a time as best i can.
Oh, i forgot to mention, in with the copy of the TA he included a notice of eviction. And the "Mess"? Some furniture that had been moved into the front room while i reorganised our spare bedroom, it takk two hours to put back and the house is spotless again. Yeah, it's a filthy pigsty in here.
TL;DR: Landlord is evicting us, rent went unpaid for 4 months due to benefit screwup by benefits office, is now being paid. Landlord turns up with no warning, calls me a liar, yells a lot, insults my housekeeping due to presence of some extra furniture in front room, demands i clean the house within one week and get rid of cats (that we have permission for) and makes vague threat of "You'll be seeing a lot of me" until it is clean to his satisfaction. They're coming to inspect next week.
Do i have any recourse in this? My head is so muddled i can't even think right, can he demand i get rid of my pets, and to move stuff around in my home until he likes how it looks? Cos that's what his cleanliness demand ammounts to. Can he just turn up without warning and be so horrible? Do i have to let him in when he does this?
Any advice of any kind is appreciated.
Thank you. Sorry for the length
Dec 9th i went to claim housing but didn't have a copy of the TA, called the letting agency that day to ask for a copy to be sent to me.
Jan 4th no TA yet, i'd left it until after christmas thinking they were probably closed/needed to get hold of the paperwork. Got a letter from them threatening to evict if i didn't get it sorted. Called them and explained i was waiting for the TA, copy was sent and arrived last friday.
First thing monday i went and got the housing claim sorted out, the advisor tells me the first payment (dec and jan) would be heading out that night direct to the letting agency and they would be paid at 4 weekly intervals thereafter. The back rent is being sorted.
Ok, that brings us more or less up to date. Yesterday (Wednesday) i was in bed (fighting bronchitis) when i was woken by Hubby who told me the landlord was at the door and he was being a [not nice word]
The guy was belligerant from the start, i won't bother going through everything that was said, we'd all be here for hours. It boils down to
"I own this house, Raar!"
"You owe me money"
"I don't believe you've applied at all " (Quoted verbatim)
"And where is this payment now then?" (Implying i'd kept the housing benefit payment, not possible it's paid direct)
"You've applied for the wrong thing" (Said when presented with the paperwork showing i had claimed and where the payments should be going and when)
He also said that the interior of the house was "A dump" and he was Horrified at the mess it was in, and then insisted that he needed to come in and look around. I refused. I don't like strangers in here at the best of times, especially not ones acting so aggressively. We had a five minute round of "This is my house and i'm going to have a look at what you've done to it" and "The house is fine, if you want to see it come back later, i'm not letting you into my home"
He also says we have to get rid of our pets, which we have written permission for.
He eventually left without coming in but says he'll be back within a week to check the place is tidy to his satisfaction and the anmials are gone.
He says it's my fault he can't pay the mortgage on the place, ok, the rent hasn't been paid, i totally sympathise with him there, but it's not my fault my job went under, not my fault the benefits office screwed up and not my fault that the council won't backdate the rent, i'm paying it off £10 or £20 at a time as best i can.
Oh, i forgot to mention, in with the copy of the TA he included a notice of eviction. And the "Mess"? Some furniture that had been moved into the front room while i reorganised our spare bedroom, it takk two hours to put back and the house is spotless again. Yeah, it's a filthy pigsty in here.
TL;DR: Landlord is evicting us, rent went unpaid for 4 months due to benefit screwup by benefits office, is now being paid. Landlord turns up with no warning, calls me a liar, yells a lot, insults my housekeeping due to presence of some extra furniture in front room, demands i clean the house within one week and get rid of cats (that we have permission for) and makes vague threat of "You'll be seeing a lot of me" until it is clean to his satisfaction. They're coming to inspect next week.
Do i have any recourse in this? My head is so muddled i can't even think right, can he demand i get rid of my pets, and to move stuff around in my home until he likes how it looks? Cos that's what his cleanliness demand ammounts to. Can he just turn up without warning and be so horrible? Do i have to let him in when he does this?
Any advice of any kind is appreciated.
Thank you. Sorry for the length
0
Comments
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Can he demand i get rid of my pets - No,you said you've written permission to keep them.
And to move stuff around in my home until he likes how it looks? - No, your house your choice
Can he just turn up without warning and be so horrible? - No, he can't just turn up and 'create'.
Do i have to let him in when he does this? - No
What he can do is evict you - legally and correctly. It takes a while.0 -
1) the rent needs to be paid. You can be evicted if it is not.
2) the landlord cannot force his way in. If you don't want inspections, don't let him in! (change the locks?)
3) Shouting, swearing, threatening and being aggresive is called 'harassment'. It is a criminal offence. Call the police if it happens again and quote the Protection from Eviction Act 1977
4) cleanliness is none of his business - it is your home so you live how you choose. (do you have written permission for the cats?)
5) his mortgage is his problem. A sensible LL would have a contingency fund, though I sypmpathise with him.
What kind of tenancy do you have? Fixed Term? Start date? How long? Are you in England or Scotland?
Did you pay a deposit and if so is it registered in a scheme? Which one? (check!)0 -
He's already evicting us, we have until mid-march, oddly enough i'm fine with this, it gives me the kick in the backside i needed to move counties like i want to.0
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1) the rent needs to be paid. You can be evicted if it is not.
2) the landlord cannot force his way in. If you don't want inspections, don't let him in! (change the locks?)
3) Shouting, swearing, threatening and being aggresive is called 'harassment'. It is a criminal offence. Call the police if it happens again and quote the Protection from Eviction Act 1977
4) cleanliness is none of his business - it is your home so you live how you choose. (do you have written permission for the cats?)
5) his mortgage is his problem. A sensible LL would have a contingency fund, though I sypmpathise with him.
What kind of tenancy do you have? Fixed Term? Start date? How long? Are you in England or Scotland?
Did you pay a deposit and if so is it registered in a scheme? Which one? (check!)
It's a rolling 12 month tennancy which would be up in march anyway. Start date was mid-march 2008.
Written permission, i thuhgt i did but i can't find the letter, i just went to check.
I'm in England.
I did pay a deposit, i forgt which scheme it went to, all i rememebr is that their paperwork had a blue cover...not exactly useful, i can check with the letting agency though.0 -
What kind of tenancy do you have: is it a fixed-term AST or periodic? If a fixed-term what are the PRECISE dates on it?
For the moment tell your husband to change the barrel of one of the locks on both the front and back doors tomorrow. New barrels can be bought at hardware stores like B&Q if they're commonly-used ones for less than a tenner each. All you need is about ten minutes and a screwdriver. Keep the old barrel somewhere safe so you put it back when you leave the property.
Please don't worry yourself into a state. Advice is at hand if you explain everything that needs to be known in order to help you.0 -
If he's already evicting you by what method or means has he informed you? Specifically what paperwork has been issued?0
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Check each scheme yourself. Deposits If the deposit is NOT registered, any notice you've received telling you to leave is invalid.WhistleBlower wrote: »It's a rolling 12 month tennancy which would be up in march anyway. Start date was mid-march 2008. Either it is 'rolling' OR it is 12 months - it cannot be both! Did you sign a 12 month contract in March 2011?
Written permission, i thuhgt i did but i can't find the letter, i just went to check. verbal permission means squat. Find the letter (though this is the least of your issues)
I'm in England.
I did pay a deposit, i forgt which scheme it went to, all i rememebr is that their paperwork had a blue cover...not exactly useful, i can check with the letting agency though.0 -
So how much rent is currently unpaid? Are you still within a Fixed Term or has your tenancy gone onto what is called a statutory periodic, running from month to month ( assuming rent is due monthly)? [edit: this one has been answered, although if it's on a"rolling tenancy" as described by the OP am not sure why he says it will be" finishing in March anyway"?WhistleBlower wrote: »Ok, long story short, i lost my job in sept, applied for jobseekers (Am at 2nd stage interview for a new job, wish me luck!) however application was seriously messed up and final confirmation didn't arrive until start of dec. (Award letter) due to issues, in the meantime with no income i couldn't pay the rent.
What do you mean "application was seriously messed up" - by whom? Was your job loss a redundancy or was there another reason which needed to be checked out by the Benefits people? Did you keep the LL informed at all times?
Why was your HB/LHA claim not started until that date? Had you lost your copy of the AST agreement or had you never been given one?WhistleBlower wrote: »Dec 9th i went to claim housing but didn't have a copy of the TA, called the letting agency that day to ask for a copy to be sent to me.
If you are making a claim so that you keep a roof over your head it would have been better to have chased them every day - Christmas was of course *2 whole weeks* after your claim date . Was there anything to stop you actually going into the LA's office?WhistleBlower wrote: »Jan 4th no TA yet, i'd left it until after christmas thinking they were probably closed/needed to get hold of the paperwork.
If you have two months rent unpaid (assuming you are supposed to pay monthly) both at the time your LL applies to court and at the time of the actual hearing then it is mandatory for him to be awarded repossession. The LA should clearly have got on with sending that copy of the ASTA but you seems to have been pretty tardy yourself.WhistleBlower wrote: »Got a letter from them threatening to evict if i didn't get it sorted. Called them and explained i was waiting for the TA, copy was sent and arrived last friday.
Ask the LL to give you a written Rent Statement, if he has not already done so. If you lose your home due to rent arrears you are likely to be viewed as having made your yourself "intentionally homeless". Do note that many LLs would not have let it get to 4 months unpaid rent before heading to court.
What exactly is the wording of the "eviction notice" to which you refer? Have you been given a S21 Notice or a Section 8 ( Grounds, 8, 10, 11)? If it's a S21 has any tenancy deposit paid by you been scheme registered by the LA/LL and the scheme's prescribed information been given to you?
Note that a LL has to obtain a court order to be able to evict you.
On the LL calling round, if he wishes to inspect the condition of the property he has to give you a minimum of 24 hours written notice ( except in a genuine emergency) and if the time/date is not okay for you can offer alternatives.
If your LL (or the LA on his behalf) has already given written consent for you to have pets at the property there should not be an issue.
As long as furniture is returned to its original rooms by the time you leave the tenancy the LL cannot really complain, provided that it is not being damaged ( ie soft furnishings getting damp in a bathroom/kitchen.).
If the LL turns up on the doorstep and is aggressive you may want to involve the local Council's private sector tenancy relations officer.0 -
RE: the eviction notice i have got a letter here saying Assured shorthold tennancy: Periodic Tennancy Notice requiring possession.
my name
his name
I give you notice that i require posession of the dwelling house known as [address]
date of expiry
commencing on the 15th january 2012 to vacate 15th march 2012.
Signatures.
The tennancy type is...er..."Assured shorthold" began on 15th feb 2008 and is for 6 months. It's also unfurnished.0 -
The benefit application got messed up by the benefits office, three times!
They now say i need to take up payment of the back rent with the council, the council say it's not their fualt and to take it up with the benefits people.
I've been paying it off in bits and bobs myself out fo frustration.0
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