Landlord issues RE: Cleanliness and rent. (Epic length)

BitterAndTwisted

OP: it is very, very important to do two things as soon as you can:

One: Check with all three deposit-protection schemes to ensure that your deposit has been registered. If it has not, your S21 Notice will be invalid.

Two: Find your original tenancy agreement and post back with here the from and to dates. Section 21 Notices are things which agents and landlords often get wrong and it could be chucked out of court on the merest technicality.

If your landlord is determined to end your tenancy and get you out of there they will ultimately succeed. Any reason to delay enforcing that S21 could give you enough time to find suitable alternative accommodation. And a more professional landlord.

jc808

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.

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

To be fair it is your fault he couldn't pay the mortgage on the place
Did you not get a TA when you moved in?

ruggedtoast

jc808 wrote: »

To be fair it is your fault he couldn't pay the mortgage on the place
Did you not get a TA when you moved in?

It's not, it's his fault that he can't pay the mortgage because he hasn't got a contingency in place for voids.

If you offer someone a 6 month AST you have to be prepared for the risk that you may not get any rent for 6 months, or until you can evict.

Hanky_Panky

ruggedtoast wrote: »

It's not, it's his fault that he can't pay the mortgage because he hasn't got a contingency in place for voids.

If you offer someone a 6 month AST you have to be prepared for the risk that you may not get any rent for 6 months, or until you can evict.

I think on these boards we often confuse the words 'fault' and 'responsibility'. Usually it's not a persons fault e.g. salary didn't get paid in on time and dd bounced but it is their responsibility. However in this case I think the reverse is true - it's not the OP's responsibility to ensure the landlords mortgage gets paid but it most definately is his fault.

jc808

ruggedtoast wrote: »

It's not, it's his fault that he can't pay the mortgage because he hasn't got a contingency in place for voids.

If you offer someone a 6 month AST you have to be prepared for the risk that you may not get any rent for 6 months, or until you can evict.

Nope, still their fault IMO. Why did OP not have a contingency for paying the rent if benefits were stalled?
If the benefits department are so useless why is the OP not writing to their MP? Appealing? Visiting daily and refusing to leave until they speak to a supervisor or manager? Researching the movements of the local councillor and discussing it with them in person?

I think OP needs to be far more proactive with this situation, and not just giving the LL 'oh well, mistake with the benefits department, sorry better luck next month guv'

BitterAndTwisted

Some people have altogether too much trust in public servants to do their jobs quickly and efficiently. Some also probably feel that they don't have any power to get things moving along either. I am not one of those but I have been the victim of a LA's delays and errors but luckily when I got my warning that they would seek possession of my home my landlord was the LA and not a private landlord who a mortgage to pay. No HB or CT benefit for three months despite several polite and calm phone calls a week.

tbs624

Thing is though B&T the OP admits that he asked the LA for paperwork on 9th December and then did no more about it until almost a month later - he may not have been as diligent as you were in chasing the benefits office up and/or keeping the LL fully informed either.

With any such office I think you have to start with the thought that unless you personally chase them up regularly nothing will get done. If the delays are entirely down to the LHA office etc then the OP should get on to his local councillor as I suggested earlier.

BitterAndTwisted

I do not disagree with you. As usual. My intention was to temper what may have sounded quite harsh to the OP about being accused of not being diligent enough and not wanting to accept blame for the situation they now find themselves in.

I can assure you that my own apparent diligence was based on being totally cynical about other people's willingness to have any sense of urgency plus being !!!!!!-scared of the consequences. I have about four reams of rent and council tax recalcs, some of which were generated on the same day. The uncertainty about whether they'd ever finally got it right when I didn't fully understand the paperwork added some spice to a rather mundane life.

UrWntr

You lost your job in September, why havent you found a new one? It seems like youre spending too much time blaming the benefits "screw up" and trying to find loopholes, when you could be focusing your efforts on finding employment.

Have some pride, take any job to tide you over and pay your debt.

BitterAndTwisted

Thank you for your valuable contribution. Do you have any constructive advice for the OP other than criticism? If not, I suggest you pop back to Gen Dis where you can rejoin your kindred souls.