there may be trouble brewing for us

Gallstones

Hi All, hope you could give me the heads up on this as I've a nasty feeling about it

To start with, this is mostly our fault - we couldn't pay our rent that was due on the 18th of this month. The reason for this was our car broke and my husband is SE and needed a vehicle to work, so the money we had for the rent we had to put towards a new banger so he could get about.

We contacted our LA a couple of days before the rent was due and informed them of the problem. His reply was "the LLs mortgage goes out on the 20th so it is a problem and you need to get it paid" we informed him that the earliest we could pay was the 21st as this was when the HB went in the bank. It was left at that. The HB didnt go in the bank. When we called the council abotu it they said they'd recalculated the claim in January and it said we were owed what we usually get, but for some reason the payment was not made. They told us the quickest they could get it to us was today/tomorrow.

We informed the landlord that we could pay LAST friday - but when we checked the bank a couple of customers cheques had bounced and we didnt have the money.

This morning the LA phoned us about 12 times, every five minutes on mobiles, house phone and business line. I coudlnt take the calls as my children are off school with a tummy bug and the baby just wouldnt stop crying. My husband came home from a job 20 mins later, and 5 mins after that the LA turned up at the house (without notice) looked through the front room window and knocked on the door, Hubby was taken off guard and told him he would call him back in 20 minutes as he'd just come in.

Hubby took over the kids and I called the LA about 5 times, his mobile wasn't answered and the office phone just rang out. He called me back eventually, and was very off with me on the phone. He called from a mobile and didn';t state who he was or where from, there was silence after I said hello, I had to ask who it was. It threw me off balance straight away.

I told him the reasons the rent was late - the HB - he called me and my husband liars and I said I'd put it in tomorrow when the HB comes through. I asked if we could pay weekly in future rather than monthly and he grunted and said nothing commital. There was silence at the end of everything I said. He said he was coming tomorrow for an inspection. I said sorry if the place isn;t as clean as it usually is as the kids are off school poorly. Silence again. He simply said he'd see us tomorrow and put the phone down.

I know we are late with the rent but I do feel like we've been intruded on, stalked, I feel badly treated and I feel very uncomfortable this LA coming into our home tomorrow. I feel intimidated. Hubby is furious at the way I was spoken to and ready to have words wiht the LA.

Has the LA crossed the line and do we have grounds for complaint as to how we've been treated?

Lisa

Notmyrealname

The LA is harassing you which is illegal. Unless the LA gives you 24 hrs notice in writing they do not have the right to enter the property so you don't have to let them in the front door. Tell them if they want to do an inspection to come back 24hrs after they've given you written notice, hand them the rent then shut the door in their face.

This kind of crap is the reason I don't use letting agents to rent my property out. I would expect that had you been dealing directly with the LL they'd have been OK about it. I suspect the first the LL will find out about the rent being late is when he gets bank charges - somehow I doubt the LA will have told him.

pinkshoes

You're legally entitled to quiet enjoyment of the property, so the LA has no right to come round!

Personally I'd change the barrel lock on the door, then change it back when the tenancy ends. In the mean time, I'd pay the rent ASAP, and perhaps sell a few things and put some money aside so you have some back up money to pay if you're short in the future.

tbs624

You need to prioritise your rent payments and the roof over your family's heads.

You seem to be getting in a muddle - you promised to pay the LL by last Friday ( because you had been told your HB payments would have been sent to you by then) but then didn't meet that promise.

HB is meant to help your meet your housing costs not subsidise bounced cheques from customers/clients of your husband's business.

That said, the LA should not be constantly calling/coming round etc. Note that if the LL wishes to inspect the property then he is obliged to give you a minimum of 24 hours *written* notice and you can ask for a mutually acceptable time/date. Intelligent LLs keep rent issues and "inspections" as separate matters so that the sum total of their actions towards the Ts can't be seen as harassment.

When can you pay all/some of the late rent by? When will you be able to fully bring the rent payments up to date?

Put the relevant dates in writing to the LA/LL and keep to the arrangement. Also state in writing that you would prefer to pay [edit:weekly] after that - LL does not have to agree but it show that you are trying to deal with your money issues.

Are you still with a Fixed Term contract or is your tenancy now running from month to month?

You can seek advice from the local Council who will have a private sector tenancy relations officer. They can help you deal with the LA/LL and ensure that they keep within the law in their dealings with you.

concerned43

He has lost trust in you and is scared you will not pay rent!
In order not to make matters any worse than they are I would call the LA back and explain the kids are unwell and could you re-arrange the inspection until end of week. I would be very nice about it all and in the mean time show him proof that the HB did not come in on time.

McKneff

Rent is your priority, not the car. A roof over yours and your childrens head is a priority.

Let me ask, what would you have done if the car had broken down 2 days after you had paid the rent.

pmlindyloo

We informed the landlord that we could pay LAST friday - but when we checked the bank a couple of customers cheques had bounced and we didnt have the money.


May I respectfully suggest that your OH opens up a separate bank account for his business. He should be doing this for tax purposes.

He can transfer money from this account to your joint account for household purposes.

Gallstones

HI All - just to clarify - we DO have a seperate business account but its 600 OD so we can't use it so we HAVE to put checks into a personal account to survive at the moment. The IR don't have a problem with that so long as our self assessment shows accurate income which it does.

we have never been late with the rent before but we have to add 200 to the housing benefit to pay the full amount, the house is in immaculate condition and we've live here 18 months and the agent has inspected twice previously and been satisfied. We can;t afford another house, this is the cheapest 4 bed house we could find (we have 4 kids with big age gaps/different sex so we have to have a 4 bed).

You are quite right though we are living on the edge. Dependent mostly on tax credits child benefit and a little bit of child maintenance from a previous partner. Hubby is looking for full time work but getting nowhere, I am looking for work and getting nowhere as I've not worked since 2008 - even if I do get a job I'm leaving 4 kids without a mother for just 25 quid a week after I've paid for childcare so we feel a bit trapped. I'm sure others go through this too.

Also, regarding the car, my husband is a mobile PC repair technician and no car = no income so we were stuffed either way. We also have a disabled child and I have a disability which means our car is crucial to us.

RAS

Hi

Please go over to the debt free wannabee forum and post up your statement of Affairs, as folks may know ways that can help your budget.

If you are feeling brave, try the benefits forum here although it is full of benefit bashers. Otherwise have a look at wwwturn2us.org.uk.

And in the short-term go to the Moneysaving old style forum and do a storecupboard challenge to see how you can eat for as little as possible this month.

1981trouble

As a landlord using a LA at the moment I would be getting rather annoyed and jittery if my tenant was doing/saying what you are (TBH, my current tenant is doing worse so actually I'd rather I had you as my tenant!).

You are making promises to them you cannot keep no matter how good will the idea is you need to propose realistic ideas. You have said you will pay it 3 times in the last week but the money hasn't come through/been swallowed up elsewhere.

Put everything in writing - explain that there were financial difficulties this month and outline how much you think you are now in arrears and how and when you propose to catch it up. Lay it out clearly in the letter - and make sure you can stick to it. Then DO stick to it!

As a landlord I would much prefer to be getting a bit extra every week to catch up rather than constantly being a month behind if that makes sense.

As for the LA - they are harrassing you and they need 24hours notice in writing for an inspection. Once again, keep everything in writing and remind them of their responsibilities. They are just annoyed as they don't get their cut this month of the rent and are actually having to work for their money for once.

BitterAndTwisted

No, you don't HAVE to have a four bedroomed house if you have four kids!

It sounds like you may be living well beyond your means in the current economic climate. I suggest you have a really hard think about just how large a property you actually need for your family and one which you could afford more easily. Few could stay sane living quite so close to the edge of disaster as you are.

I second the suggestion of visiting the Debt-Free Wannabe part of this forum and filling in your SOA and see of other members can help you reduce your monthly budget to something more affordable but if your rent is high and your self-employed husband's income becomes more unreliable, there could be only one answer