Landlord Harassment

SavingSomeCoin

real1314 wrote: »

You are mis-reading the law and mis-construing the advice given by the local authority. :cool:

Hello, I have not been given any advice by the local authority, in any repect. I have just given an example of the broken items to show that this landlord does not take care of their property nor have care of duty for the tenants. This is not in reference to council tax.

The Environmental Health department can enforce that that they make repairs .Under the Eviction Act 1977: Neglect the property that the tenant is renting. If the landlord fails to carry out obligatory repairs, the tenant may carry out the work and deduct is cost from the rent.

BitterAndTwisted

Your tenancy agreement states that what you pay the landlord in rent excludes a contribution towards the Council Tax: therefore you should pay to the landlord whatever they have calculated as your share. This has absolutely nothing to do with the landlord's repairing obligations and you would be foolish in the extreme to attempt to combine these two issues.

SavingSomeCoin

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Your tenancy agreement states that what you pay the landlord in rent excludes a contribution towards the Council Tax: therefore you should pay to the landlord whatever they have calculated as your share. This has absolutely nothing to do with the landlord's repairing obligations and you would be foolish in the extreme to attempt to combine these two issues.

Hi BitterAndTwisted. No, no not combining them. They are separate matters I will deal with seperatley. I will seek further clarification on the council tax during the week, I will always follow the law. The landlord has never been nice to any of us as tenants during our tenancy. I will be pleased to find my new place soon and leave.

BitterAndTwisted

There is no "further clarification" required. It doesn't really matter whose name the Council Tax bill is in: if it was in yours you'd pay it direct to the LA and if it's in the landlord's name you would pay your share to the landlord and they would be responsible for the payment to the LA. What is pertinent is that your TA states that the rent you pay is exclusive of CTax, so pay the landlord your share and be done with it.

theartfullodger

SCS: In my 'umble opinion you are arguably being harassed. See here..
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/eviction/harassment_and_illegal_eviction_by_landlord/harassment_by_a_landlord
for good advice on the subject & what to do.

Types of harassment

Threatening or discriminatory landlord behaviour may be harassment:

threatening or being violent towards you
intentionally moving in other tenants who cause a nuisance to you
harassing you because of your gender, race or sexuality
forcing you to sign agreements which take away your legal rights.

Unreasonable behavour by your landlord could count as harassment:

interfering with your post
entering your home when you are not there or without your permission
visiting your home regularly without warning, especially late at night
stopping you from having guests.

Landlords may be guilty of harrasment by restricting the use of your home:

allowing your home to get into such a bad state of repair that it's dangerous for you to stay
sending builders round without notice
beginning disruptive repair works and not finishing them
refusing to let you into certain parts of your home (for example, the kitchen or bathroom)
removing or restricting access to services such as gas, electricity or water, or failing to pay the bills so these services are cut off.

....................... ...
Taking action against landlord harassment

If your landlord (or agent) is harassing you, you may be able to get help from the council, or take your landlord to court. Harassment does not have to be obvious or intentional before you can do something about it.

You may be able to:

ask your landlord to stop the behaviour
keep a diary, notes and photographs of what happens
ask your landlord to put all communication with you in writing
write to your landlord, saying if the harassment continues you will take legal action
have someone with you as a witness whenever you see your landlord
get together with other tenants who have the same landlord.

It's important to get support if you can - you could go to an advice centre, the police, the council, or a solicitor for help.

In an emergency, such as if you have been locked out, contact the council. There is usually a tenancy relations officer who deals with harassment and illegal eviction. If there is no-one available to help immediately or if violence has been threatened, you should also call the police.

Call Shelter, 0808 800 4444 if you need further (free, but expect a wait) advice.

This landlord is a disgrace to landlording: We don't want his sort in this country!

Best regards

Artful (Landlord)

real1314

"threatening or being violent towards you
intentionally moving in other tenants who cause a nuisance to you
harassing you because of your gender, race or sexuality
forcing you to sign agreements which take away your legal rights."

LL hasn't done 2,3,4 accordin to the OP.

He may have done 1 - "threatening" but if it's "threatening to take legal action/evict for breach" then it's not unlawful.

OP hasn't really explained what the "threat" is.
:cool:

suited-aces

Just a thought (an unqualified one at that), if the contract specifically says "excluding council tax", and the council deems the landlord legally liable for the coucil tax, then where is the OP's liability created?

In the same way the landlord is legally liable for the bill that comes in for the gas safety check, he surely can't pass in his cost on the tenants because the rent also excludes bills?

Notmyrealname

suited-aces wrote: »

In the same way the landlord is legally liable for the bill that comes in for the gas safety check, he surely can't pass in his cost on the tenants because the rent also excludes bills?

So going on your yardstick the LL should be liable for the gas and electric too because the contract states the rent is excluding those?

A LL can pass on whatever costs they choose if it is in the contract.

Hump

See http://lacors.conseq.net/lacorsdev/core/page.do?pageId=212959 which has some useful information concerning Rent Repayment Orders. If you live in a licensable HMO then your landlord's current behaviour could present him with a problem when he applies for a licence - especially were the council to be made aware of it.......

CIS

The actual legislation the council are using is the council tax (liability for owners) regulations 1992 (as amended).

So going on your yardstick the LL should be liable for the gas and electric too because the contract states the rent is excluding those?

A LL can pass on whatever costs they choose if it is in the contract.

I would agree, all the contract says is that certain bills are not included in the calculation of the rent, it doesn't state that the tenant will pay them. The L/L would have to rely on a county court judge making the decision.