Could I live with my conscience if OH reports Landlord?

catkins

After 5 years of renting and 3 dodgy landlords I am sick of the whole renting thing.

Hopefully myself and OH will be moving out of our present house soon and OH wants to report our Landlord to his mortgage company and the Inland Revenue. We know for a fact that his mortgage company think he lives in the property and he obviously is not declaring the rent for tax purposes. As far as we know the house he lives in is in his partner's name.

Normally OH would not be that nasty but the Landlord has been a real pain in the ****. Without spending an hour going into details, some of the main things have been:

When we moved in we told him the carpet was drenched in dog pee and stunk. He told us to take it up and he would replace it. We took it up and 2 years later we still have no carpet in lounge, dining room, stairs and landing. The boiler has packed up 5 times and 4 of those times OH has fixed it (he is a plumber). Once I was on my own and had to get someone out. Landlord has never paid for any of the work. We had a major flood due to plumbing under sink not being done properly. OH fixed it - had to take time off work to do so and it cost - never got a penny back. There are other things but they are the main ones.

The landlord has never done any maintenance or repairs. We have put in a completely new bathroom (the toilet and bath were so disgusting there was no way I was going to use them!), redecorated almost every room, put a new fitted cooker in and done other bits and pieces.

We both doubt that we will get our deposit back.

All along I have said when we move out we will report him but now as the time draws closer I feel guilty. I am such a softy I think my conscience will bother me if we do report him. What would you do?

Oh and just in case you are wondering why we did not go through a letting agent - it is because we have a dog and a cat and could not find a letting agent that was interested. We got this house (and the other 2) through ads in the local paper.

sali_mali

Don't feel guilty - think of all of the other people he could rent to in the future who aren't lucky enough to have a live-in plumber! If he isn't able to fulfill his role as a landlord, something should be done to stop other people suffering the same as you. Sorry you've had such a hard time with him - he doesn't deserve to make you feel bad!

Addiscomber

Think of it this way - he has clearly been able to live with his conscience whilst doing the dirty on you.

MarkyMarkD

He isn't necessarily not disclosing his rental profit to the Inland Revenue. He might not be making much rental profit, depending on the value of the property compared to the rental income. (And, of course, the size of his mortgage).

So, dob him in. But it might not make any difference as he might not be doing anything wrong.

Many lenders will allow people to let their property - unless the mortgage statements are arriving at your address, he probably HAS notified them.

firesidemaid

if you think you won't get your deposit back, then don't pay the last months rent. or say to your landlord that he can use your deposit as your last months rent.

each time i had paid for repairs etc, i would have also have deducted it from the rent. if he's not legit, he can't really complain for your fairness.

Gorgeous_George

Tax evasion is like benefit fraud. It costs each and every one of us.

You could be wrong and he may be declaring his rental income. His building society may not be interested providing the mortgage is being paid each month.

I don't know any LLs who do not pay tax but like benefit cheats, I woulod not feel guilty dobbing them in.



GG

irnbru_2

sazzacat wrote:

then don't pay the last months rent.

Pay the rent.

Use the small claims court to reclaim the deposit if necessary.

leebarton

We have a similar issue in that our LL is claiming her partner lives in the property and claims housing benefit, and she claims single occupancy for her house. The authorities have been notified and investigations have begun. A bank statement arrived for him at our address the other day and I am going to send it back with a letter stating that he does not and has not ever lived here.

MortgageMamma

Dob him in, and work out what the carpets, the work and the deposit would cost, add two years interest and then deduct if from your rent.

The guy sounds like a complete w-anker and deserves everything he gets for neglecting you. Oh and get the environmental health department to do an inspection BEFORE you leave in case HE tries to take YOU to small claims for non payment of rent. Take photos of the property as you live in it now and once you have moved out all furniture

Generali

I'd grass him to HMRC. They'll investigate him at the very least. I did this to a LL once. He was demanding the rent in cash. Must have cost him tens of thousands of pounds.

loveandlight

Go ahead and report him. At least you will feel some sense of revenge otherwise you may end up getting depressed because you never fought back.

I'll be reporting my neighbours who are a couple with a young child, within the next few months, to the Housing Benefit office, as soon as we move out. They rent their flat. We own our flat but we have been forced to move out as they have made our lives a misery over the past year and I have ended up in hospital twice because of their noise.

Last week the woman assaulted me :eek: She attacked me because she was angry at me contacting her landlord's agents to ask if they would get her to stop their noise at night because it was preventing us from selling our flat. They are not even from this country, they are from one of the eastern bloc countries.

I have reason to believe that they are pretending that the woman is a single parent mother, as the tenancy agreement is in her name, with no mention anywhere by anyone of her partner, who lives with her, and works full-time.
She doesn't work at all and they have been living like that for two years now.

Reporting them is the only thing that is keeping me going, but sadly, the authorities don't tell you what the outcome is, so I guess I'll never know. I think her landlord is in on it as well and also the landlord's agent.