Is this Legal?

gazter

lozhazie wrote: »

We have had no money ours selves in the past 6 weeks and survived from borrowing from family totaling 90 pounds and literal handouts of food etc, I understand he is entitled to the rent and i have given him recipts from the council showing our visits what we have handed in etc. We have also asked for a backdate from the first moment of contact and included the various rent arrear notices anyhting left unpaid by HB we will payour selves once our benefits have been sorted

Surely whether he is getting frustrated or not does not excuse unlawful and intimidating tactics. If we all thought that we would have been robbing everyone and anyone we wanted the past 6 weeks.

You shouldnt have to live like this. Bureaucracy often needs a swift kick. Give your MP's office a ring asap, a phone call from them to the HB dept and the DWP will get things moving like magic.

monty-doggy

I'm sorry if you mis understood my answer, I didn't mean he could give you two weeks to get out, I simply meant under the terms of your contract, if you don't pay rent he can take steps to evict you. It's been a long day.....I hope that you manage to get it sorted, you may find he has reasons too, he may not have paid the mortgage if no rent received. I'd get onto CAB urgent and also your local welfare rights office, they are good at getting things sorted.
Good luck

lighting_up_the_chalice

monty-doggy wrote: »

If you have not paid rent he is entitled to evict you in accordance with [STRIKE]your tenancy agreement[/STRIKE] the 1988 Housing Act.

Corrected that for you.

[Deleted User]

lozhazie wrote: »

Surely whether he is getting frustrated or not does not excuse unlawful and intimidating tactics. If we all thought that we would have been robbing everyone and anyone we wanted the past 6 weeks.

Then do not answer the door, if he tries to enter the property without permission call the police and have him removed from the premises. You are not required to answer the door and he has no right to enter the property, you can also choose to ignore his phone calls and any messages he leaves you. This is until you have been evicted by the courts.

A landlord is someone running a business, if his house is being paid for by the rent his tenants are supposed to be paying you could be causing him to enter arrears with his mortgage, or other financial hardships. Although intimidation and threatening behaviour are not acceptable and certainly never acceptable from someone running a business, it's understandable and it's possible he may now be in a very difficult situation that may have bigger repercussions than yours.

Have you got a set date from the housing benefit office with regards to when you will be getting the payments you're due and do you have confirmation of the amount you're going to receive? It may be wise to look at alternative accommodation arrangements as soon as possible, if your housing benefit doesn't come through very soon then you're not far off being legally evicted and I believe (although someone may correct me if I'm wrong) your landlord can legally pursue for the unpaid rent.

As an aside do you have a deposit with this landlord? You may wish to consider finding family or friends that can give you a spare room for a few weeks and choose to leave the property of your own free will (with your landlords consent) and arrange for your arrears to be covered by the deposit. This will mean your landlord is no longer losing money (although he'll have to swallow a loss of the difference between your deposit and the arrears) and it will mean once your housing benefit does come through you'll have the money (currently intended to cover the arrears) available as a deposit for a new place.

jamie11

You are also able to ask for an interim payment, the council wont mention this to you, you need to ask about it urgently.

embob74

citricsquid wrote: »

You may wish to consider finding family or friends that can give you a spare room for a few weeks and choose to leave the property of your own free will (with your landlords consent) and arrange for your arrears to be covered by the deposit. This will mean your landlord is no longer losing money (although he'll have to swallow a loss of the difference between your deposit and the arrears) and it will mean once your housing benefit does come through you'll have the money (currently intended to cover the arrears) available as a deposit for a new place.

Judging from the numerous threads on here I'm sure OP will find it difficult to get somebody to rent to them while they're on benefits.
Leaving an adequate property will mean the OP may not be given priority for social housing even if their circumstances are sleeping on a friends floor. I'm sure any friend will soon get fed up when the few weeks turns into months as the OP has nowhere else to go. During which time HB may not be payable.
Sod the LL. It's not fair he is losing money but hopefully OP can get HB sorted and eventually get back on track and everybody is happy.

AFK_Matrix

I would also be changing the locks asap, ie go down b&q and get some new barrels and do it today. It doesn't cost a lot and takes 5mins to do.

Then you can have the peace of mind the LL can't get in and try and illegally evict you.

dancingfairy

I also would be looking at changing thelocks. He won't know unless he tried to get in and if he did and admitted it he would be stupid asit is an offence.
You can always swap the barrels back once you leave. I believe a quick google should show you how (and you don't need to swap the whole lock- just the inside bit).
Alternatively you can swap the back door lock and front door lock if you need to as he is unlikely to try the back door keys in the front door.
Do not take any rubbish from your landlord.
df

dancingfairy

6 weeks! They expect you to live without money for 6weeks. When do they think they might process it?
It's not fair you are being threatened with evicton for not paying your rent when youare waiting on benefits.
I'd definitely be in the benefits office complaing and also emailing my local councillors /MP. You can also mention that the landlord has said he wants to start eviction proceedings for lack of rent. See if that gets any action.
df
Edit: whilst the landlord might want to do an inspection if you don't want him to he can't. If you feel he will be difficult or threatening then you don't hae to let him in (and can call the police).

GDB2222

it may be helpful to have an idea of the actual timescale involved in all this.

Landlord returns in one week to serve a section 8 notice.

2 weeks later – earliest date on which the landlord can apply to the court

4 weeks after that – likely date of the hearing. NB a possession order will be granted at that hearing unless the arrears are cleared up, so there is less than 2 months outstanding

The landlord cannot enforce this notice himself, but he has to get the County Court bailiffs to do that. He cannot use a private firm of bailiffs. The County Court bailiffs round here typically have a 2 to 3 months backlog.

Overall, it will take well over a month before this gets to court and probably another couple of months before the bailiffs arrive to enforce the court order.