Landlord not giving reference

wannahouse

We gave tenants a great reference,the month before they moved out, as they needed one, and yes, they had paid on time every time and were no trouble,BUT when they moved out, the 2 bed flat was in a disgraceful condition inside and out, and it took a £690 professional clean to get it sorted out again...it was disgusting, yet when they moved in ,it was a stylish, clean,modern flat.
even after the clean all the chrome work in the bathroom was pitted and damaged from the limescale build up and some of the grout never returned back to a clean colour.

had i have known this ,my reference would have stated that they paid promptly and caused no issues, but left the flat in an unacceptable state , as i would not have wanted them as tenants had i known what pigs they were.

actually, yes, i would have still had them as tenants, as even though it was a major hassle, and upsetting to see the state at the end of the teancy, at least all the rent was piad, and the cleaning taken out of their deposit...it was just a major nuisance, but i wouldn't have given them a good reference, as i would have wanted them "recommended" to me as great tenants!

benjus

vectistim wrote: »

I believe there is fear amongst some that they will be sued if there is a future problem, eg: Landlord A has a terrible tenant that they are desperate to get rid of, so they provide glowing references to try and help get rid. Landlord B reads this spiffing reference and then offers a tenancy to the terrible tenant. B then does some digging and finds out the information in the reference was not entirely accuate and then seeks recompense.
I have no idea how often this happens, or if any successful legal actions have followed, but I suspect this might be the concern.

That's not quite the same thing though - that would be deliberate deception. If the landlord gives an honest reference to the best of their knowledge at the time of writing it, it's hard to see how they could be held responsible for any negative outcome. I'm no lawyer though...

dazzer1467

vectistim wrote: »

I believe there is fear amongst some that they will be sued if there is a future problem, eg: Landlord A has a terrible tenant that they are desperate to get rid of, so they provide glowing references to try and help get rid. Landlord B reads this spiffing reference and then offers a tenancy to the terrible tenant. B then does some digging and finds out the information in the reference was not entirely accuate and then seeks recompense.
I have no idea how often this happens, or if any successful legal actions have followed, but I suspect this might be the concern.

i admit that a few bits need painting (toddler drawing on wall etc) and am more than willing to do it,the problem we have is when we first moved in we scrapped some paint off one of the doors,we told the LL immediately and he said he didnt mind and would come and paint over it but he never did,recently (2 months ago) i noticed one of the floor boards (laminate in the kitchen) was raised slightly,as the LL had laid the laminate i made him aware of it and he said he would come have a look,he didnt and eventually it came through the laminate and a screw was poking out of the floor,i made him aware again and again he said he would come and look at it,i screwed the screw back into the floor (while i waited for the LL to come round) as it was dangerous poking out,it kept "unscrewing" itself and poking up so after asking the LL 3 more times to come and have a look i have taken the screw out of the floor and put it in the cupboard my concern is that even though we have made him aware of the problems (via text message) he will put in our reference about the damage when it is not our fault,he also didnt take a deposit and instead took a months rent in advance HOWEVER he is treating it as a deposit as he wont allow us to stop paying the rent once we give our 1 months notice and will only give back the month in advance rent once he has inspected the property,overall he is a good landlord and we are only wanting to move so that we have somewhere bigger.

benjus

dazzer1467 wrote: »

he also didnt take a deposit and instead took a months rent in advance HOWEVER he is treating it as a deposit as he wont allow us to stop paying the rent once we give our 1 months notice and will only give back the month in advance rent once he has inspected the property,overall he is a good landlord and we are only wanting to move so that we have somewhere bigger.

This is dodgy. It doesn't matter what he calls it... if it's used as a refundable payment against damages it's a deposit and must be protected in a scheme. If he has failed to protect it, you could always threaten him with court action to get some leverage, although it's not a great way to get a good reference. However, you might want to keep this in mind when it comes to reclaiming the deposit, as he won't have a leg to stand on and you could legitimately claim the full amount back regardless of the state of the property.

DRP

dazzer1467 wrote: »

i admit that a few bits need painting (toddler drawing on wall etc) and am more than willing to do it,the problem we have is when we first moved in we scrapped some paint off one of the doors,we told the LL immediately and he said he didnt mind and would come and paint over it but he never did,recently (2 months ago) i noticed one of the floor boards (laminate in the kitchen) was raised slightly,as the LL had laid the laminate i made him aware of it and he said he would come have a look,he didnt and eventually it came through the laminate and a screw was poking out of the floor,i made him aware again and again he said he would come and look at it,i screwed the screw back into the floor (while i waited for the LL to come round) as it was dangerous poking out,it kept "unscrewing" itself and poking up so after asking the LL 3 more times to come and have a look i have taken the screw out of the floor and put it in the cupboard my concern is that even though we have made him aware of the problems (via text message) he will put in our reference about the damage when it is not our fault,he also didnt take a deposit and instead took a months rent in advance HOWEVER he is treating it as a deposit as he wont allow us to stop paying the rent once we give our 1 months notice and will only give back the month in advance rent once he has inspected the property,overall he is a good landlord and we are only wanting to move so that we have somewhere bigger.

Text message? why?

dazzer1467

DRP wrote: »

Text message? why?

because it is the only way to get him to acknowledge when i have told him something,i have sent letters before and he claims they havent arrived,i know a text message isnt the ideal way but it is something

dazzer1467

benjus wrote: »

This is dodgy. It doesn't matter what he calls it... if it's used as a refundable payment against damages it's a deposit and must be protected in a scheme. If he has failed to protect it, you could always threaten him with court action to get some leverage, although it's not a great way to get a good reference. However, you might want to keep this in mind when it comes to reclaiming the deposit, as he won't have a leg to stand on and you could legitimately claim the full amount back regardless of the state of the property.

I agree that it is dodgy,i have been CAB they referred me to solicitors,they have said that aslong as i can prove i am a month ahead in rent AND keep HB up to date i wouldnt be doing anything illegal by keeping the HB for the notice period (when i give notice) as i can prove i wont owe any rent at the point of me leaving the property, it isnt an ideal situation but hopefully the property i will be moving to will be via an agent so i shouldnt have this problem next time.