Previous landlady harassment.

Kristofz

Hi Everyone, hope someone can help.

I'm posting this on behalf of my mum, she recently (1 month) moved into a council house from being in a private rented property (14 years). Everything's went fine with regards to giving notice and how much deposit to be paid. Once my mum moved out she tried contacting the landlady regarding the deposit and the keys to the property but my mum had no response until today when she received a phone call from the landlady, who at first asked how is the new place and then my mum asked when she would be receiving her deposit which the landlady responded that my mum owed her hundreds of pounds, my mum asked where she had got this from to which she replied from the rent, anyway she asked for a forwarding address which my mum wouldn't give her.

Later today my mum received texts from the landlady saying she owes £900, she will take off the £200 deposit so will be £700 but she will accept £600, all rather strange, then more texts were received saying she wanted to get the police involved. My mum asked how she got to this amount and apparently she is charging three weeks rent for not receiving the keys and she said my mum didn't pay £35 extra a month for 7 months, which is untrue as every time the rent was put up my mum needed to go to the council to advise on the rent increase for HB.

So my question is where does my mum stand legally, this is very worrying for her as she is 69 years old and feels like she is being harassed into making this payment, which I have told her not to and seek a solicitor and citizens advice.

Hope you good people can help put my mums mind at rest from thus horrible landlady.

Thanks in advance

Chris

bris

Does your mum have receipts for the £35 shortfall each month or does she know the HB paid it for sure? If not she would lose in a small claims court.

The police won't get involved because it's a civil matter so she doesn't have to worry about that.

The only thing she can do is find out for sure whether the £35 shortfall was paid by getting the council involved with statements, which she should have anyway, but just because the rent went up doesn't mean the council would cover it, it doesn't work like that.

If the money was not paid then legally she owes it, but the LL would have to go to court to get it.

Kristofz

Thanks bris

This £35 is something the landlady has just mentioned and mum wasn't aware of the increase (no letter) she says she has proof, but dont no how if the letter was not sent, I think she is trying it on, but just want to be prepared, also what about not being able to give her the key?

Many thanks

arcon5

How did she try contacting the LL regarding the keys? Does she have an address, office or agent? If she can demonstrate she made reasonable attempts to return the keys (as per her contract I suspect) then I can't see her being liable for extra rent. If she didn't make reasonable attempts to return keys then that is a big big mistake.

If she wasn't made aware of the increase in rent then tough luck, she should have got in touch long before now to ask why she wasn't paying enough rent. But you say she went to council to see if she could up her HB.... so did she know or not?

The police wouldn't be interested, AT ALL! It's a civil matter.

Can you give her some kind of forwarding address? Problem is if she issues a county court summons, since she doesn't know the new address it would be considered reasonable to issue it at her last known address (which she will not receive).

arcon5

ps this doesn't sound like harassment to me, not at this point anyway.

Zandoni

The Landlady isn't a Mrs Wilson by any chance?

Kristofz

My mum went to the council as she increased the rent by £15 which my mum asked council to pay they said they wouldn't but my mum paid out of her own money, proof via the bank, but some how the ll is saying it increased by £35.

With regards to the keys my mum left message via phone called three people in the process with no answer or reply, even going to the council for advice, not sure if they would have a record of this. She already access to the flat as a spare set was with her "caretaker" aswell.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

arcon5

Can she get a copy of the phone records from whoever provides you with the phone line used? This could be enough to prove based on the balance of probabilities that she reasonably attempted to restore the keys to them.

Does she still have the letter stating an increase of £15? If so, use this and bank statements to reconciliate the rent account. Based on your posts a nil balance is due. Unless she can prove at the very least (does the LL have proof of postage?) she sent the notice then ignore the £35 increase, she cannot increase rent without notifying you.

I'd turn the tables on the LL and tell her she owes £200 from the deposit and if not returned forthwith further action will be taken.
Was the deposit protected with one of the tenant deposit protection (TDP) schemes? Long shot I know, as the LL wasn't legally required to protect it due to the deposit being paid 14 years ago.

MothballsWallet

arcon5: wouldn't the numbers dialled history be available on the phone bill and the OP's mum can highlight the agent's / landlady's number on the bill(s) when submitting them as evidence?

halibut2209

Sure it wasn't 50 and not 15?

hollydays

Did they ever contact your mum asking for the keys?