How to handle the dodgy landlord.

FreakWhenSee

Right, straight on with it.

My partner and I rented a property (Studio flat) in East London June 2012. £825 per month, all bills included.

My partner is mentally ill and in April 2013 I had to quit full-time work to care for her. If any of you have been unlucky enough to need mental health treatment, you will know that it takes a very long time; waiting lists of 6 months just for a pre-assessment are the norm in the South. We were already in receipt of DLA and ESA and so decided that if we moved to save money, we'd just have to start again on another list.

So we applied for housing benefit.

Our landlord calls up one day desperate to come round and see us; turns out he recognised our mail (more on this later) as being council based and was incredibly anxious to find out what it was.

Turns out he had the whole building listed as one property of 4 bedrooms rather than 4 domiciles. He freely admitted he had been diddling council tax for twenty-five years.

So time has moved on and after giving us a letter a week late (that he intercepted) we find out we are slapped with a £750 backdated council tax bill. We have conjectured that he fiddled the dates when he had to own up to the council, because by our estimate the total of council tax owed would have meant we began renting the day that the original contract ended. So it should have been even more.

I have a letter, signed and dated, from the landlord that says "Please remember your monthly bill is all inclusive and requires no separate payment for electricity, water or council tax"

He lied to us and left us with an enormous bill and after the increase in outgoings it was the straw that broke the camel's back and now we are moving.

He has also not secured our deposit (under either mine, my partners, or even his name) in any of the accredited schemes.

We don't want to hand any more money over to this vile human being and intend to tell him that he can keep the deposit (a full months rent) in lieu of final rent.

There was no inventory whatsoever.

So my fine people, my questions are thus;

1. Should I just pay the last month's rent and take him to court over the deposit?

2. If that's not possible and we leave him with the deposit is he likely to be able to get at me legally even though he doesn't know where I've moved to?

3. Will all the mail-stealing, confessions of fraud, signed letter that proves he lied to us and the council be worth anything at all if this gets ugly?

Thanks all and sundry

Guest101

1: Yes, if you have £1000 or so, you should. You'll win ALOT more.

2: No, he'll find you if he wants, and you should keep your record clean.

3: Pay the Council tax, and sue him for that too. The rest is almost not worth doing anything about, but you could report him to the police, it wont get far, but atleast he'll get a visit.

FreakWhenSee

Okay, thanks for the reply

In terms of the money for the rent thanks to him lumbering us with the council tax bill we're skint. I was also advised by the local housing people that I probably wouldn't get anything for taking him to court over the deposit. They said he can just say he doesn't have any money and then I get to pay court fees. Do you know anything about that at all?

He is however an Architect and I know he rents at least 5 properties and though he plays the "Oh, I've not a penny" card I know that it's !!!!!!!!.

I don't want to do anything untoward, we have done nothing wrong and I want it to remain that way.

We're going to pay the council tax bill (we've no choice) but what could we get for suing him? And would I have a hope in hell of winning?

Thanks so much for your advice

RAS

Hi

Please pm CIS who works in CT.

I think we have had some tenants on whom landlords played this trick (seems to be common in London) who managed to get the Council to bill the LL once they had proof that the CT had been included in the rent.

CIS

3. Will all the mail-stealing, confessions of fraud, signed letter that proves he lied to us and the council be worth anything at all if this gets ugly?

It won't remove the fact that you are responsible for the council tax charge but it may make the council give you some leeway.

You need to pursue the landlord through the civil courts for the monies if he won't pay voluntarily.

FreakWhenSee

Thanks for the clarification we appreciate it, but we've accepted the fact that we have to pay the council tax; our only crime was being too trusting, but it's a battle we won't win, so we have an agreed payment plan with the council.

To further clarify what I mean't in point 3; what I was getting at was I could tell him to go jump on a spike, we're offski, keep the deposit, ever contact me again and I hand over all my documents and a signed statement to the council and police, good luck in your business with a criminal record. Sort of thing.

Though I think it's not enough anyway and I don't know if I have the stomach for that kind of thing.

Guest101

FreakWhenSee wrote: »

Okay, thanks for the reply

In terms of the money for the rent thanks to him lumbering us with the council tax bill we're skint. I was also advised by the local housing people that I probably wouldn't get anything for taking him to court over the deposit. They said he can just say he doesn't have any money and then I get to pay court fees. Do you know anything about that at all? - No, the costs will be awarded against the LL, you will win, it's really a no contest claim. The local housing people are proabably not aware of the procedure. If it was that easy, everyone would 'have no money', the court will order payment, you can then ask them to send bailiffs (does he have a car? etc etc). And failing all that you can put a charge against his property (even his actual home), so that you are paid your money when he sells. You do pay the inital fees, but get awarded these back.

He is however an Architect and I know he rents at least 5 properties and though he plays the "Oh, I've not a penny" card I know that it's !!!!!!!!. - the court will find out, and like i say, if ot the bailiffs can take his car, his belongings, etc etc

I don't want to do anything untoward, we have done nothing wrong and I want it to remain that way. - make sure you pay your rent then, dont want him to have any reasons to shien you in a bad light.

We're going to pay the council tax bill (we've no choice) but what could we get for suing him? And would I have a hope in hell of winning? - in general you get your deposit back, + costs for brnging the case, + UPTO 3x your deposit (atleast 1x your deposit)

Thanks so much for your advice

Also you can take him to small claims court for the council tax, which is very cheap and again you should win

RAS

Hi

Please read up the thread elsewhere by lisawaters.

This shyster owes your more than £750. A lot more than that when you win the case re the deposit.

If you go for a charging order, you will have to pay a lot of fees and could wait years for re-payment and even then there ways to dodge the charging order.

If you bankrupt him, he will have very few places to hide and the payout is quicker.

There are fees but not more than a charging order would cost.

I would however advise spending £3 per property finding out how much mortgage he has on those five properties and making a basic valuation before doing anything.

In practice just sending the paperwork (cost - a postage stamp) threatening bankruptcy will probably result in quick payment.

FreakWhenSee

Well things have taken a turn for the worse;

The soulless !!!!!!!s that the JCP contracted to provide my partners "Work Related Activity", have sanctioned her for non-attendance, despite the fact we told them one week previously that she could not attend.

I'm pretty sure we'll get it reversed, but now we're playing catch up in the manically tight budget.

I may have to get the ball rolling in court as soon as possible, but I don't even know where to start. Should I hire a solicitor first?

*sigh* another day in paradise.

Thanks guys,

dancingfairy

Hi. Are you sure you are liable for the council tax? If there are 4 unrelated people living in 1 house then it may well be a house of multiple occupation in which case the landlord IS responsible for the council tax.
Worth investigating.
df

FreakWhenSee

dancingfairy wrote: »

Hi. Are you sure you are liable for the council tax? If there are 4 unrelated people living in 1 house then it may well be a house of multiple occupation in which case the landlord IS responsible for the council tax.
Worth investigating.
df

He made it seem that this was the case, but I don't know how he had it banded. When the council decision on our benefit came through, he panicked, and basically came clean that he had been stiffing the council for 25 years.

We are, unfortunately, totally liable.