Please help scared for my girlfriend =(

Mallotum_X

Regardless of all that, she should be looking for somewhere else to live. The house sounds horrid so its in best interests to be somewhere safe.

dannib898

BigAunty wrote: »

There is a contractual obligation to pay full rent when it is due, full stop. Disputes relating to the tenancy are not grounds to withhold rent. There are pretty limited ways to legitimately withold rent and this isn't one of them. The only grounds I am aware of is when the tenant has got permission or has given formal notice that they are paying for repair costs themselves and are reducing their rent by this sum, for example.

Ok so if she payes the £150 owed today what is stopping her landlord saying he has not received it

Also if she does not pay the rent owed it will still take months for them to kick her out correct? She wants to pay the rent its just if the landlord lies and says he hasn't received it ?

BigAunty

dannib898 wrote: »

Ill get her to contact shelter thanks for your advice . Does anyone know if they need to apply for a eviction notice through the court?

See the Shelter site for the full process (which is slightly different if you are in England or Scotland, for example).

The landlord is required to serve the proper notice and its duration depends on the type of tenancy, etc. When this proper notice expires and the tenant does not leave, the landlord then has to apply for a possession order in court which can take some weeks or even a couple of months to reach court and which will give the tenants a few weeks extra before it takes effect, to give them time to make arrangements to leave.

If they have ignored both the notice served and the possession order granted, the landlord then returns back to court to get a warrant for a bailiff. Again,this can take a few weeks or month or more to be granted. Then it's completely game over for the tenant - the bailiff will come and change the locks and be supported in the eviction by the police, if needed.

dannib898

Mallotum_X wrote: »

Regardless of all that, she should be looking for somewhere else to live. The house sounds horrid so its in best interests to be somewhere safe.

Exactly its just your talking 500 bond and first months rent to find another property and i only have a few hundred £ I could lend as im a student

BigAunty

dannib898 wrote: »

Ok so if she payes the £150 owed today what is stopping her landlord saying he has not received it

Also if she does not pay the rent owed it will still take months for them to kick her out correct? She wants to pay the rent its just if the landlord lies and says he hasn't received it ?

Well, before she didn't want to pay it because she wasn't happy with the notice she's been served. Now she doesn't want to pay it because she thinks the landlord will pretend she hasn't paid it? Why doesn't she just pay what she should, even though the landlord is terrible.

Does he have a history of pretending not to receive the rent? How has she proved she has paid this top-up between the rent and the HB she receives to date? Does she pay it in cash and get a receipt for this? Does she pay it directly to his bank account so there is evidence in her bank statements? Does she write a cheque?

Yes, it could take a long time to formally evict her with rent arrears but there is an accelerated procedure for those with significant rent arrears (I think this requires the tenant to owe the equivalent of two months rent at the time of serving the notice and at the time of the court case if the rental period is monthly, for example).

To understand the difference, if you are in England, research the difference between an S8 and S21 notice.

Does she anticipate asking the council for assistance with housing when the landlord regains possession of the property? Generally, they aren't impressed when a tenant owes rent that they could have paid but did not though I'm not sure whether this could affect her priority status for housing under the homelessness process. You'd have to verify this with Shelter as I don't know.

Are you in England, Scotland, Wales or NI, for example? This would help the posters here be more accurate with advice.

BigAunty

dannib898 wrote: »

Exactly its just your talking 500 bond and first months rent to find another property and i only have a few hundred £ I could lend as im a student

Go over to the Benefits board and ask the members there if there are any loans from the DWP or council that help in this area.

Also, some local councils operate deposit guarantee schemes for low income tenants in housing need - does yours and does she meet the criteria?

meg72

What a nasty situation no wonder you are worried. Firstly she must pay the rent, I would send cash by special delivery, that way you can prove receipt secondly in view of the threats I would have a word with the police. Hope this is resolved quickly for your gf and child.

Pee

Shelter are brilliant.

BitterAndTwisted

By what method does she pay her rent?

Did she pay a deposit and did the landlord register it with one of the approved schemes?

RAS

And has she got a copy of the current gas safety certificate? When does that run out?