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Landlord Woes, looking for advice.
LGzw6sB2
Posts: 9 Forumite
Hey everyone,
Long time lurker, first time poster! :beer:
I'm after some advice. Here's the situation. Apologies in advance for the novel, as there is a lot of stuff to explain here.
I'm a late-20s guy living with a household that consists of myself, my fianc! and a good friend. I'm autistic and suffer from bipolar disorder, both of which I'm being treated for. I'm unable to work due to issues arising from the autistic side of things, so my income consists of a Disability Living Allowance claim, Housing Benefit (based on low income) as well as Carer's Allowance for helping to care for my sister, who suffers from various physical disabilities.
I have an Assured Short-term Tenancy Agreement – the landlord wasn't bothered about an official agreement, but I was required by the council to provide one for my Housing Benefit claim, so I looked online and found one provided by the National Landlord Association. The landlord agreed to pay for the template (£10), print, sign and scan it, then send it to us to sign and scan. It is the standard NLA AST, and lasts 12 months.
We didn't give the new house a proper viewing before moving in, as it was recommended to us by my fianc!'s mother, who we trusted. As a result, we weren't asked to pay a bond/deposit, thought it was an excellent deal and agreed to move in as soon as possible. The landlord also said she had no problem with me doing DIY and customisations around the house, as long as any damage was put right at my expense. I've always wanted a workshop for playing about with my electronics and repair stuff, so this was a big deal to me!
We moved in on the 1st of Feb 2014, to find the house was in much worse a state than we first thought after first seeing it (which was after agreeing to move in... I realise how badly I messed up on that one). The move was a bit of a rush job, as I was eager to get away from my previous residence – I had to have my cat, who was a very dear friend to me put down on the 13th of Jan, and no longer wanted to stay in my old house.
In the new property, most of the double glazing gasket seals have failed, so if it rains heavily enough we get water coming through a couple of the windows. The radiators have no TRVs (heat control knobs) and are stuck at full blast whenever they're on, although a couple of them don't heat up at all.
I'm told this is a result of a 'sludge' build-up, and that the system needs to be cleaned out. The boiler was installed in 1973 and has a “H” efficiency rating; it cost us nearly £100 to heat the house back in Jan, and that was with a very conservative heating schedule.
The electrical consumer unit is two revisions behind the current standard and lacks over-voltage protection. The bathroom has a mould problem because the landlord disconnected the extractor fan (she said “she didn't like how it sounded”) - which I had to remove because it dripping with moisture and covered it black mould.
There are a lot more on top of this – there were damaged plug sockets, the side door wasn't sat properly in it's frame and could be easily pushed open, even when locked, etc.
The landlord didn't do an inspection, inventory, list of damage or anything. I took photos of what I could find at the time, but have since found that I missed quite a few things; cracks in the ceiling, some small drill holes and a couple of 'bodge jobs' – one of the electrical spurs was fused by a twisted bit of tinfoil!
Basically, the place is in a bit of a state. The landlord responded fine at first, agreeing that we could use two months of rent to arrange repairs, then two months of rent paid to him – he lives in France, so it's difficult for him to arrange the repairs from there – once we were settled in, there was an issue with the roof leaking and it resulted in a lot of angry communication from the landlord; he felt that I was accusing him of lying to me about the problems the house had, that he changed his mind about the agreement we had, wanted the full rent and that he was “sick of me wanting everything done yesterday” and he'd “get things fixed in his own time”, along with a couple of threats; “you're on thin ice”, etc.
Future email communications didn't go well, with him spying on my Facebook account and sending me very angry, aggressive responses when asked about repairs to the house, or when new repairs were reported. A couple of the repairs have been done – I replaced the locking system on the front door as well as the gas meter door using money he agreed for me to take out of monthly rent, and he arranged for the roof to be fixed and the side door to be re-secured.
This is our first private tenancy – it isn't rented via an agency – as a family unit and we were really hoping to just settle down and get on with things, and the amount of stress, arguments and anxiety attacks caused as a result of this man is far beyond most bad situations for me; we're afraid of getting kicked out, and don't have the money together to get another place.
I spoke to CAB and they recommended a couple of charities for me to get in contact with, but to be honest it's a hell of a lot of effort for me to look into – it's taken me just over 2 weeks to draft this forum post together. My current plan is pretty much to wait until the tenancy period is up, then look for a new house. One via a rental agency.
He's definitely broken his terms of the rental agreement, but technically so have I by putting up tool shelves and making other modifications to the room as per his general DIY permission.
We've asked his permission to have a 4th person move into the house – my friend's girlfriend – and he said he's fine with that providing we pay him £625 a month instead of £525 a month! We said we would be willing to pay up to £575 a month until the repairs were carried out. We were told he “isn't backing down on this”, that the “repairs are getting done” and “good luck finding a place for her to live for £100 a month”. It also turned out that she had sought out and spoken to the girlfriend's parents, and said that “her parents are fine with it”. For reference, similar houses on this street go for £550 a month, and that's via rental agencies that maintain them and keep them to current regulations!
Speaking to the neighbours, this isn't the first time the landlord has caused problems – he's had four tenants in as many years, each of who have left after having problems with the landlord saying he'll “get repairs done” and never doing it, telling them to pay for the repairs and saying he'll pay them back later (then never doing so) and similar, including a council tax fiddle that got one of the tenants slapped with a big fine.
Where do I stand here? Who do I speak to if a landlord breaks a rental agreement? Can the landlord kick me out for reporting him for not getting the repairs done? What if we move out and he tries to sue me for the disrepair the property is in, claiming it's my damage and not his, or that of previous tenants? I have a fairly significant amount of debt from credit card and overdraft misadventures, and wouldn't be able to afford to deal with a legal case.
This is causing a lot of sleepless nights, arguments with my fianc!! and depressive 'downtime', so any advice that can be given as to possible next steps is gratefully received.
Thank you,
A Concerned Tenant
(Names aren't mentioned and a couple of superficial details have been changed to try and stop the landlord from looking this thread up; after the 'Facebook spying' thing, I honestly wouldn't put it past him.)
Long time lurker, first time poster! :beer:
I'm after some advice. Here's the situation. Apologies in advance for the novel, as there is a lot of stuff to explain here.
I'm a late-20s guy living with a household that consists of myself, my fianc! and a good friend. I'm autistic and suffer from bipolar disorder, both of which I'm being treated for. I'm unable to work due to issues arising from the autistic side of things, so my income consists of a Disability Living Allowance claim, Housing Benefit (based on low income) as well as Carer's Allowance for helping to care for my sister, who suffers from various physical disabilities.
I have an Assured Short-term Tenancy Agreement – the landlord wasn't bothered about an official agreement, but I was required by the council to provide one for my Housing Benefit claim, so I looked online and found one provided by the National Landlord Association. The landlord agreed to pay for the template (£10), print, sign and scan it, then send it to us to sign and scan. It is the standard NLA AST, and lasts 12 months.
We didn't give the new house a proper viewing before moving in, as it was recommended to us by my fianc!'s mother, who we trusted. As a result, we weren't asked to pay a bond/deposit, thought it was an excellent deal and agreed to move in as soon as possible. The landlord also said she had no problem with me doing DIY and customisations around the house, as long as any damage was put right at my expense. I've always wanted a workshop for playing about with my electronics and repair stuff, so this was a big deal to me!
We moved in on the 1st of Feb 2014, to find the house was in much worse a state than we first thought after first seeing it (which was after agreeing to move in... I realise how badly I messed up on that one). The move was a bit of a rush job, as I was eager to get away from my previous residence – I had to have my cat, who was a very dear friend to me put down on the 13th of Jan, and no longer wanted to stay in my old house.
In the new property, most of the double glazing gasket seals have failed, so if it rains heavily enough we get water coming through a couple of the windows. The radiators have no TRVs (heat control knobs) and are stuck at full blast whenever they're on, although a couple of them don't heat up at all.
I'm told this is a result of a 'sludge' build-up, and that the system needs to be cleaned out. The boiler was installed in 1973 and has a “H” efficiency rating; it cost us nearly £100 to heat the house back in Jan, and that was with a very conservative heating schedule.
The electrical consumer unit is two revisions behind the current standard and lacks over-voltage protection. The bathroom has a mould problem because the landlord disconnected the extractor fan (she said “she didn't like how it sounded”) - which I had to remove because it dripping with moisture and covered it black mould.
There are a lot more on top of this – there were damaged plug sockets, the side door wasn't sat properly in it's frame and could be easily pushed open, even when locked, etc.
The landlord didn't do an inspection, inventory, list of damage or anything. I took photos of what I could find at the time, but have since found that I missed quite a few things; cracks in the ceiling, some small drill holes and a couple of 'bodge jobs' – one of the electrical spurs was fused by a twisted bit of tinfoil!
Basically, the place is in a bit of a state. The landlord responded fine at first, agreeing that we could use two months of rent to arrange repairs, then two months of rent paid to him – he lives in France, so it's difficult for him to arrange the repairs from there – once we were settled in, there was an issue with the roof leaking and it resulted in a lot of angry communication from the landlord; he felt that I was accusing him of lying to me about the problems the house had, that he changed his mind about the agreement we had, wanted the full rent and that he was “sick of me wanting everything done yesterday” and he'd “get things fixed in his own time”, along with a couple of threats; “you're on thin ice”, etc.
Future email communications didn't go well, with him spying on my Facebook account and sending me very angry, aggressive responses when asked about repairs to the house, or when new repairs were reported. A couple of the repairs have been done – I replaced the locking system on the front door as well as the gas meter door using money he agreed for me to take out of monthly rent, and he arranged for the roof to be fixed and the side door to be re-secured.
This is our first private tenancy – it isn't rented via an agency – as a family unit and we were really hoping to just settle down and get on with things, and the amount of stress, arguments and anxiety attacks caused as a result of this man is far beyond most bad situations for me; we're afraid of getting kicked out, and don't have the money together to get another place.
I spoke to CAB and they recommended a couple of charities for me to get in contact with, but to be honest it's a hell of a lot of effort for me to look into – it's taken me just over 2 weeks to draft this forum post together. My current plan is pretty much to wait until the tenancy period is up, then look for a new house. One via a rental agency.
He's definitely broken his terms of the rental agreement, but technically so have I by putting up tool shelves and making other modifications to the room as per his general DIY permission.
We've asked his permission to have a 4th person move into the house – my friend's girlfriend – and he said he's fine with that providing we pay him £625 a month instead of £525 a month! We said we would be willing to pay up to £575 a month until the repairs were carried out. We were told he “isn't backing down on this”, that the “repairs are getting done” and “good luck finding a place for her to live for £100 a month”. It also turned out that she had sought out and spoken to the girlfriend's parents, and said that “her parents are fine with it”. For reference, similar houses on this street go for £550 a month, and that's via rental agencies that maintain them and keep them to current regulations!
Speaking to the neighbours, this isn't the first time the landlord has caused problems – he's had four tenants in as many years, each of who have left after having problems with the landlord saying he'll “get repairs done” and never doing it, telling them to pay for the repairs and saying he'll pay them back later (then never doing so) and similar, including a council tax fiddle that got one of the tenants slapped with a big fine.
Where do I stand here? Who do I speak to if a landlord breaks a rental agreement? Can the landlord kick me out for reporting him for not getting the repairs done? What if we move out and he tries to sue me for the disrepair the property is in, claiming it's my damage and not his, or that of previous tenants? I have a fairly significant amount of debt from credit card and overdraft misadventures, and wouldn't be able to afford to deal with a legal case.
This is causing a lot of sleepless nights, arguments with my fianc!! and depressive 'downtime', so any advice that can be given as to possible next steps is gratefully received.
Thank you,
A Concerned Tenant
(Names aren't mentioned and a couple of superficial details have been changed to try and stop the landlord from looking this thread up; after the 'Facebook spying' thing, I honestly wouldn't put it past him.)
0
Comments
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I'll try to answer your Qs below. See red comments.
1) Has he given you, in writing, an address in England or Wales where you can write to him "for the serving of notices"?..... household that consists of myself, my fianc! and a good friend.
...... my income consists of a Disability Living Allowance claim, Housing Benefit (based on low income) as well as Carer's Allowance
I have an Assured Short-term Tenancy Agreement –..... It is the standard NLA AST, and lasts 12 months.
For the record, :
* what are start/end dates?
* Was it signed by LL
* is it a 'joint & several agreement naming all 3 tenants?
* Is there a 'Break Clause'? (allowing you or him to end the tenancy early)? Read the agreement.
The landlord also said she had no problem with me doing DIY and customisations around the house, as long as any damage was put right at my expense.
Seems fair. Verbal or in writing?
We moved in on the 1st of Feb 2014, to find the house was in much worse a state than we first thought after first seeing it
In the new property, most of the double glazing gasket seals have failed, so if it rains heavily enough we get water coming through a couple of the windows.
Have you reported this in writing?
The radiators have no TRVs (heat control knobs) and are stuck at full blast whenever they're on, although a couple of them don't heat up at all.
There's no requirement for TRVs.
I'm told this is a result of a 'sludge' build-up, and that the system needs to be cleaned out.
Have you reported this in writing?
The boiler was installed in 1973 and has a “H” efficiency rating; it cost us nearly £100 to heat the house back in Jan, and that was with a very conservative heating schedule.
Providing there is a method of heating which works, there's no requirement for it to be 'efficient'. However, as you are on benefits the landlord may be able to get a free or discounted new boiler. Investigate this, and then politeley suggest it.
Google 'ECO boilers' and 'free boiler scheme' etc. eg see here. (my friend recently got one, but even if you qualify, as a tenant you'll need the landlord's permission.
The electrical consumer unit is two revisions behind the current standard and lacks over-voltage protection.
There is no requirement for CUs to be upgraded each time a new revision comes out. Provided it complied with the revision that was current at the time it was installed, it complies.
The bathroom has a mould problem because the landlord disconnected the extractor fan (she said “she didn't like how it sounded”) - which I had to remove because it dripping with moisture and covered it black mould.
Have you reported this in writing?
There are a lot more on top of this – there were damaged plug sockets, the side door wasn't sat properly in it's frame and could be easily pushed open, even when locked, etc.
Have you reported this in writing?
The landlord didn't do an inspection, inventory, list of damage or anything.
No requirement for this, though a very stupid LL!
I took photos of what I could find at the time, but have since found that I missed quite a few things; cracks in the ceiling, some small drill holes and a couple of 'bodge jobs' – one of the electrical spurs was fused by a twisted bit of tinfoil!
Keep taking photos. Keep a list and.....Have you reported these issues in writing?
Basically, the place is in a bit of a state. The landlord responded fine at first, agreeing that we could use two months of rent to arrange repairs, then two months of rent paid to him –
* He said this in writing?
* I don't understand. the 2nd 2 months rent to him. What happens after that?
* What exactly was agreed? Were the repairs you were authorised to do with the 2 months rent specified in detail?
once we were settled in, there was an issue with the roof leaking and it resulted in a lot of angry communication from the landlord;
Phone? Letters? What exactly was said and how?
he felt that I was accusing him of lying to me about the problems the house had, that he changed his mind about the agreement we had, wanted the full rent and that he was “sick of me wanting everything done yesterday” and he'd “get things fixed in his own time”, along with a couple of threats; “you're on thin ice”, etc.
Harrassment of a tenant is a criminal offence eg threats to illegally evict. See Section 1 of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977
Keep all emails/letters etc and keep a log of phone calls.
Future email communications didn't go well, with him spying on my Facebook account and sending me very angry, aggressive responses when asked about repairs to the house, or when new repairs were reported.
Harrassment of a tenant is a criminal offence
A couple of the repairs have been done – I replaced the locking system on the front door as well as the gas meter door using money he agreed for me to take out of monthly rent, and he arranged for the roof to be fixed and the side door to be re-secured.
Progress!
....we're afraid of getting kicked out, and don't have the money together to get another place.
Please confirm -
* you have a 12 month contract starting X Feb 2014?
* Is there a Break Clause?
He's definitely broken his terms of the rental agreement, but technically so have I by putting up tool shelves and making other modifications to the room as per his general DIY permission.
If you have permission, you've done nothing wrong.
Even if not, then provided when you leave you return the property to him as it was at the start (ie make good any changes/damage) then you're fine.
We've asked his permission to have a 4th person move into the house – my friend's girlfriend – and he said he's fine with that providing we pay him £625 a month instead of £525 a month!
!!! Why? It does not cost him any more? Are you paying the utility bills, or does he?
We said we would be willing to pay up to £575 a month until the repairs were carried out.
* Getting the repairs done should not be confused with the new occupant. Keep these issues separate.
* do not agree to, or offer, any increase in rent, either verbally or in writing
* See info on taking in a lodger below
We were told he “isn't backing down on this”, that the “repairs are getting done” and “good luck finding a place for her to live for £100 a month”.
I have to ask:
* how would he know if she moved in?
* does the tenancy agreement say anything about lodgers? (probobly does if it's NLA - but does he even know?)
It also turned out that she had sought out and spoken to the girlfriend's parents, and said that “her parents are fine with it”.
I have no idea what this means or why it is relevant.
For reference, similar houses on this street go for £550 a month, and that's via rental agencies that maintain them and keep them to current regulations!
Agents don't maintain properties. Landlords do. Agents just do what LLs tell them (pay them) to do.
Where do I stand here? Who do I speak to if a landlord breaks a rental agreement?
The courts. Not worth it.
Can the landlord kick me out for reporting him for not getting the repairs done?
Probobly not but depends on answers to Qs above about the tenancy agreement.
What if we move out and he tries to sue me for the disrepair the property is in, claiming it's my damage and not his, or that of previous tenants?
As you did not sign an inventory showing the condition of the property and contents at the start of the tenancy, the LL will have difficulty proving who caused any damage.
It is up to the LL to prove you did the damage, not for you to prove you did not.
However, if you leave early, he is more likely to sue you for rent. Unless there is a Break Clause (see above).
This is a legal requirement. See section 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. If not, you DO NOT have to pay rent.
Email address is useful, but is not a substitute for a postal address. A French address does not meet the legal requirement.
2) Always report all issues/repairs in writing, by letter, to the address in 1) above (assuming you have one........and if you don't, you need not pay any rent)
3) Environmental Health at the local council will help with serious repairing issues, especially if health or safety are involved or the property is 'unfit for human habitation'. You can ask them to do an inspection (but be aware they are short of funds, short of staff so it may take time.)
4) Shelter have advice on repairing issues. read Shelter (Repairs in private homes)
5) Shelter also list the detailed process you must follow to do repairs yourself and deduct the cost from future rent. They include draft letters to send the landlord. See Shelter (doing repairs yourself)
6) He lives abroad. How do you pay rent? To someone (his friend/relative) in this country? Or direct to him (eg his bank)? If you pay him direct YOU SHOULD DEDUCT 20% OF THE RENT AND KEEP IT TO ONE SIDE FOR TAX. Read:
HMRC (Non Resident [= overseas] Landlord Scheme)
7) If you decide to take in a lodger (you would be her landlord), read:
LODGERS (Licencees/Excluded Occupiers)
A lodger (broadly) lives in the same property with their resident landlord, and shares facilities. Unlike tenants, lodgers have few rights.
The Housing Act 1988 provides definitions of 'Resident Landlord' and 'same property' (S31 & Schedule 1 (10).
There is advice for landlords considering taking in lodgers here:
LodgerLandlord (General information site)
Landlordzone (General advice on taking in lodgers)
Renting out rooms in your home (Government info)
Rent a Room Scheme (Government scheme for tax-free income from lodgers)
21 tips (Tessa Shepperson's Lodger Landlord website)0 -
Do you have a UK address for him?.... he lives in France....
This opens up a can of worms because there are extra/special rules if the LL lives abroad, which might include you having to withhold tax from the rent and send it directly to HMRC. He will need to get a letter from them to stop this happening.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/nr_landlords.htmIf you have rental property in the UK but your usual home is outside the UK, your tenants or the letting agents you use will need to operate the Non-resident Landlord (NRL) Scheme. They need to deduct basic rate tax from rental income before they pass it onto you.0 -
The radiators have no TRVs (heat control knobs) and are stuck at full blast whenever they're on
All radiators can be turned up and down - TRVs just turn the rad off automatically when they're "up to temp". One of the knobs will be larger than the other - turn that one to reduce the flow to the rad. Yes, it'll take longer to heat up, but it'll not get as hot.although a couple of them don't heat up at all.
Do they just need bleeding? Is the bottom of the rad hot? Or is that rad just turned off...?The electrical consumer unit is two revisions behind the current standard and lacks over-voltage protection.
Along with a VERY high proportion of the UK's housing stock. There's nothing to say that a change in the standards has to apply to existing installations.The bathroom has a mould problem because the landlord disconnected the extractor fan (she said “she didn't like how it sounded”) - which I had to remove because it dripping with moisture and covered it black mould.
A new extractor's cheap and easy to fit.Basically, the place is in a bit of a state.
It certainly sounds it. But, of course, this would have been obvious before agreeing to move in.with him spying on my Facebook account
He can't "spy" on anything that you haven't made public. On Facebook, you see the little padlock icon, top right? Click that, drop "Who can see my stuff?" down, and click on the "What do other people see on my timeline" link, and you'll be able to change the privacy settings on the stuff you don't want non-friends to see. If your landlord is a friend on FB, then...0 -
one of the electrical spurs was fused by a twisted bit of tinfoil!
First thing I would do would be to isolate the electrical installation at the consumer unit, or further back if you can, check it's made safe with a volt meter then do a thorough check of the whole system to make sure there aren't any other surprises like the tin foil hidden anywhere.
Better safe than sorry so hire an electrician to check it out.*Assuming you're in England or Wales.0 -
You can block people on Facebook so just block (and report if necessary) your LL as this should stop him being able to contact you via that medium.
Bits of tinfoil in the electrics seems to be the most dangerous issue with the property so as SerialRenter suggests it might be an idea getting a qualified electrician to check it out, even if you have to pay for it yourself.
There's not much you can do about the crap central heating but I would focus of the electrics and the mould. If you have reported these things in writing to your LL and haven't got anywhere then I would report them to your local council.
Shelter has some good information on how to report repairs and even has some sample letters you can use.
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/repairs_in_private_lets/landlord_refusing_to_do_repairs
As GM and PasturesNew have asked already, do you have an address in the UK for serving notices? PastersNew makes a good point about income tax due.
Ultimately, in your position I would follow the process for reporting repairs and be looking for somewhere else to move to at the earliest available opportunity to get away from this maniac LL.0 -
Thanks to everyone for the rapid responses, I'm going to try and respond over a few posts to cover all of the questions and to make sure I don't miss any of them.1) Has he given you, in writing, an address in England or Wales where you can write to him "for the serving of notices"?
This is a legal requirement. See section 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. If not, you DO NOT have to pay rent.
Email address is useful, but is not a substitute for a postal address. A French address does not meet the legal requirement.
Nope, no UK address - I've not even met or spoke to the landlord in person at any point, all communication has been via email or Facebook messenger.
2) Always report all issues/repairs in writing, by letter, to the address in 1) above (assuming you have one........and if you don't, you need not pay any rent)
Who do I report this to? Regarding the not having to pay rent thing? Everything was reported via email, and at any point when he's given permission for something, I've taken a screenshot and filed it away in an 'evidence' folder.
3) Environmental Health at the local council will help with serious repairing issues, especially if health or safety are involved or the property is 'unfit for human habitation'. You can ask them to do an inspection (but be aware they are short of funds, short of staff so it may take time.)
4) Shelter have advice on repairing issues. read Shelter (Repairs in private homes)
5) Shelter also list the detailed process you must follow to do repairs yourself and deduct the cost from future rent. They include draft letters to send the landlord. See Shelter (doing repairs yourself)
6) He lives abroad. How do you pay rent? To someone (his friend/relative) in this country? Or direct to him (eg his bank)? If you pay him direct YOU SHOULD DEDUCT 20% OF THE RENT AND KEEP IT TO ONE SIDE FOR TAX. Read: HMRC (Non Resident [= overseas] Landlord Scheme)
We pay rent directly to his bank account, which is a UK account. How do I approach the tax thing, do I tell him that HMRC has got in contact with me? Can I get in contact with HMRC and ask them to send me a letter saying that they are checking it?
I'm wanting to try and stay behind a veil of anonymity on that side of things - the aggressive outbursts have me a bit concerned as to him trying to get violent with any of us.0 -
Is there even a French address on the tenancy agreement? The agreement should tell you where to serve notices, Facebook is not a suitable medium.
As for the Non-Resident Landlord taxation scheme the tenant should be deducting basic rate tax before depositing the rent in the LL's account and need to file quarterly and annual returns with HMRC. Unless your LL has applied to HMRC to receive rent with no tax deducted and HMRC has agreed to this which I doubt your LL has done.
Your LL lives in France so I wouldn't worry too much about him being violent. You should definitely contact Shleter for more advice.0 -
Why not just move if you are dissatisfied?0
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Considering the situation:
- Landlord is in France, and does not seem to be doing inspections, so if you want to take a lodger or have a guest, just do it.
- If he is "tired of you" reply that you will be happy to surrender the tenancy and leave.
- For any repairs that the landlord has an obligation to carry out, just follow the standard procedure, as per previous links, to have them done yourself and deduct from rent.
As for tax, I would just keep quiet about it. You have enough problems as it is.Is there even a French address on the tenancy agreement? The agreement should tell you where to serve notices, Facebook is not a suitable medium.
Facebook is in writing, so if there is an agreement that notices may be served as such, or if recipient accepts any such notice, my guess is that it will stand.0
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