Landlord chasing ex-tenants for arrears he says not owed

Housing_Benefit_Officer

My friend was renting a property last year. For 3 years he paid the rent by standing order but 3 months before he left he cancelled it. He claims his mother posted the rent money through the landlords letterbox and met the landlord at other times and handed over envelopes of cash.

My friend failed to give any notice to the landlord and just left. He left on the 5th September 2013. The landlord had already issued a Section 21 with a vacation date of 1st November 2013. My friend claims the rent was paid upto the end of August.

The landlord has now tracked down my friend and he has received court papers claiming rent is owed for July, August, September and October 2013.

My friend claims no rent is owing as he gave notice to quit and his mother posted the money through the landlords letterbox. No receipts were given for the cash handed over. How can my friend prove his rent was paid? His mother has bank statements showing sums of £200 and £300 being withdrawn on various dates to a total of £2,800. Would this be sufficient to show a court his rent was paid? Should he get a signed affidavit from his Mother?

thelem

From the way that's written it sounds very much like your friend was trying to dodge the rent, but the story is inconsistent. If he gave notice, how and when was it given and does he have any record of that? Otherwise, he should take 1st November as the end of the tenancy.

When does he think the rent was paid up until?
Was there a deposit?
What period did the last standing order cover?
Why did he / his mother decide to pay in cash without asking for a receipt?
How many payments did his mother make, and how much was each payment? Cash withdrawals of £200-300 don't really tally with what was presumably a monthly payment of nearly £1000.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

He gave no written notice. Both his mother and girlfriend said he would be leaving and his mother posted the keys back through the landlords letterbox on 9th September. The landlord refused to accept notice to quit given verbally by the girlfriend who didn't live there or the mother.
There was no deposit paid as he rented from a friend of his mother.
The last standing order paid 1st June for June 2013 rent.
No idea why his mother didn't get a receipt she supposedly just posted the money through the letterbox in an envelope.
Mother supposedly made payments every week or so in sums of £200 or £300 withdrawn from her bank account - rent was £700 per month.

My friend is going to claim in court that his mother handed the cash in person to the landlord and his mother will also claim she did although she just posted it through the letterbox. He is also going to claim he sent a letter to the landlord although he didn't.

The landlord doesn't have the tenancy agreement as the tenant asked him to send it to housing benefit department and they in error sent it back to my friend. Would the court need to see the tenancy agreement to enforce recovery of arrears?

mrginge

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

My friend is going to claim in court that his mother handed the cash in person to the landlord and his mother will also claim she did although she just posted it through the letterbox. He is also going to claim he sent a letter to the landlord although he didn't.

So your friend has admitted to you that he is going to lie to the court, yet you seem ready to believe the rest of this story?

marlot

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

...My friend is going to claim in court that his mother handed the cash in person to the landlord and his mother will also claim she did although she just posted it through the letterbox. He is also going to claim he sent a letter to the landlord although he didn't...

I hope he knows the penalties for perjury

Pixie5740

Your friend is full of $h!t. The story he has given you contradicts itself, on one hand he didn't give the LL any notice then goes on to say no rent is owed because he did give notice, so which is it?

Your friend claims to have paid rent to the end of August but was still living there in September. Now that LL claims that rent hasn't been paid since June. Lots of things that don't add up. I think your friend is a lying toerag who has been caught out.

jjlandlord

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

My friend failed to give any notice to the landlord and just left.

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

My friend claims no rent is owing as he gave notice to quit

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote:

He gave no written notice.

It's difficult to have sympathy when the story changes every line.

In fact, if he did not give a valid notice to quit, the landlord could have considered the tenancy to be continuing to this day.

Re. allegedly paid rent, your friend needs evidence that rent was paid.

No evidence + dodgy story = I know who to bet on in court.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

jjlandlord wrote: »

It's difficult to have sympathy when the story changes every line.

In fact, if he did not give a valid notice to quit, the landlord could have considered the tenancy to be continuing to this day.

Re. allegedly paid rent, your friend needs evidence that rent was pay.

No evidence + dodgy story = I know who to bet on in court.

He claims because his girlfriend and mother both told the landlord he was leaving as far as he is concerned this was notice to quit. He didn't give any written notice - just verbal notice from people who were not tenants.

The landlord lives about 200 miles from the flat that was rented out. My friends Mother lives about 10 miles from the landlord. I have said it seems odd he claims to have paid money to his mother to then pay to his landlord when a bank transfer would have been so much quicker and not add another person into the transaction but he is adamant that 2 people telling one story would outweigh what the landlord says.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

jjlandlord wrote: »

It's difficult to have sympathy when the story changes every line.

In fact, if he did not give a valid notice to quit, the landlord could have considered the tenancy to be continuing to this day.

Re. allegedly paid rent, your friend needs evidence that rent was pay.

No evidence + dodgy story = I know who to bet on in court.

The Landlord issued a Section 21 notice so he is being charged rent to that date.

jjlandlord

If he is convinced of being right and the landlord also is then let a court decide. What else can you do?

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

He claims because his girlfriend and mother both told the landlord he was leaving as far as he is concerned this was notice to quit.

It's not in any shape or form.
It was not from him, it was not in writing, it did not not give the correct notice, it did not expire on correct date. I.e. it's nothing.

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

The Landlord issued a Section 21 notice so he is being charged rent to that date.

That's reasonable enough considering the landlord could continue charging rent even after the notice's expiry.

In affect the landlord has decided to accept a surrender of the tenancy on the date the s.21 notice expired.

Annie1960

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

The landlord lives about 200 miles from the flat that was rented out. My friends Mother lives about 10 miles from the landlord. I have said it seems odd he claims to have paid money to his mother to then pay to his landlord when a bank transfer would have been so much quicker and not add another person into the transaction but he is adamant that 2 people telling one story would outweigh what the landlord says.

The fact the LL lives 200 miles away is irrelevant - this is the 21st century and we have both Royal Mail and email, either of which solve the problem of the 200 mile distance.

Chris Huhne and Vicky Price both thought it was a good thing to lie to the court - look where it got them.

Your friend sounds very foolish.