Can my Landlady do this?

Guest101

Propertyauthor wrote: »

Clearly this situation has escalated into "row territory" through no fault of your own.

What I would do is find somewhere I did want to live through a decent agent/landlord only search through agents who are members of NALS, ARLA or RICS as they have a free independent third party complaints system and offer client money protection. If you rent directly from a landlord make sure they are a member of the RLA, NLA or local authority accreditation scheme.

Once you have found somewhere to move to, put in writing that the date you want to leave, the final rental payment you will make up to that date and check which scheme your deposit is protected in. Then you will know the latest you will get your deposit back.

If there is no inventory from the start of your tenancy take photos of everything now and of the locks being changed back when you leave.

It may be a good idea to pop in and see the Estate Agent to say you feel very mistreated by the landlord and as such don't feel viewings would be appropriate until you have left.

The OP still needs to give correct notice.

quidsy

Any update OP? today is the day she agreed to the move out, did she back down?

cheesymash

The landlady has given us a letter confirming she will agree to an early termination of the tenancy.
My OH is going to meet her at the flat later this afternoon to hand back the keys and for her to do a check out inspection. I couldn't go because I don't think I can behave calmly around her at this stage. She has said that if everything is in good order (which it is) she will agree to the full return of our deposit. However we know by now that she is unlikely to go down without a fight and will probably try to invent grounds for making deductions, so we will just have to wait and see how that goes.


We have found a new flat to move in to, our credit checks and references have gone through and fortunately for us the flat is empty and ready for us to move in to in a few days time, in the meantime we will stay with family.


I'm relieved that it's (almost) all over but I'm pretty certain she will try and kick up a fuss at the check out inspection. I will report back when it is done!

Guest101

cheesymash wrote: »

The landlady has given us a letter confirming she will agree to an early termination of the tenancy.
My OH is going to meet her at the flat later this afternoon to hand back the keys and for her to do a check out inspection. I couldn't go because I don't think I can behave calmly around her at this stage. She has said that if everything is in good order (which it is) she will agree to the full return of our deposit. However we know by now that she is unlikely to go down without a fight and will probably try to invent grounds for making deductions, so we will just have to wait and see how that goes.


We have found a new flat to move in to, our credit checks and references have gone through and fortunately for us the flat is empty and ready for us to move in to in a few days time, in the meantime we will stay with family.


I'm relieved that it's (almost) all over but I'm pretty certain she will try and kick up a fuss at the check out inspection. I will report back when it is done!

Does your partner have a smart phone, i would suggest he discretely records the check out and her agreeing to return the deposit (yes its perfectly legal)

cheesymash

Guest101 wrote: »

Does your partner have a smart phone, i would suggest he discretely records the check out and her agreeing to return the deposit (yes its perfectly legal)

That's a good idea! if I can get hold of him I will suggest it.

CM66

Sooooo - what happened?

topdaddy_2

EasyAs123 wrote: »

Well, if you were a cleaning business and provided me with a VAT receipt, I'd expect cleaning to a good standard before I paid you. Meaning no, just paying anyone wouldn't be having a receipt for professional standards.

At the end of the day, I'm sharing my experience. Doing as I outlined secured the return of a large deposit from the DPS who dismissed my digital photos (and those of the landlord that were actually taken at some point mid tenancy without my knowledge) as they were not countersigned and dated.

£20 secured £1000+ seems sensible to me :money:

Clean is clean, professional or otherwise. Do it your self and have 1020 quid;)

Guest101

Ulfar wrote: »

In this your argument is false, a picture of a street is a public place and the person on the street has no right or expectation of privacy, the tenants flat is their home and they have a right to privacy.

The photographer has committed trespass by not having permission of the person whose home it is(note this does not mean the landlord's permission as they have given the property over to the tenant as their home for the duration of the contract).

Whether this would cover possessions is another question, it could well do depending upon what is in the photos.

Given that the above is incredibly hard to rectify, I would change the locks, refuse viewings. When the landlord tries to serve a s21, then I would advise that as they haven't protected the deposit this isn't worth the paper it is written on.

I would want my deposit back right now, otherwise I would be going to the court for non-compliance with the deposit protection law.

As presume you know about tresspass - so what financial loss have they suffered as a result of this tresspass? none.

And my point was that this is not covered under the DPA, nothing to do with legal or illegal entry.

cheesymash

Well my OH met her at the flat for the check out inspection. He said she was very rude and unfriendly (not surprising really!) and kept talking about how we had broken the law by changing the locks etc, and repeatedly stressed that it is HER property and she has always had the right to do whatever she wants.

When they went in to the flat she seemed surprised at how clean and in good condition it was, I think she probably expected to trash the place. She told my OH that she would release the deposit to us within a few days and then slammed the door in his face. Charming!

But to our very great surprise, we heard this morning from the letting agent who initially set up the tenancy and protected the deposit for her, that she has agreed to give it back to us in full and won't even try to make any deductions! :T
I think she probably realised that we wouldn't take it lying down if she tried to make a claim.


So that's it, it's all over, we escaped our bonkers landlady!
I know we are very lucky though, we were fortunate enough to have savings that allowed us to afford to move at short notice, and family and friends to help us out and give us a place to stay. If we hadn't had that support or had been worse off financially, it would have been impossible for us to just up and move.


I've learnt through this whole episode that although tenants may have rights, there isn't much you can do to enforce them. If you don't have the means to move, you're screwed!