Rent Arrears and served notice with incorrect dates

desperatedan123

Hello,

I hope someone here can help me. I cant get to the council or CAB till monday AM.

background:
We have been in our private rented house since may 2009. Always paid on time and been good tenants and get on really well with the landlord.
Me & my partner live with our 2 young children.
Early last year, things changed alot for us financially. Last year was hard. Things were really difficult from October onwards and as a result we are currently in rent arrears by 2 months. (DEC & JAN , £1100)
Things dont look like improving very quickly but we are trying all we can do.

Landlord has started to get abit rowdy since around 2 weeks ago (which I understand completely) and thinks we are just ignoring him and mugging him off, when in actual fact we have been worried and very stressed about our arrears.

Wednesday night, (21st Jan) the landlord knocked (banged) the door at 10pm. He was being verbally abusive at the door with me and at one point kicked the door as I tried to close it. He was threatening me, saying he will physically throw me out if I dont bring the rent upto date the next day. (thursday 22nd)

I told him he needs to do this properly and I will discuss it with him tomorrow.

Thursday 22nd:
We had an unaddressed envelope posted through our door.(our first ever written correspondence from him)
Inside were 2 letters dated 1st DECEMBER 2014 which was a reminder about arrears, and another dated JANUARY 1st 2015, which was another reminder and also notifying us that notice has been serverd and we must vacate by the 28th FEBRUARY 2015.
The same pen has been used to sign both pieces of paper. He basically has backdated the letters as though he sent them on the dates specified.

What I need to know, is what do I do from here?

It will take us a couple of months to save money and find an alternative property.

I have read lots on the internet and I am half sure of what I think I need to do. The CAB will give me advice (hopefully) on Monday, but I wanted to send the landlord a letter back asking for certain information and informing hi his notice is invalid.

Here are some points which I believe will assist me:

1) He claims in the letter than he wants us out on the 28th FEBRUARY as he will not be renewing the lease tenancy after date. (implying we have a fixed term which ends on the 28th feb)
- we havent signed a contract since march 2013 which was for 1 year at the time, so as far as I am aware, I am on a statuory periodic tenancy. (since march 2014)

2) we moved in in march 2009. we paid our deposit cash, which we know is not held in a deposit scheme, and we have never been given details of any scheme.


I am looking to write a letter back to the landlord informing his notice is invalid due to the dates stated and the date it was served, and also requesting the basic terms / dates of our current tenancy agreement, and also the information for the scheme that our deposit is held in.

from what I can gather, if he believes we have a fixed term contract, then we have 2 months notice from the end of the fixed term?
If we on a periodic tenancy, then 2 months from the date of the next rent due date? (which will be the 1st of february)


Please bear in mind, we dont like being in this situation. We are not looking to avoid paying rent and getting forcefully evicted etc, we just want to do things properly within the law, and extend our time in this house for as long as possible.

We are still making token payments towards the rent & arrears.


Please help.

thank-you,

Mike

Pixie5740

Can you confirm that this property is in England or Wales and exactly when in March 2013 your tenancy started.

Does your original tenancy agreement say anything about what happens when the fixed term ends?

desperatedan123

Yes, the house in in England (midlands)

our last agreement doesnt mention anything about what happens when the fixed period expires.
Its a very basic contract / agreement (2 pages with the 2nd page being just signatures)

It simply states ASSURED SHORTHOLD TENANCY at the top, then a brief description of our responsibliltes (ie, keeping clean, etc)
and then it just says the dates the term was for: 12 months, from March 1st 2013 to feb 28th 2014.

We certainly havent signed one since March 2013.


To be honest, he is a very old school landlord. (cash payments, badly written letters)

desperatedan123

1 more point,

our current landlord was not the landlord when we moved in in 2009.

our landlord then, was a relative of the current landlord and they were having a big family disupute at the time and his relatives took control of his businesses / properties as he wasnt managing them properly and was gambling.

our current landlord sorted himself out, paid his relatives some money, and he took back his businesses / properties. (around 2010)

jjlandlord

Doing things properly within the law is a popular one way excuse...

desperatedan123

jjlandlord wrote: »

Doing things properly within the law is a popular one way excuse...

Yes, I imagine it would be a popular excuse, as the law is there to protect tenants (and landlords).

Pixie5740

That changing of landlords doesn't really matter as your tenancy agreement remained the same.

I can understand your LL's annoyance you owing £1,100 in unpaid rent but there is a legal process for him to follow and he should not just turn up at your home unannounced effing and jeffing.

If your LL turns up again at your home without warning call the police. Start taking a log of all the harassment.

Have you tried talking to your LL about the arrears, why they've built up and what you are planning to do to clear the arrears? Communication is key in situations like this.

What kind of notice is it that your LL has served? Section 21? Section 8? Your LL will not have any proof that he served notice on 1st January because he didn't.

Is your rent £550 a month? Do you think you can find somewhere else to rent for less or is it that you just want out of this property now?

Marktheshark

If you need time and have nowhere to go, ignoring the incorrect letters will buy more time, informing and rebutting them will buy less.
As said call the police if he turns up, change the locks if you have not already and await a court date where you can have the paperwork thrown out and reset the clock to two months.
Save, date and sign what he posts.

Keeping a roof over your children's heads is your priority, let the nut jobs on here worry about the "morals" of life.
Contact all housing associations and local council. get on lists and use the threats and intimidation to ramp up your priority status on housing lists, hence why reporting this to the police and obtaining a reference number is important so you have the required proof.
If you can get b2 status or above priority you should get a social housing property quite quickly.

desperatedan123

jjlandlord wrote: »

Well I am sorry but you are not paying the rent and come here to seek advice on how to continue doing that "for as long as possible". A nice, model tenant...

Clearly you won't get any advice from me, and I don't think that you deserve protection.

Hopefully your landlord will seek proper advice and get things moving.

I stated in the the original post, that we are paying WHAT WE CAN.

Both of us were made redundant in 2014. Fortunately, my partner started work again but only part time. our income is only £800 a month. in total.
I dont get any income based benefits and we get a small amount of HB due to my partners income.

We are 2 months behind and we pay between £80 - £100 a week at the moment (token payments). obviously, this doesnt cover the rent of £550 a month, but its all we can afford.

I reiterate, WE ARE NOT LOOKING FOR A FREE RIDE! We just dont want to be thrown out with no where to go (hence "as long as possible")
should we find somewhere within the next week , considering deposits etc, we would gladly move out and give the landlord the keys AND continuing to pay him until our debt is clear.

you are obviously a landlord yourself, so will naturally be biased towards a landlords cause. Not everyone is a sponger looking for free rent! some people genuinely are IN THE S**T and need genuine help / advice.

Marktheshark

Please ignore the TROLLS who are unable to read what it says on the top banner "MONEY SAVING EXPERT"
Some only come here to vent their bitter twisted moralistic spleens at others who fall through the cracks.
Makes them feel better about their own sad lifes.

Pick the good advice and ignore the rest, it will help you stay on track.
Mark.

desperatedan123

Pixie5740 wrote: »

That changing of landlords doesn't really matter as your tenancy agreement remained the same.

I can understand your LL's annoyance you owing £1,100 in unpaid rent but there is a legal process for him to follow and he should not just turn up at your home unannounced effing and jeffing.

If your LL turns up again at your home without warning call the police. Start taking a log of all the harassment.

Have you tried talking to your LL about the arrears, why they've built up and what you are planning to do to clear the arrears? Communication is key in situations like this.

What kind of notice is it that your LL has served? Section 21? Section 8? Your LL will not have any proof that he served notice on 1st January because he didn't.

Is your rent £550 a month? Do you think you can find somewhere else to rent for less or is it that you just want out of this property now?

Yes we have talked to him. We give him what we can each week, but its not enough. I dont know why, but he honestly believes that we just live how we want and dont pay him for fun. I have had endless conversations with him, trying to explain that we are doing as much as possible to get out of this financial hole and we dont enjoy being in this situation.

Yes, rent is £550 a month and we have given him £100 a week for the last 5 weeks, so our arrears are actually £700 at the moment, with another 550 due on 1st february.

the notice was simply in the form of a written letter. THe letter said,
"Dear ....
You are now 2 montns in rent arrears.please bring your arrears upto date with immediate effect.
Also, please take this letter as your notice to vacate the property by the 28th February 2015 as I wont be renewing your tenancy agreement"

obviously we dont want to move, but in our current circumstance, we cant afford this property, and I do have compassion I feel bad for my landlord (as well as myself)