Problems with private landlady

Pixie5740

Yes you would be liable for court costs. However, ending the tenancy through courts and bailiffs would mean that you are unintentionally homeless so the council should help you find alternative housing which could eventually lead to social housing.

G_M

Sadly the leaks, condensation, and other problems are now irrelevant. When they occurred, there were remedies open to you (reporting properly in writing; following up in writing when repairs were inadequaltely done; escalating via EH or self-repair etc)

But a SPT can be ended for any, or no, reason - provided the correct procedure is followed.

Step 1 is a valid S21 Notice. I strongly suspect your 'postcard' was not a valid S21 so can simply be ignored. If/when the LL applies to court it will be thrown out and a new notice (and new 2 months) must be served.

The Shelter link provides other reasons a S21 might be invalid, so unless the LL gets her act together, this could take many many months!

As for the slander claim - well, worth a try, but hard to prove.
a) you'd need proof of what she was saying and
b) proof it was not true

dancingfairy

Email is not great (as in it's not in writing) but it would be some sort of proof that you reported the problems. I'd be interested to see what a judge made of things if she did take you to court and you could provide emails.
I suspect from what you are saying that the S21 is invalid. If so, just keep looking for a new place and wait until she takes you to court (At which point you can point out the S21 is invalid (if it is, obviously check first )).
When you find a new place, you can give your own counter notice (make sure you serve it correctly).
df
p.s there isn't really a lot you can do to stop her giving negative feedback, either point out that if she gives you negative feedback you'll be at hers a lot longer, or to mitigate the risk you could provide copies of bank statements (to show proof of regular rent payments), references from work, references from previous houses, offer to pay 6 months rent up front or offer home owning guarantor. It is a lot harder if the landlord is playing silly but there are ways to make things a little easier.

kinger101

G_M wrote: »

As for the slander claim - well, worth a try, but hard to prove.
a) you'd need proof of what she was saying and
b) proof it was not true

For (b), isn't the burden of proof on the defendant under English law?

patman99

Well, if the op has a friend with a phone that can record conversations, they could ask them to write to her giving their phone number, asking for a reference.

When she does phone, they need to answer with the message "hello, please note, we record calls for training purposes".
If she still gives a negative ref., then your friend will have a legal recording that can be used as evidence.

Guest101

patman99 wrote: »

Well, if the op has a friend with a phone that can record conversations, they could ask them to write to her giving their phone number, asking for a reference.

When she does phone, they need to answer with the message "hello, please note, we record calls for training purposes".
If she still gives a negative ref., then your friend will have a legal recording that can be used as evidence.

Only commercial companies need to notify of recordings. Private individuals don't need to do this, that said nothing wrong with saying that, just wanted to clarify.

G_M

As for the slander claim - well, worth a try, but hard to prove.
a) you'd need proof of what she was saying and
b) proof it was not true

kinger101 wrote: »

For (b), isn't the burden of proof on the defendant under English law?

to be honest, I'm not sure.

But I kind of assume that freedom of speech allows us to say what we want. It it would be for the injured paryy to prove that the speaker was overstepping their freedom of speech by slandering.

I may have that back to front though!

JJG

kinger101 wrote: »

For (b), isn't the burden of proof on the defendant under English law?

Of course not. It's on the accuser. Otherwise you owe me the £1000 cash I lent you last week.

kinger101

JJG wrote: »

Of course not. It's on the accuser. Otherwise you owe me the £1000 cash I lent you last week.

Er.........we were specifically discussing English defamation law.

Thrugelmir

trrk wrote: »

other problems resulting from poor ventilation in the bathroom.

What do you regard as poor ventilation?