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Threatened with eviction by Landlord
jarvish
Posts: 9 Forumite
Hi!
Me, my wife and our 5 week old baby rent a house through a letting agents (LA). We are on a yearly contract, but there is a clause in our rental agreement (which we believe is standard for this LA) that either the landlord (LL) or the tennant can terminate the contract at one month's notice.
7 weeks ago (when my wife was 8 and a half months pregnant), at 10 o'clock at night I was in the shower and water started flooding our kitchen - the same happened when flushing the loo the gushing stopped when no water was on. We tried to look on the LA's website for a contact number for emergencies and ther ewasn't one, so we tried to call the LA to see if their answer machine gave the emergency number, but it didn't.
We live on an estate that forms part of a housing association (HA) whose "fee" (paid by the LL) includes the HA being responsible for the drains. But, as it was late and we assumed it was a plumbing issue as the water was coming out where plumbing was (we have no clue about plumbing/drains!)
So, we called Dynarod (as my heavily pregnant wife needs access to a toilet, and we didn't know if further flooding was going to occur!). Talked it thorugh with them on the phone, and they said they weren't positive whether it was a plumbing or drains issue, but they would send someone out to look and fix. The guy came quickly, found it was a drain issue, fixed it (it was due to roots overgrowing which he said the HA's drain people should have noticed and sorted it before) and charged us £180 (fair enough).
We contacted the LA first thing in the morning, talked through what happened. They were ok with it, told us to bring the invoice down and they would get the LL to pay us the money back. We did this, and the money was back in our account a couple of days later. All sorted, so we thought.........
A couple of weeks or so later, we get an email from the LA (who we had notified we have just had a new baby to) asking us for a timeline of events that night because the LL has asked for it. We supplied this and heard nothing for a while, so all sorted, so we thought.....
Then, yesterday we get a phone call from the LA. They said the LL has contacted them and after speaking to the HA, he believes he shouldn't have paid us the £180 because it was a drains issue, which the HA fee he pays covers, and that we should have "knocked on someones door" as 10pm isn't too late (despite the fact the HA guy in our street is in his 80s and I don't believe he is a plumber or drains expert).
He was willing though for us to pay just half of the money back as a gesture (!) - but (get this) he said if we weren't willing to pay back the £90, he would enforce the one month notice immediately. So basically, pay up or out on the street you go with your 5 week old baby.....
The LA said they were on our side and believe the LL is out of order, so I said for them to do their job and go back to him and tell him that.
I haven't heard back today from them but, does anyone have any advice? To me, this seems like clear blackmail/extortion/harrassment as the LL knows we aren't going to want to move out with a new baby in tow and to me it seems an easy way of him extorting £90 from us. If I felt we did something wrong in the first place I wouldn't mind, but this seems clear to me there was nothing we have done wrong, and if there was why would he have paid the £180 back in the first place?
Obviously a stressful time anyway, and this isn't helping - me and my wife just want to scream!!!!!!
Thanks in advance
Me, my wife and our 5 week old baby rent a house through a letting agents (LA). We are on a yearly contract, but there is a clause in our rental agreement (which we believe is standard for this LA) that either the landlord (LL) or the tennant can terminate the contract at one month's notice.
7 weeks ago (when my wife was 8 and a half months pregnant), at 10 o'clock at night I was in the shower and water started flooding our kitchen - the same happened when flushing the loo the gushing stopped when no water was on. We tried to look on the LA's website for a contact number for emergencies and ther ewasn't one, so we tried to call the LA to see if their answer machine gave the emergency number, but it didn't.
We live on an estate that forms part of a housing association (HA) whose "fee" (paid by the LL) includes the HA being responsible for the drains. But, as it was late and we assumed it was a plumbing issue as the water was coming out where plumbing was (we have no clue about plumbing/drains!)
So, we called Dynarod (as my heavily pregnant wife needs access to a toilet, and we didn't know if further flooding was going to occur!). Talked it thorugh with them on the phone, and they said they weren't positive whether it was a plumbing or drains issue, but they would send someone out to look and fix. The guy came quickly, found it was a drain issue, fixed it (it was due to roots overgrowing which he said the HA's drain people should have noticed and sorted it before) and charged us £180 (fair enough).
We contacted the LA first thing in the morning, talked through what happened. They were ok with it, told us to bring the invoice down and they would get the LL to pay us the money back. We did this, and the money was back in our account a couple of days later. All sorted, so we thought.........
A couple of weeks or so later, we get an email from the LA (who we had notified we have just had a new baby to) asking us for a timeline of events that night because the LL has asked for it. We supplied this and heard nothing for a while, so all sorted, so we thought.....
Then, yesterday we get a phone call from the LA. They said the LL has contacted them and after speaking to the HA, he believes he shouldn't have paid us the £180 because it was a drains issue, which the HA fee he pays covers, and that we should have "knocked on someones door" as 10pm isn't too late (despite the fact the HA guy in our street is in his 80s and I don't believe he is a plumber or drains expert).
He was willing though for us to pay just half of the money back as a gesture (!) - but (get this) he said if we weren't willing to pay back the £90, he would enforce the one month notice immediately. So basically, pay up or out on the street you go with your 5 week old baby.....
The LA said they were on our side and believe the LL is out of order, so I said for them to do their job and go back to him and tell him that.
I haven't heard back today from them but, does anyone have any advice? To me, this seems like clear blackmail/extortion/harrassment as the LL knows we aren't going to want to move out with a new baby in tow and to me it seems an easy way of him extorting £90 from us. If I felt we did something wrong in the first place I wouldn't mind, but this seems clear to me there was nothing we have done wrong, and if there was why would he have paid the £180 back in the first place?
Obviously a stressful time anyway, and this isn't helping - me and my wife just want to scream!!!!!!
Thanks in advance
0
Comments
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He can give 1 months notice if that is what he contract Break Clause says, but he still hase to serve a (2 months) S21 Notice before he can enforce and evict.
He can do both in parallel.
* Ending/renewing an AST: what happens when a fixed term ends? How can a LL or tenant end a tenancy?0 -
Thanks G_M, but can he use this clause as a threat? If we paid the £90, what's to stop him next month saying "give me the other £90 otherwise I'm still going to evict you". It just seems wrong to me
0 -
Without seeing the clause it is impossible to comment on it. But if it is a valid Break Clause which can be envoked at any time, then of course the LL can envoke it at any time. Or threaten to.
The solution is to get a receipt ofr the £90 saying 'received in full and final payment for cost of drain repair' or similar.
Or fight the entire cost and risk the BC being envoked. If LL does evict you, it will cost him:
* void period with no rent till new tenant found
* possible eviction costs
* markting costs to find new tenant
* possible costs to prepare property for re-marketing
etc
Not to mention the uncretainty of a new tenant who might be a nightmare, as opposed to you, who pay rent regularly and get repairs done when needed!
Is the LL really going to risk that for the sake of this small sum....? It's a gamble of course.0 -
So this clause means he gan legally backmail us - that seems fair! (not having a go at you!!!) 0
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No.So this clause means he gan legally backmail us - that seems fair! (not having a go at you!!!)
The clause means 2 things:
1) that the LL can end the tenancy early if he wishes to for any reason and
2) that the tenant can end the tenancy early if he wishes to for any reason
That seems fair!0 -
Ok - sorry - just trying to keep me, my wife and baby off of the street. Sorry for offending anyone 0
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Agree with everything that has been said but just in case.
Is this a break clause or an incorrectly written contract?
Your landlord cannot evict you before the first 6 months of your tenancy except for specific reasons.
See here:
https://www.gov.uk/tenancy-agreements-a-guide-for-landlords/ending-a-tenancy
So when did your tenancy begin and what exactly does this clause say?0 -
Ok - sorry - just trying to keep me, my wife and baby off of the street. Sorry for offending anyone
You are not offending anybody. I think there are two issues:
1) Is the landlord within their rights to serve you a months notice. Yes in line with the contract.
2) Does this mean they can evict you after one month. No. To evict you they will need to serve you two months via a S21 and then go to court, which will normally take another few months more before they can actually evict you.
If your family will be on the street after a month don't move out. If you have a family the council will also be under an obligation to find suitable accommodation for you. If you really feel that your family will be homeless contact the council at the earliest opportunity.0
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