How to tell if a flat is council or ex-council?

Angelicdevil

Can you look after her valuables in the meantime, so at least they can't go missing or anything?

Haideez

Yes that's not a bad idea, if he hasn't done it today while we are at work!

[Deleted User]

While the £200 deposit is not insignificant. its less than I thought. There is a risk that it could escalate things if she doesn't pay rent. If she does, get a receipt. This might make it more difficult for the 'landlord' to throw her out right now. Even the police would refuse to help if she has paid money for rent and they'd probably force him to repay the rent, which I doubt he will want to do.

If he won't give a receipt, then she shouldn't pay. But she needs to be aware and make back up arrangments for her and her mother. To be honest, if the 'landlord' is being like this, I'm surprised she thought it would be a good idea to have her mother visit and stay with her.

It might be that having her mother stay with her, didn't really help the situation if she is renting a room. It doesn't take much if the 'LL' is on the iffy side.

Its not just valuables she needs to have removed from the room, anything she can't afford to lose if he tossed out her things while she's at work etc need to be somewhere else I'm afraid.

I'm afraid its not the present 'landlord' who would 'face crap' except for losing his place of residence, its whoever rented the place to him who will face legal problems. And it will probably happen with enough time for the present LL to find somewhere else to live. However, the borough will get the property back and be able to rent it to a legal tenant who's probably been waiting years.

Haideez

Thanks again for your feedback deannartrois, it's much appreciated. She rented the place specifically because it had a lift (for accessibility) and a spare bedroom so her mother could visit. Those two things in combination are hard to find in central London. Also the 'landlord' has always been a bit overbearing but in a way that could be interpreted as just him being eccentric. He only got truly nasty once they had the dispute about leaving dates, which was after my girlfriend's mother had already arrived.

When he told her recently she needed to move out he said 'sometime in April', but she had until the end of April if needed. Now she has told him she wants to move out on the 9th of April he is saying he wants her to pay for the whole of April and that is why he will keep the deposit.

She has always paid him via net banking so the receipt would be her print out of the transaction to his account.

As for the repercussions for the 'landlord', I would be happy if they were unable to do this to any other unsuspecting tenants and were kicked out of the flat so it could go to someone who actually needed it and wasn't going to use it for their own gain.