Renting a room - Unreasonable Landlady

Zarino

Hello,

I've been renting a room for the past few months. It's in a flat with just myself and the landlady.

Lately things have become tense between us and today I asked her not to go in my room without my permission and she said that it was her room and she could do what she wanted.

As you can imagine things blew up pretty quickly and I suggested that she give my months rent back (which I literally just paid) and I leave in the morning. She refused, saying that she's keeping the money and if I don't like it I can go.

My options now are to leave, allowing her to keep the full months rent, or I could stay the month living in a very tense environment. This woman is extremely unreasonable and treats me like her son as apposed to her lodger and has made herself very clear that she will not change her behaviour towards me.

There was no contract between us so I don't have any legal angle, what should I do?

Pete9501

Look for somewhere new in a months time.

G_M

Have you also paid a deposit?

Do you have somewhere to go?

If there is no written contract, and you pay rent monthly, it is likely a court (if it came to that) would require you to give a months notice (or cash in lieu).

The court might alternatively require a weeks notice in which case she'd owe you 3 weeks.

Only way to find out is to sue her and go to court.

Other options:

1) leave, write off the rent, grit your teeth and move on older and wiser
2) give notice and stay, but make life as miserable for her as she's making it for you. Turn up the heating, leave windows open. Forget to shut the front door, turn up the music, etc


Just be careful not to cause damage as that could make things worse for you.....

booksurr

either stay for the month you have paid for, or leave and write off your payment

you have no other choices. It IS her property and she has every right to enter your room when she wants to - that is the very definition of the difference between a lodger (ie. your status) and a tenant (not your status)

stardust09

I really feel for you. She sounds very similar to a landlady I had many years ago. Things came to a head and I gave her a month's notice but actually moved out the following week as I couldn't live in such a hostile and horrible environment.

I wrote off the three week's rent - we had a verbal agreement which was a grey area in the law (no deposit, luckily!) - and got out of there. She locked me in the house on my moving day until I'd given her a cheque to cover my remaining rent and then said, "It had better not bounce!" To put this into context, I'd been the perfect lodger up until then - which she'd told me on several occasions!

After I moved, I had a phone call from her a few days later asking me if I'd accidentally taken an extension lead with me and asking me to return it. It was one of those one metre ones which you could pick up for about £3 in Argos. That's how petty she was!!!! I got the last laugh as her treatment of me meant the other lodger also reached the end of his tether and moved out (she tried to increase his rent to compensate for me leaving). That was 2-3 months after I'd gone and in that time she hadn't managed to find someone else to rent my old room so was increasingly out of pocket. Oh, sweet karma...

I hope you find a much nicer place to live next time. I'm never going to lodge again - at least in a houseshare, nobody has sole ownership. Good luck!

Old_Git

Zarino wrote: »

Hello,

I've been renting a room for the past few months. It's in a flat with just myself and the landlady.

Lately things have become tense between us and today I asked her not to go in my room without my permission and she said that it was her room and she could do what she wanted.

As you can imagine things blew up pretty quickly and I suggested that she give my months rent back (which I literally just paid) and I leave in the morning. She refused, saying that she's keeping the money and if I don't like it I can go.

My options now are to leave, allowing her to keep the full months rent, or I could stay the month living in a very tense environment. This woman is extremely unreasonable and treats me like her son as apposed to her lodger and has made herself very clear that she will not change her behaviour towards me.

There was no contract between us so I don't have any legal angle, what should I do?

does she enter the room when you are there or not there .

gazter

stardust09 wrote: »

I really feel for you. She sounds very similar to a landlady I had many years ago. Things came to a head and I gave her a month's notice but actually moved out the following week as I couldn't live in such a hostile and horrible environment.

I wrote off the three week's rent - we had a verbal agreement which was a grey area in the law (no deposit, luckily!) - and got out of there. She locked me in the house on my moving day until I'd given her a cheque to cover my remaining rent and then said, "It had better not bounce!" To put this into context, I'd been the perfect lodger up until then - which she'd told me on several occasions!

After I moved, I had a phone call from her a few days later asking me if I'd accidentally taken an extension lead with me and asking me to return it. It was one of those one metre ones which you could pick up for about £3 in Argos. That's how petty she was!!!! I got the last laugh as her treatment of me meant the other lodger also reached the end of his tether and moved out (she tried to increase his rent to compensate for me leaving). That was 2-3 months after I'd gone and in that time she hadn't managed to find someone else to rent my old room so was increasingly out of pocket. Oh, sweet karma...

I hope you find a much nicer place to live next time. I'm never going to lodge again - at least in a houseshare, nobody has sole ownership. Good luck!

Don't let a bad experience put you off. We let out to lodgers. People who we now consider friends. One moved out a few weeks ago and came round for coffee today. At Christmas he had dinner with us. our other lodger shared our easter dinner with us, and we try to make anyone feel part of the home.

fairy_lights

How do you know she was entering your room? what has she been doing in there?

sniggings

the LL has a right to go into your room, I suggest if you go for another lodger situation get the LL to agree not to enter your room, if they were to tho, I'm afraid they still have a right to so nothing you could do.

I'm guessing there is more to this than just that tho, so if I were you I would look for somewhere else, might take you the month anyway.

Hard to get the rent back now.

dacouch

Old_Git wrote: »

does she enter the room when you are there or not there .

Is it like the Danny Dyer scene in Human Traffic?

A nice cup of tea waiting for you...

pinkshoes

Why not go in her room if that's her policy? Tell her you didn't realise your rent was for the whole house, not just your room!

If she doesn't like it, then suggest that she returns your rent and you will move out.

lodgers have less rights than tenants.