Urgent Help Required -could Be Homeless in 2 weeks due to landlord's lies

MoroFenrir

Urgent Help Required - Could Be Homeless in 2 Weeks due to Landlord lying .

WARNING - A LONG READ AHEAD.

• We have been privately renting for 8 years , and in our current home for 5 years, in this time we have never missed or been late on a single rent payment.

• We are DSS , due to my partner on ESA and we also have pets .

• Our current property has not been maintained by the landlord , it is (and has been for a long time ) in a poor state of disrepair , with longstanding issues of mould , damp and even mushrooms growing out of the walls . - At one point I got so ill I was taken to the hospital in an ambulance on oxygen.

• Our next door neighbours are horrendous , (same landlord) and have caused us nothing but grief for years .

• The next door neighbour is a woman, with two young children (Under 7 and Under 3 ) and her partner (Who is NOT on the tenancy , as confirmed by the landlord) is the one that causes all the trouble for us , even though technically he should not be living there.

• We have been trying for about 2 years now to find a house in a nice area, that is willing to accept both DSS & Pets , we've been very picky over the area, not wanting to make a frying pan into fire mistake and because of my partner's issues (Mental Health , Anxiety etc. not to go into personal details)

• We finally found a new house willing to accept us , we applied for it , payed £500 upfront for fees and checks etc... and old landlord has now turned round and given us a BAD reference , (Even though they previously gave a good reference in the past for a property we chose not to go for ) - The estate agents that we are applying through , cannot go into details due to data protection , but they asked me if I can think of any reasons why we would get a bad reference, and I said is it to do with the neighbours ? They said yes, but cannot tell me anymore due to data protection .

• My belief is that the next door neighbours may have been lying about us & the landlord does not want us to leave / is acting out of spite; the state the house is in currently (including it is meant to be being re-roofed as the roof is totally knackered ) whilever we've been in it , she's done the bare minimum that she can to maintain in , patching things up and slapping paint over the damp etc . it has gotten to the point now that when we do leave she will NOT be able to put anyone new in it , without doing serious works to it . I think she's giving us a bad reference out of spite / because she doesn't want us to leave as she knows she won't get anyone new in it without doing a lot of work .

• We have already given notice on our house , and are due to move into the new one on 30/09 and have to be out of this one by 11/10 .

• If we fail this check because of the landlord, we will have 2 weeks before we have to be out of this house , lose about £500 and never be able to privately rent again being DSS with pets and with failed references!

• Now the estate agents that are managing the new property are on our side , they've seen the photos of our house's condition , got the incident log from the police where we reported the neighbours behaviour etc, and are arguing our case to the new landlord, along with our offer of a sooner move in date (new landlord wanted the house rented asap ) and along with a substancially higher deposit for their peace of mind . They agree it sounds like an issue of spite from the current landlord, after all if we were such bad tenants, they would have thrown us out long ago !

What I need to know is , what can we do if ...



A .The new landlord turns us down because of the old landlord lying , and we lose £500 , become homeless and cannot find a new home due to bad references along with DSS & Pets.

B. If the new landlord accepts us , can we sue / make a claim for defamation of character against the old landlord ? Along with claims for Stress / and damages to property ? ( The landlord in the past had talked about claiming on her insurance for damages to our property due to the mould, but nothing ever came of it )

C. This is seriously affecting my partners mental health issues , and is causing serious problems and excaserbating her mental health conditions

student100

The "data protection" think is balls, if the information they are holding relates to you (it does) then you are entitled to see it. (Technically you may have to make a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act and they can charge you £10).

More pragmatically, can you get your current agents (if they are on your side as you suggest) to speak to your new agents and smooth things over?

Guest101

MoroFenrir wrote: »

Urgent Help Required - Could Be Homeless in 2 Weeks due to Landlord lying .

WARNING - A LONG READ AHEAD.

• We have been privately renting for 8 years , and in our current home for 5 years, in this time we have never missed or been late on a single rent payment. - Irrelevant.

• We are DSS , due to my partner on ESA and we also have pets . - DSS doesn't exist, but I presume you mean limited state supported income.

• Our current property has not been maintained by the landlord , it is (and has been for a long time ) in a poor state of disrepair , with longstanding issues of mould , damp and even mushrooms growing out of the walls . - At one point I got so ill I was taken to the hospital in an ambulance on oxygen. - Have you written to the LL about this?

• Our next door neighbours are horrendous , (same landlord) and have caused us nothing but grief for years . - Irrelevant. Council deal with that.

• The next door neighbour is a woman, with two young children (Under 7 and Under 3 ) and her partner (Who is NOT on the tenancy , as confirmed by the landlord) is the one that causes all the trouble for us , even though technically he should not be living there. - Incorrect. He can live there. Also LL shouldn't be discussing their tenancy with you.

• We have been trying for about 2 years now to find a house in a nice area, that is willing to accept both DSS & Pets , we've been very picky over the area, not wanting to make a frying pan into fire mistake and because of my partner's issues (Mental Health , Anxiety etc. not to go into personal details) - OK

• We finally found a new house willing to accept us , we applied for it , payed £500 upfront for fees and checks etc... and old landlord has now turned round and given us a BAD reference , (Even though they previously gave a good reference in the past for a property we chose not to go for ) - The estate agents that we are applying through , cannot go into details due to data protection - Rubbish. Its a reference about you and if there are lies in it you are entitled to take civil action. Data protection does not apply as it is information held about you! , but they asked me if I can think of any reasons why we would get a bad reference, and I said is it to do with the neighbours ? They said yes, but cannot tell me anymore due to data protection . - That's rubbish. Ask the EA to tell you which section of the DPA prevents them sharing it, also make a Subject Access Request. £10.

• My belief is that the next door neighbours may have been lying about us & the landlord does not want us to leave / is acting out of spite; the state the house is in currently (including it is meant to be being re-roofed as the roof is totally knackered ) whilever we've been in it , she's done the bare minimum that she can to maintain in , patching things up and slapping paint over the damp etc . it has gotten to the point now that when we do leave she will NOT be able to put anyone new in it , without doing serious works to it . I think she's giving us a bad reference out of spite / because she doesn't want us to leave as she knows she won't get anyone new in it without doing a lot of work . - You need to see the reference, as above.

• We have already given notice on our house , and are due to move into the new one on 30/09 and have to be out of this one by 11/10 . - How much notice, was it given correctly? - presumably one month in line with rental period?

• If we fail this check because of the landlord, we will have 2 weeks before we have to be out of this house , lose about £500 and never be able to privately rent again being DSS with pets and with failed references! - Then you sue the LL, if they lied.

• Now the estate agents that are managing the new property are on our side , they've seen the photos of our house's condition , got the incident log from the police where we reported the neighbours behaviour etc, and are arguing our case to the new landlord, along with our offer of a sooner move in date (new landlord wanted the house rented asap ) and along with a substancially higher deposit for their peace of mind . They agree it sounds like an issue of spite from the current landlord, after all if we were such bad tenants, they would have thrown us out long ago ! - Ok.

What I need to know is , what can we do if ...



A .The new landlord turns us down because of the old landlord lying , and we lose £500 , become homeless and cannot find a new home due to bad references along with DSS & Pets. - Go to the council and possibly sue ex LL.

B. If the new landlord accepts us , can we sue / make a claim for defamation of character against the old landlord ? Along with claims for Stress / and damages to property ? ( The landlord in the past had talked about claiming on her insurance for damages to our property due to the mould, but nothing ever came of it ) - Possibly, depends if she lied or not

C. This is seriously affecting my partners mental health issues , and is causing serious problems and excaserbating her mental health conditions

C. Doesn't have a question attached, but either way it's unlikely to have any claim.

MoroFenrir

student100 wrote: »

The "data protection" think is balls, if the information they are holding relates to you (it does) then you are entitled to see it. (Technically you may have to make a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act and they can charge you £10).

More pragmatically, can you get your current agents (if they are on your side as you suggest) to speak to your new agents and smooth things over?

Sorry , let me be more specific.

In our currnet property , we deal directly with the landlord, and they are the ones that have give us a bad reference.

The Estate agents (who are managing the new property for the new landlord , and sorting out references etc) are on our side , and are fighting our case to the new landlord , showing them all the evidence etc and giving them our offer of a quicker moving date, and higher deposit .

missbiggles1

Obviously I hope you achieve your desired result and move successfully but I don't see how you're likely to be homeless if your LL is lying because she wants to keep you as tenants.

MoroFenrir

Guest101 wrote: »

We have been privately renting for 8 years "Snip" - Irrelevant. - Simply posted for an example of character .

• We are DSS , due to my partner on ESA and we also have pets . - DSS doesn't exist "Snip" - Just used as background to show how it's been difficult for us to find somewhere new .
  

• Our current property has not been maintained by the landlord , it is (and has been for a long time ) in a poor state of disrepair , with longstanding issues of mould , damp and even mushrooms growing out of the walls . - At one point I got so ill I was taken to the hospital in an ambulance on oxygen. - Have you written to the LL about this? - I have phoned , text and emailed the landlord. I still have copies of the emails sent, along with the attached photos. She is NOTORIOUSLY difficult to get hold of , and owns a number of properties (She owns all in my culdesac along with most of the next street for example.... along with many more , all very similar old properties, not in great condition.
  

• Our next door neighbours are horrendous , (same landlord) and have caused us nothing but grief for years . - Irrelevant. Council deal with that. - We have spoke to council and landlord, council are not very helpful , just seem to get bounced from one person to another, council say talk to police, police say call landlord, landlord says call council etc .
  

• The next door neighbour is a woman, with two young children (Under 7 and Under 3 ) and her partner (Who is NOT on the tenancy , as confirmed by the landlord) is the one that causes all the trouble for us , even though technically he should not be living there. - Incorrect. He can live there. Also LL shouldn't be discussing their tenancy with you. - That may be so , and makes me wonder what things she has told the neighbours about us , that she shouldn't have.
  

• We have been trying for about 2 years now to find a house in a nice area, that is willing to accept both DSS & Pets , we've been very picky over the area, not wanting to make a frying pan into fire mistake and because of my partner's issues (Mental Health , Anxiety etc. not to go into personal details) - OK

• We finally found a new house willing to accept us , we applied for it , payed £500 upfront for fees and checks etc... and old landlord has now turned round and given us a BAD reference , (Even though they previously gave a good reference in the past for a property we chose not to go for ) - The estate agents that we are applying through , cannot go into details due to data protection - Rubbish. Its a reference about you and if there are lies in it you are entitled to take civil action. Data protection does not apply as it is information held about you! , but they asked me if I can think of any reasons why we would get a bad reference, and I said is it to do with the neighbours ? They said yes, but cannot tell me anymore due to data protection . - That's rubbish. Ask the EA to tell you which section of the DPA prevents them sharing it, also make a Subject Access Request. £10.

Thank you , that's very helpful , we don't want to do anything to annoy the estate agents at present, or "get their backs up" but if we do not get this tenancy, then we will do that . Thank You

• My belief is that the next door neighbours may have been lying about us & the landlord does not want us to leave / is acting out of spite;"Snip" You need to see the reference, as above.

• We have already given notice on our house , and are due to move into the new one on 30/09 and have to be out of this one by 11/10 . - How much notice, was it given correctly? - presumably one month in line with rental period? - I called the landlord , told her that I was giving my notice and asked if she would like it through post or email and she said that email was fine , it was 4 weeks notice .
  

• If we fail this check because of the landlord, we will have 2 weeks before we have to be out of this house , lose about £500 and never be able to privately rent again being DSS with pets and with failed references! - Then you sue the LL, if they lied. - Thank You , can this be done no win , no fee style and how is the best way to go about it / prove it ? We have photos of the damage . disrepair, a photo of our neighbour mockingly waving at our security camera, a police incident no, etc.
  

• Now the estate agents that are managing the new property are on our side ,"snip" They agree it sounds like an issue of spite from the current landlord, after all if we were such bad tenants, they would have thrown us out long ago ! - Ok.

What I need to know is , what can we do if ...



A .The new landlord turns us down because of the old landlord lying , and we lose £500 , become homeless and cannot find a new home due to bad references along with DSS & Pets. - Go to the council and possibly sue ex LL. - Do you mean go to the council for emergency housing ?

B. If the new landlord accepts us , can we sue / make a claim for defamation of character against the old landlord ? Along with claims for Stress / and damages to property ? ( The landlord in the past had talked about claiming on her insurance for damages to our property due to the mould, but nothing ever came of it ) - Possibly, depends if she lied or not - As above, what do we do and how do we prove it ?

C. This is seriously affecting my partners mental health issues , and is causing serious problems and excaserbating her mental health conditions


Doesn't have a question attached, but either way it's unlikely to have any claim. - Thank You

Thank you for your reply , and the information

LEJC

Are you able to meet with the new LL so he can get to know you....ultimately it's that persons decision whether they rent their property to you...
A reference is just one persons opinion of you. The final decision lies with your new LL to offer you the house or not

MoroFenrir

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Obviously I hope you achieve your desired result and move successfully but I don't see how you're likely to be homeless if your LL is lying because she wants to keep you as tenants.

I Wouldn't stay here if you paid me , not after everything ,

Maybe a bad choice of words , I mean she's acting out of spite because she wanted (past tense) to keep us tenants, and is now mad that we're leaving and she will have to do all this work

MoroFenrir

LEJC wrote: »

Are you able to meet with the new LL so he can get to know you....ultimately it's that persons decision whether they rent their property to you...
A reference is just one persons opinion of you. The final decision lies with your new LL to offer you the house or not

I don't think thats a possibillity , however having spoken to the new estate agents they are optimistic, so far the landlord has said it should be ok with all the info we have provided, and the extra deposit ,she just wants to check with her husband when he gets in .

Unlike our current landlord who has a large number of properties that she "manages" herself , the new landlord is a married couple , with just the one house that the estate agents manage for them , and are looking for a long term tenant .

Estate agents even said they're really good with maintenance and repairs etc , one of the first things we asked them on viewing due to the problems that we have had here .

Guest101

Until you know what the reference says there's no point considering court action.


e.g.: my tenants next door have informed me they have had difficulties with these people - totally accurate statement, so you cant sue.


Also Council and Police are both incorrect, both have various legal responsibilities.


4 weeks notice may be incorrect, do you rent weekly or monthly?


Email and text and phone are not great, you should always write, paper and pen, to the address for the purpose of serving notice.


You cant sue your LL for neighbours behaviour on this occasion.

LEJC

MoroFenrir wrote: »

I don't think thats a possibillity , however having spoken to the new estate agents they are optimistic, so far the landlord has said it should be ok with all the info we have provided, and the extra deposit ,she just wants to check with her husband when he gets in .

Unlike our current landlord who has a large number of properties that she "manages" herself , the new landlord is a married couple , with just the one house that the estate agents manage for them , and are looking for a long term tenant .

Estate agents even said they're really good with maintenance and repairs etc , one of the first things we asked them on viewing due to the problems that we have had here .

Then that sounds reasonably positive for you....I hope it works out for you and you are matched with a LL whom you feel more comfortable with going forward.

If it were me I would concentrate on the posatives of moving forward to hopefully something where you have a better understanding and relationship with new LL's rather than looking back in anger on what has gone before

Good luck