Problems with landlord

Cakeguts

Murphybear wrote: »

Help

We have just come back from the house. There were no problems and house was warm.

LL suddenly appeared and I don!!!8217;t wish to give details but things got really bad with shouting on both sides. When I tried to explain cutting off the water was harrassment which is a criminal offence he shouted over me and said it wasn!!!8217;t. He said he had checked with his solicitor and he was correct. The reason given was that it was a private supply that belonged to him and he could do what he liked.

When I spoke to Shelter they said that was irrelevant. I don!!!8217;t understand how he or his solicitor could say that him owning the water takes away the tenants legal rights


He eventually said he would turn the water back on after checking that were no leaks. Not sure how he could do this without turning the water back on.

Thanks again for reading, it makes me feel better to be able to post this

He needs a better solicitor. Preferably one that knows something about residential landlord and tenant law.

Have you contacted your local council housing department? They should have a department that deals with rogue landlords. Anyone who thinks it is alright to cut off a water supply is a rogue landlord.

[Deleted User]

My LL used to tell me I had to pay admin fees to enable him to pass the tenancy agreement he wrote (cobbled together attempt with many unfair unenforceable clauses) 'by his solicitor'. He also supposedly had the backing of the law when he told me to do things to the house (repairs) that were actually his responsibility (like repair the front door).

I knew he was talking from a dark area of his body but never did manage to get him to move from this position.

However you can, as what your LL is saying is so clearly wrong and his acts are illegal. As advised, contact environmental health, any private tenancy dept in your council.

pimento

Sorry to hear that, Murphybear.

You need to tell this idiot landlord's fortune if only so he doesn't do it to the next poor tenant.

pinklady21

Crikey. The o/p assessment that the landlord is an idiot is spot on. Farmers can be an odd bunch - round here there seem to be 2 extremes, the reasonable and business-like ones who behave properly, are helpful to their neighbours and will pass the time of day all pleasant like, and at the other end those who greet you at the door with a shotgun.
Sounds like this guy is at the latter end and you o/p will be happy to be rid of him when you move.
I doubt anything you say or do will change him one iota - best advice is not to allow his ridiculously unreasonable (and unlawful, no matter what he blusters) behaviour to rile you.
Try not to get upset when you speak to him, in my experience, being pleasant to the rude beggars of the world just winds them up even more! And that can be quite satisfying.....

Murphybear

JennyP wrote: »

So are you staying put in the hotel? I hope so as it sounded rather lovely!

The LL sounds awful. One of life's bullies I suspect and I am sorry you are going through this. Is your deposit protected properly in the scheme? I am worried you won't get it back if it isn't.

Is he letting it again once you leave? It shouldn't be allowed.

Hotel is great, just had lunch and it’s another spa session this afternoon. One of the landlords (there are 2, father and son, the idiot is the father) told OH that they were going to do some work on the house before resetting it. We live in a quiet area of rural Devon, don’t normally have the problems that the cities have. There’s always one ...

CurlySue2017

I will get absolutely blasted for this I am sure, but here goes.

Whilst I agree with all of the other posters that what he has done is completely wrong and am not defending it in any way, have you actually reported this to anyone official - as advised by the majority of the posters here?

Going off what you have posted, you seem to be very much enjoying the hotel stay, but not doing much else in official terms (going back to the house and arguing with the LL about it is not official).

I am unsure why because it is very serious.

What if he rents to someone else after you leave and does the same thing? They may not be able to afford the hotel down the road with the fancy spa.......

Red-Squirrel_2

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

Have you reported this to the police and the council or not?

I give up! :cool:

AdrianC

The more I think about this, the more I get an "I wonder..." pop into my head.

We're talking about this as if the potential frozen pipes and subsequent leakage, causing the cut-off, are in the OP's property. Yet it's now apparent that this is a private water supply, with the (required) treatment equipment in an outbuilding. It's not a hard stretch to realise the potential for problems is actually in that outbuilding.

There are a variety of hassles and inconveniences in living off the beaten track. This may be one of them, rather than a half-witted landlord trying to be awkward because of a misunderstanding.

Murphybear

Comms69 wrote: »

Have you actually reported him to the police?


The solicitors are unlikely to be experts in tenancy law.

Answer to this and some other comments

Agree with comments about solicitor, landlord/tenant law is specialist. We have a free legal advice line with both Which and RAC. The latter says they can deal with L/T issues. Haven’t reported him to the police, I’m a bit concerned they would just say it was a civil matter. I have spoken to Shelter at length, they said that cutting off the water was a criminal and civil offence and it was up to the local police to decide which.

I emailed Environmental Health yesterday and gave them the details. They contacted me within hours, almost unheard of so they obviously take it seriously. They asked for the LLs details which I sent with details of the issues. I did tell LL this but he brushed aside.

The tenancy deposit has been protected correctly. We will owe the LL about 6 weeks water and electric which we are happy to pay. I am going to ask the DPS to take it out of the deposit and I intend to bill the LL for one days equivalent rent for every day we’ve been without water. He’ll probably contest it but hey ho I’m prepared for a fight.

We’ve been renting for years, never had a problem before so I’m sure it’s not just us.

Annie35

[QUOTE=Murphybear;73952564

Update. I had an email from Environmental Health after only a few hours, asking for LLs contact details. I sent them all the details, they will talk to him. [/QUOTE]

Don't know why some posters are getting their knickers in a twist, Murphy said she'd contacted the council in post 5 & was talking to shelter in another post. Also how the LL acts to the next tenants is not her concern.

This is just 1 in a long sorry tale so I don't blame Murphybear for taking a Zen path for the next 2 weeks till they move out.. can you not get in your new place sooner?