Very strange tenant situation....

G_M

It's no different to a landdlord employing a letting agent tto collect rent. If the tenant pays the agent, then the rent has been paid and there are no arrears.

If the agent fails to pay the landlord, that is aa contractual matter between the LL & his agent.

The important thing for the OP is to have evidence that the rent was paid.

[Deleted User]

Wasn't there a similar thread to this a couple of months ago (might be three) where a HA was paid via a third party processing company and the HA were saying the payments hadn't been received? The OP was going through hell trying to prove where the payments had been lost and who by. Wonder if its the same company or HA?

csgohan4

time to find another property to rent, the LL is bad news

Naz2111

csgohan4 wrote: »

time to find another property to rent, the LL is bad news

The suspending of the utilities seems extremely passive-aggressive. The sort of thing you might expect from an amateur landlord, not a fairly big company.

G_M

Naz2111 wrote: »

The suspending of the utilities seems extremely [STRIKE]passive-[/STRIKE]aggressive. The sort of thing you might expect from an amateur landlord, not a fairly big company.

Indeed........

Annie35

A thread last month someone had their water cut off & they rang environment health who called the landlord same day. Might be worth doing that now, a telling off might get his leckie back on before end of day.

Naz2111

What made the landlord think they had the right to cut the water off?!

Annie35 wrote: »

A thread last month someone had their water cut off & they rang environment health who called the landlord same day. Might be worth doing that now, a telling off might get his leckie back on before end of day.

csgohan4

I hope your brother got their deposit protected, if not they can also sue for many times the amount.

Smodlet

Naz2111 wrote: »

What made the landlord think they had the right to cut the water off?!

No-one has the right to cut someone's water off, not even a water company. It is a criminal offence, as G_M stated. Energy companies can cut off fuel supplies but only after going to great lengths to find another resolution. No LL has the right to do so in law in the UK.

Correct me if I am wrong.

Murphybear

Naz2111 wrote: »

My brother has been renting a Build To Rent property for approximately two years. Build To Rent is where the property is built specifically for the private rental sector -- sort of like housing association but at market or above-market rent prices.

He's had no issues really for the first 20 months or so. However, the landlord has claimed that his two most recent rental payments didn't arrive. The rent for all tenants is paid by Direct Debit, using a 3rd party Direct Debit processing company. My brother's bank's confirmed that the two payments in question were remitted, and his bank statements reflect this. The Direct Debit processing company claims the payments either didn't remit at all or were reclaimed by the bank, so they've not forwarded the monies on to the landlord. The landlord force tenants to pay via this method, rather than by the standard Standing Order or bank transfer.

Thus, the landlord is claiming my brother is 2 months in arrears and they say they've begun "legal proceedings" against him. He actually made an overpayment that means even when you take into account this supposedly missing 2 months rent, he would only be 7 weeks behind, and not 8 weeks in arrears.

Heating, water, electricity and broadband internet are included in the rent. The landlord has now switched off the electricity, water, broadband and internet in my brother's home, due to these supposed arrears.

My question here is what is the situation legally? I had a quick chat with counsel at work and although she does not deal with property law, she did say that even if my brother was genuinely in arrears, he would need to be a full 8 weeks in arrears for the landlord to be able to get a mandatory eviction for rental arrears.

Also, can the landlord continue charging for gas, electricity, water and broadband given that they are not providing it?

I would be most grateful for any feedback and information anyone can provide. Thank you in advance.

I have just had a similar experience when the Ll turned off our water (see my posts). I went to Environmental Health and they acted very quickly. They read the LL the riot act and he turned the water back on. They have good powers and can act very quickly. They also confirmed that no matter how much money tenants owe their utilities cannot be cut off.

Interesting point though. EH said it was a criminal offence
Shelter said it was either a criminal offence or a civil offence, it was up to the police
The police (Devon and Cornwall on this occasion) said it was a civil offence and they could not deal with it.

Best of luck in getting it sorted