Landlord wants more money

Jm90

Thing is I don't know whether he is back in the UK or not at the moment.
Don't think they will be very forthcoming with his details either.
I have got his father's phone number who lives local but I haven't contacted him as I know it isn't the done thing.
I'm going to let the estate agent know that I want everything done via email from now.
Thanks

Pixie5740

Firstly, the landlord or his agent cannot legally rock up to your home unannounced. They are legally required to give you at least 24 hours written notice they want to enter the property and there needs to be a bonafide reason for entering the property. Your tenancy agreement will probably have provision for access to carry out maintenance, repairs and inspections...check it. However, that doesn't mean the landlord can decide to give you weekly inspections because that would be unreasonable and interfere with your right to quiet enjoyment of the property. Harassment is a crime and if you feel the landlord or his agent is starting to harassment you can report it. The police aren't always great at dealing with landlord/tenant disputes so if you are being harassed you might want to get support from Shelter.

If you write to the letting agent requesting the landlord's contact details then they are legally required to provide those details within 21 days under the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985. I'm not sure why you want to contact the landlord though. You've decided to remain in the property until at least the end of your fixed term rather than take the landlord up on his oh so generous offer of £300 to surrender the tenancy early, what is there to discuss with the landlord on top of what you have communicated with his agent?

Jm90

Hi Pixie, I'm glad they can't just turn up, let's hope they don't.

I don't want to contact the landlord if I don't need too, however I just feel like maybe he is not being told the whole situation.
Like the tenancy length, maybe they told him I would pay 3 months upfront for the whole term. Who knows.

If I receive some kind of notice I wasn't sure if maybe talking to him direct would have been better as the estate agents just don't seem to have a clue.

brianposter

Do the estate agents really have nothing else to offer you ?

Jm90

Hi all, thought I would give a little update.

We have had a few more calls from the estate agent asking us to move by November.
They keep mentioning we only have a tenancy until February, as apparently my husband came in to change it.
We have categorically said that is not the case.

Another today, saying the landlord has asked them to forward a letter onto us, explaining the situation and will pay £800 for us to move.
I think their son has been diagnosed with autism, the reason she said for their return.

Again said we only had until Feb anyway, which we disagreed with and she said her copy of the tenancy prevails. Not sure how she works that out.

I've emailed before and have again stating I wish to receive everything in writing moving forward regarding this issue.

No, they have no other houses that suit our needs even if we did decide to go. However we don't want too/can't

They leave it weeks between contacting us so I assume they know legally they cannot get us out until the fix term ends.
She also said she doesn't want to be the bad guy, however surely she should be telling the landlord that they can't keep asking the same thing over and over again and dismissing the fact we have a 12 month tenancy.

AnotherJoe

I hope you have changed the locks..

G_M

In situations like this, often 'less is more' is a good policy.


Do and say as little as possible to avoid getting into a to/fro dispute, to avoid unecessary escalation, and to avoid saying anything wrong/compromising.


So.... why respond? You have a valid tenancy so no need to explain.


The locks? Yes, change them. There may be a 'do not change the locks' clause in the contract, in which case changing them would technically be a breach- but so what? The worst/most the LL/agent could do would be



* to seek a court order instructing you to change them back (which would never happen) or
* seek compensation for any loss incurred - but provided you re-install the original lock when you leave, what loss can the LL claim?

Comms69

If they’re offering £800; they’ll pay a lot more

Jm90

We only respond due to them phoning, as they call me then my husband. She seems to be eager for my husband to admit to the 6 month tenancy. So maybe the calls are recorded.

I'm going to look into getting the locks changed asap.

I've simply emailed today stating that we are not willing to move home, and out lined our reasons why, as Its mostly been said via phone we had no proof of what has been said.

Yes it's gone from £400/£800 in a few weeks so no doubt it'll go up but I just really don't have the energy to move house again. We have recently lost our business and husband has gone back into full time work, it's just another stress we don't need right now, and they just won't let it be.

AnotherJoe

Jm90 wrote: »

We only respond due to them phoning, as they call me then my husband. She seems to be eager for my husband to admit to the 6 month tenancy. So maybe the calls are recorded.

I'm going to look into getting the locks changed asap.

I've simply emailed today stating that we are not willing to move home, and out lined our reasons why, as Its mostly been said via phone we had no proof of what has been said.

Yes it's gone from £400/£800 in a few weeks so no doubt it'll go up but I just really don't have the energy to move house again. We have recently lost our business and husband has gone back into full time work, it's just another stress we don't need right now, and they just won't let it be.

You dont need to "look into it". You can go to Wickes or similar tomorrow or failing that pay maybe £150 or so for a locksmith to nip round and do it in 20 minutes (front and back door).

As said, retain the barrels.

You should have done this weeks back when you were first advised, to prevent a worst case situation when you turn up one day after being at work and find the LL in residence denying you entrance.
Yes you can go to police, court etc to get back in, claim damages, but do you really want to be doing that?