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My landlord is being vile
VintageBelle
Posts: 324 Forumite
Hi can anyone help with our rights. We've been asking the landlord for ages to sort some issues in our house. He is so laid back it takes him weeks normally to respond to texts and months to actually come round.
So anyway we have been having trouble opening and closing the front door due to a huge crack in the porch.
We believe he's been having financial issues and now he realises it's going to cost him a fair bit of money because he's left it all so long.
We've known the landlord all our lives and really liked him but he just completely turned on us.
We aren't houseproud in the sense that we don't dust everyday, we are a bit messy but it's a small house and not much storage. We aren't dirty but there is a bit of dust on some surfaces and bits and bobs around but it's lived in not a showhome.
He came round and had a go about everything! He said if we were anyone else he would have kicked us out.
He had a go at us because we had three plants on a window ledge not one. He asked why we had earrings on a coffee table (that belongs to us).
He blamed the mould problem on me because I don't air the room out enough (even though I've only just started closing the window now it's got cooler).
He told us where we should put furniture and that we should get rid of our freezer because it's in the way (whose way because we don't have an issue - how awful that we need to eat).
He moaned that we had a wine rack with bottles in. He complained that the window ledges need cleaning.
This is a house where water drips through the fan above the oven from the bath, the porch has a crack going all across it so you can see daylight through it, the roof has holes in, there's damp, the decking is rotting, lights hanging out the kitchen ceiling, paint bubbling because of damp, cracked bathroom window that is freezing in the winter and the top part won't shut to fully and the list goes on.
What rights do we have in a property in terms of the contents and how we display our furniture when no damage has been caused to the property itself? I feel like he's telling us how we should live.
Oh and he hasn't even been bothered to renew our lease.
I'm so angry that we're now looking to move.
So anyway we have been having trouble opening and closing the front door due to a huge crack in the porch.
We believe he's been having financial issues and now he realises it's going to cost him a fair bit of money because he's left it all so long.
We've known the landlord all our lives and really liked him but he just completely turned on us.
We aren't houseproud in the sense that we don't dust everyday, we are a bit messy but it's a small house and not much storage. We aren't dirty but there is a bit of dust on some surfaces and bits and bobs around but it's lived in not a showhome.
He came round and had a go about everything! He said if we were anyone else he would have kicked us out.
He had a go at us because we had three plants on a window ledge not one. He asked why we had earrings on a coffee table (that belongs to us).
He blamed the mould problem on me because I don't air the room out enough (even though I've only just started closing the window now it's got cooler).
He told us where we should put furniture and that we should get rid of our freezer because it's in the way (whose way because we don't have an issue - how awful that we need to eat).
He moaned that we had a wine rack with bottles in. He complained that the window ledges need cleaning.
This is a house where water drips through the fan above the oven from the bath, the porch has a crack going all across it so you can see daylight through it, the roof has holes in, there's damp, the decking is rotting, lights hanging out the kitchen ceiling, paint bubbling because of damp, cracked bathroom window that is freezing in the winter and the top part won't shut to fully and the list goes on.
What rights do we have in a property in terms of the contents and how we display our furniture when no damage has been caused to the property itself? I feel like he's telling us how we should live.
Oh and he hasn't even been bothered to renew our lease.
I'm so angry that we're now looking to move.
0
Comments
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Follow guidance here, including draft letter & how to involve council.
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/how_to_report_repairs_to_a_private_landlord
When did you 1st move in?
Don't worry about tenancy/lease not being renewed, it simply carries on, month by month, until you the tenant or a court end it.
Which country (NI, Wales...) are you in, please?0 -
theartfullodger wrote: »Follow guidance here, including draft letter & how to involve council.
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/how_to_report_repairs_to_a_private_landlord
When did you 1st move in?
Don't worry about tenancy/lease not being renewed, it simply carries on, month by month, until you the tenant or a court end it.
Which country (NI, Wales...) are you in, please?
I moved in, in January 16 but he was so lazy he couldn't be bothered to sort the tenancy agreement out until end of may (benefit was he didn't charge us rent until it was sorted as he couldn't). I'm in England.
It's sad that it has come to this but I think we are his scape goats due to his failings.0 -
If it's as bad as you say, I would be looking for somewhere else then giving notice to quit.
A good landlord wants to keep his tenants by looking after them and the property.0 -
Which country?
Stop texting. WRITE A LETTER to the address "for serving notice", politely but firmly listing the issues and asking for a timescale for repair.
If required, then go to Environmental Health.
Read:
* Repairing Obligations: the law, common misconceptions, reporting/enforcing, retaliatory eviction & the new tenant protection (2015)0 -
I also agree with previous posters, look at moving, you will find a landlord who isn't a d!ck.0
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Is your landlord doing everything officially?
Has he declared the rent you pay to HMRC?
Council tax?
Mortgage CTL?
Other landlord regulations etc?
I would just start by mentioning HMRC etc to him and see if his attitude changes at all...
(Don't actually tell HMRC - or you'll have lost your bargaining chip!)Selling off the UK's gold reserves at USD 276 per ounce was a really good idea, which I will not citicise in any way.0 -
Computer_Beginner wrote: »Is your landlord doing everything officially?
Has he declared the rent you pay to HMRC?
Council tax?
Mortgage CTL?
Other landlord regulations etc?
I would just start by mentioning HMRC etc to him and see if his attitude changes at all...
(Don't actually tell HMRC - or you'll have lost your bargaining chip!)
How would the OP know if the landlord was declaring the rental income to HMRC? (S)he doesn't and mentioning it to the landlord will only sour the relationship further so as far as bargaining chips go it's pretty poor. Ditto for CTL, it might never have been a residential mortgage requiring CTL, hell there might not even be a mortgage. Council tax will be the OP's responsibility unless the TA states otherwise which is unlikely.
There are things that the landlord should have done such as protecting the deposit (if there is one), supplying the OP with an EPC and How to Rent Book, checking the tenants have the right to rent, and annual gas safety certificates if there are gas appliances in the property. These things, or rather a lack of them, are really only of any use if the tenants want to fight a Section 21 notice to buy some more time or be a PITA.
If it repairs the OP wants done then following Artful's and G_M's advice is the way forward. Otherwise ProDave's advice to move is also good.0 -
Are you paying market rent or ‘mates rates’? This does not affect your rights but may help explain why the LL may be struggling to enact required repairs.
Also, slightly off the wall suggestion (and am sure I get battered for it) but you had 4/5 months rent free. If you can enact at least some the repairs for less than the rent you ordinarily would have paid in those months and it makes your life more comfortable – why not just do them yourself? You would not be out of pocket as you would have budgeted to spend this money out in rent.
Or of course leave. He does sound like a pita.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying let the LL off the hook, but at the end of the day you seem to be suffering day to day and some of the issues you describe are possibly quick cheap and easy to fix – leaking water from bath for example may simply be add new silicon.
Regarding the tenancy – I wouldn’t chase him on this, in my opinion you are in a better position in a rolling contract as you can leave with a months notice (I know he can also service you notice but that does not mean you would actually have to move out at that time anyway so it kinda works out for the tenant imo). Also if this is via a letting agency they would charge you to renew the tenancy.
YNWA
Target: Mortgage free by 58.0 -
In practical terms the tenancy can say what it likes about council tax responsibility but it cannot override legislation regarding who pays. Any attempt via a tenancy agreement to introduce extra clauses to try and shift who will pay are purely personal arrangements and don't affect the council's decision.Council tax will be the OP's responsibility unless the TA states otherwise which is unlikely.I no longer work in Council Tax Recovery but instead work as a specialist Council Tax paralegal assisting landlords and Council Tax payers with council tax disputes and valuation tribunals. My views are my own reading of the law and you should always check with the local authority in question.0 -
VintageBelle wrote: »Hi can anyone help with our rights. We've been asking the landlord for ages to sort some issues in our house. He is so laid back it takes him weeks normally to respond to texts and months to actually come round. - Why aren't you writing to him?
So anyway we have been having trouble opening and closing the front door due to a huge crack in the porch. - So report it, in writing (pen and paper) and send to the address for serving notice
We believe he's been having financial issues and now he realises it's going to cost him a fair bit of money because he's left it all so long. - Irrelevant.
We've known the landlord all our lives and really liked him but he just completely turned on us. - Irrelevant
We aren't houseproud in the sense that we don't dust everyday, we are a bit messy but it's a small house and not much storage. We aren't dirty but there is a bit of dust on some surfaces and bits and bobs around but it's lived in not a showhome. - Irrelevant, you can live as you want
He came round and had a go about everything! He said if we were anyone else he would have kicked us out. - Why didn't YOU kick HIM out?
He had a go at us because we had three plants on a window ledge not one. He asked why we had earrings on a coffee table (that belongs to us). - Irrelevant - tell him to leave
He blamed the mould problem on me because I don't air the room out enough (even though I've only just started closing the window now it's got cooler). - mould is usually (but obviously not always) down to lifestyle
He told us where we should put furniture and that we should get rid of our freezer because it's in the way (whose way because we don't have an issue - how awful that we need to eat). - Irrelevant - tell him to leave
He moaned that we had a wine rack with bottles in. He complained that the window ledges need cleaning. - Irrelevant - tell him to leave
This is a house where water drips through the fan above the oven from the bath, the porch has a crack going all across it so you can see daylight through it, the roof has holes in, there's damp, the decking is rotting, lights hanging out the kitchen ceiling, paint bubbling because of damp, cracked bathroom window that is freezing in the winter and the top part won't shut to fully and the list goes on. - Report it in writing
What rights do we have in a property in terms of the contents and how we display our furniture when no damage has been caused to the property itself? I feel like he's telling us how we should live. - You can do whatever you want, have 17 chairs, or a sex swing, or a slide. Its YOUR house
Oh and he hasn't even been bothered to renew our lease. - ??? Why would he or you want to do that?
I'm so angry that we're now looking to move.
Well that's up to you0
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