Colleague of Martin Lewis threatened to write about me in the paper

ceeme

unholyangel said:

Undervalued said:

ceeme said:

Update:

I responded to this landlords threat via email. This was 10 days ago and I have still not heard anything back. She has also not accepted my rent reduction proposal, like many rogue corporate landlords I’m reading about, and unlike my other 20+ landlords who have agreed.

 

The advice I have had from my legal team (my barrister and solicitor) is to now:

1. Complain to the Daily Mirror about her conduct

2. Make a claim against the landlord for harassment / intimidation  

3. For my legal team to write to Martin Lewis (as his name will be used in the court papers)

4. To write to the landlords bank as we are almost certain the landlord is committing mortgage fraud which could affect my rights as a tenant 

It is sad it has come to this, but it seems as though with some people you just cannot negotiate. 

If you are getting advice from a barrister and a solicitor what are you hoping to gain by posting here?

I'm guessing our reactions, as the OP is having us on. 

Doesn't have money for rent but has money not just for a solicitor, but a barrister too (who are typically engaged by your solicitor rather than you). Further to that, they've also recommended writing to martin because his name will be in the court papers! And the clincher, they're certain the landlords commiting fraud and should be reported to the bank but not the police (or via SAR). 

I'm calling storytime, I'm not sleepy yet. 

If you're looking at potential liquidation you need money 'on account' for insolvency practitioners and legal fees. 
You don't need a solicitor to hire a barrister. 
Yes, we will be writing to Martin Lewis as his name was used for intimidation, thus has a right to know.
This type of mortgage fraud isn't a criminal offence, so wouldn't report it to the police, you report to the bank. 

ceeme

Undervalued said:

ceeme said:

Update:

I responded to this landlords threat via email. This was 10 days ago and I have still not heard anything back. She has also not accepted my rent reduction proposal, like many rogue corporate landlords I’m reading about, and unlike my other 20+ landlords who have agreed.

 

The advice I have had from my legal team (my barrister and solicitor) is to now:

1. Complain to the Daily Mirror about her conduct

2. Make a claim against the landlord for harassment / intimidation  

3. For my legal team to write to Martin Lewis (as his name will be used in the court papers)

4. To write to the landlords bank as we are almost certain the landlord is committing mortgage fraud which could affect my rights as a tenant 

It is sad it has come to this, but it seems as though with some people you just cannot negotiate. 

If you are getting advice from a barrister and a solicitor what are you hoping to gain by posting here?

Just an update on the situation for those who are interested. Maybe it will even give some people hope who have also been threatened or intimidated by their landlord. If you're not interested no need to read. 

ceeme

Jeremy535897 said:

As no doubt you are aware, commercial landlords are asked to act reasonably and cannot evict for three months. See
https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-law/guides/coronavirus-landlord-advice

Thanks for that. It gets even more complicated for landlords if they have been threatening or trying to intimidate their tenants to pay. 

ceeme

I'm wondering; for all the people on here, especially those with thousands and thousands of previous posts and who are sticking up for this landlord, have also used the:
"I know Martin Lewis, if I don't get my way I will get him onto you"
tactic?

LABMAN

ceeme said:

I'm wondering; for all the people on here, especially those with thousands and thousands of previous posts and who are sticking up for this landlord, have also used the:
"I know Martin Lewis, if I don't get my way I will get him onto you"
tactic?

None of them and none of them would 'name drop' they had a barrister (of course you have) on the case when skint either .

warby68

If true, its clumsy but if you really are a business with 20 other landlords and close to failure, you really do have bigger things to worry about. If 19 out of 20 have agreed with you at first asking, you are doing very well don't you think? If you are a business of this size, why are you initimidated by a couple of sentences and not laughing it off? 

ceeme

warby68 said:

If true, its clumsy but if you really are a business with 20 other landlords and close to failure, you really do have bigger things to worry about. If 19 out of 20 have agreed with you at first asking, you are doing very well don't you think? If you are a business of this size, why are you initimidated by a couple of sentences and not laughing it off? 

Hi, thanks for your perspective and question. I am working 12-14 hours trying to keep my business alive. At the beginning of April I could of quite easily pulled the plug - leaving all of my landlords in a much worse off position I may add. Each landlord has a different personality and response, all of which need to be taken into account. 

The UK government is trying to safeguard small businesses "against aggressive debt recovery actions during the coronavirus pandemic" a threat and/or attempted intimidation could quite easily be argued as 'aggressive'. This is no laughing matter - for me anyway.  

Undervalued

ceeme said:

warby68 said:

If true, its clumsy but if you really are a business with 20 other landlords and close to failure, you really do have bigger things to worry about. If 19 out of 20 have agreed with you at first asking, you are doing very well don't you think? If you are a business of this size, why are you initimidated by a couple of sentences and not laughing it off? 

Hi, thanks for your perspective and question. I am working 12-14 hours trying to keep my business alive. At the beginning of April I could of quite easily pulled the plug - leaving all of my landlords in a much worse off position I may add. Each landlord has a different personality and response, all of which need to be taken into account. 

The UK government is trying to safeguard small businesses "against aggressive debt recovery actions during the coronavirus pandemic" a threat and/or attempted intimidation could quite easily be argued as 'aggressive'. This is no laughing matter - for me anyway.  

And each landlord is also a business (in some sense of the word) and presumably needs their business income just as much as any other.

warby68

ceeme said:

warby68 said:

If true, its clumsy but if you really are a business with 20 other landlords and close to failure, you really do have bigger things to worry about. If 19 out of 20 have agreed with you at first asking, you are doing very well don't you think? If you are a business of this size, why are you initimidated by a couple of sentences and not laughing it off? 

Hi, thanks for your perspective and question. I am working 12-14 hours trying to keep my business alive. At the beginning of April I could of quite easily pulled the plug - leaving all of my landlords in a much worse off position I may add. Each landlord has a different personality and response, all of which need to be taken into account. 

The UK government is trying to safeguard small businesses "against aggressive debt recovery actions during the coronavirus pandemic" a threat and/or attempted intimidation could quite easily be argued as 'aggressive'. This is no laughing matter - for me anyway.  

In business, you need broad shoulders and a thick skin so you keep focussed on the really important stuff. Those lines were not intimidating or threatening to me just someone trying to big themselves up in terms of connections to try and dissuade you from taking advantage, with a conciliatory line at the end. That's why I say laugh it off, if you are genuinely much more hard up than your landlord then any publicity from your  requested non-payment of rent will probably have sympathetic consequences for you and bad ones for the 'greedy' 'intimidating' landlord.

Its no time for long quests for righteous vengeance and putting people in their place - as you have already said its about survival.
I'd take 19 our of 20 good results as a really big win in the circumstances.

I have no idea how big the number is but I'm sure the number of times Martin Lewis has had his name quoted in an attempt to extract a favourable result runs into the thousands at least by now.

PixelPound

ceeme said:

Deleted_User said:

ceeme said:

I would assume you are correct. However, I am more interested in peoples opinions of a landlord using that as a threat. 

It doesn't really matter. It's not a real threat, it's just something someone has said in a stressful situation.

I wouldn't even give a second thought.

Yea I suppose if you're friends with Martin Lewis you can name drop him all you want. I guess he tells colleagues and friends people; "Any problems just tell them you know ME, then they'll pay, or we will slander them!" Very powerful. 

She clearly pointed out Martin Lewis is:
1. A consumer affairs expert 
2. Founder of Moneysavingexpert.com
3. Presenter on This Morning
4. Presenter on the Martin Lewis Money Show

What was the landlords intention of mentioning these four things if not to try and bully me to pay?

It can be read in different ways, however it is very unprofessional to be abusing their other positions to try and influence any decision you may make. Maybe write to the newspaper with a complaint because they are abusing their position, aiming to misuse it for financial gain (well avoid financial loss).

As to the real threat of it, it sounds like they are overstating their connections. They work as a large newspaper where someone well known works, that's all colleague is, it does not mean they have ever met, spoken, or exchanged emails. It dos not mean Martin Lewis would be able to pick them out of a crowd or pay any more attention to them when passing them in the street as he would to any other random person or even your or I.

It's like me saying:
As you may or may not know, I am a long standing member of the forum moneysavingexpert, who's founder is consumer affairs expert Martin Lewis, who is also presenter on This Morning and the Martin Lewis Money Show  ..... etc.

The fact that they had to put ".com" when speaking about moneysavingexpert is laughable as obviously they don't know much about it.

How about as a reply.
Thank you for pointing that out, as you may or may not know I am a member of the Moneysavingexpert.com forum, and they discuss many such issues, like consumer rights and people taking advantage of the Covid-19 situation. Martin Lewis, a presenter on This Morning and the Martin Lewis Money Show, columnist in the Sunday Mirror, and founder of the same forum I am a member of, often has taken issues raised in the forum and champions them. I'm sure he will be greatly interested in how landlords are unwilling to help financially struggling tenants during the Covid-19 crisis. In fact, I have raised this already and it is getting much attention. I have obviously left names out of it, however, as you and Martin are such close colleagues I can also mention you by name should he ask, but won't without your permission. Is it okay to mention your name, or can we come to an amicable understanding in these financially difficult times?