landlord wants to do early inspection

liz545

nickismee wrote: »

well, not sure if i have done the right thing, but...
He called on monday and asked about the keys and inspection.. i told him he either has the keys and i pay no more rent, or we don't hand they keys in and i try to make rent.. he agreed to the later, oh great, lol. he then let let slip that he has been in to the house that day, so i asked him not to enter the house again without my permission.. he sounded a bit taken back by it but agreed. well, today we have a letter from the landlord about him saying he will enter the property when he wants to, and is going to start court procedings to reclaim unpaid rent (this month, although its been 5 days since i should have paid) and damages to the property.. so now if he is going to behave like this, why should i bother paying the rent!!! so, we are now being taken to court and i know for sure we will lose and will have to pay back the court costs on top of the rent and damages.. im on income support at the mo (second stage of maternity leave) so im not sure what i will be paying back monthly to him.
im going to ask him for a list and breakdown of what damages and how much he thinks they will cost, im not going to let him rip us off.

Well done for standing up to him; it can't have been easy and I'm sure it was really tempting to back down, but you've done the right thing. Just because he's threatened to take you to court it doesn't mean that he will actually do it. If you can, pay the arrears - can anyone in your family lend you the money? He does not have the right to enter the property without your permission, regardless of whether you're living there. If he intends to claim that the property is damaged he cannot do this until the end of the tenancy, so you have until this time to clean & make good any damage if you want. I'd suggest that you speak to Shelter, they're very helpful and their advice line is open until midnight, seven days a week (0808 800 4444 http://england.shelter.org.uk/advice/index.cfm)
You're doing the right thing - keep at it! :T

Loretta

nickismee wrote: »

well, not sure if i have done the right thing, but...

He called on monday and asked about the keys and inspection.. i told him he either has the keys and i pay no more rent, or we don't hand they keys in and i try to make rent.. he agreed to the later, oh great, lol.

he then let let slip that he has been in to the house that day, so i asked him not to enter the house again without my permission.. he sounded a bit taken back by it but agreed.

well, today we have a letter from the landlord about him saying he will enter the property when he wants to, and is going to start court procedings to reclaim unpaid rent (this month, although its been 5 days since i should have paid) and damages to the property.. so now if he is going to behave like this, why should i bother paying the rent!!!

so, we are now being taken to court and i know for sure we will lose and will have to pay back the court costs on top of the rent and damages.. im on income support at the mo (second stage of maternity leave) so im not sure what i will be paying back monthly to him.

im going to ask him for a list and breakdown of what damages and how much he thinks they will cost, im not going to let him rip us off.

If you paid no more rent from now on, if he did take you to court the deposit he is holding would pay the rent owed and you would counter claim for the return of the deposit and one would cancel out the other, hop that makes sense.

Court is supposed to be the last resort at the moment you don't really owe anything and 5 days is a bit out of order!! The judge would not be at all happy if he either threatened or started court proceedings at this stage.

You must speak to Shelter, a landlord harrassing a tenant is not just a nuisance it is a criminal offence and Shelter will help you sort this out. If you have all the information it is a lot less intimitating.

if you are pregnant or have just had the baby, the poweres that be would take a very dim view of your landlord behaviour I am sure

I would think that your landlord saying he will enter the property any time he wants to is harrassment and intimidation, as he has actually written this to you,well the man must be insane! I can't remember now, is this the landlord that is a policeman? if he is you really have him by the .....!! A combination of either pregnant/just had a baby a few tears and a visit to the police station with his letter in your hand would do wonders!!!

How does he know there is damage to the property? he hasn't done the check out yet!

I hate bullies but this one seems to have lost his marbles and seems to have no idea that he is breaking the law and in his particular case endangering his future employment

What an idiot!

Everyone advises that before you take someone to court for money, whether legit or not, the first thing you do is find out if they have any money to pay you if you win, a pregnant/new mother on income support? I don't think so!!

Get some help fast and get him good and proper, I would love to get my hands on him for 10 minutes!!

nickismee

I never thought of being a new mum could help.. i doubt i would use it to be honest, but it gave me a bit of a chuckle.. She is 6 months old now, so not such a newborn anymore..

I have been trying to get in touch with shelter but i always get the "sorry we are busy" message.

I have written a letter to him, which i will post off tomorrow.. will see what comes out of that.

Thank you for all your help, i really have needed the kick up the butt to get me motivated to stand up to him..