LL attempt to threaten and discredit

Spaceman450

Our LL has attempted to threaten, discredit and slander my family by telling friends and family and others that we have large debts rent areas. 

 We now wish to file a suit for extortion. As debt is a civil matter under the law. Any contact of your LL with any members of your family or friends or work colleges or neighbours or member of your congregation or anyone else may damage your character. No matter how inadvertent it can be grounds for a lawsuit. 

It’s too late to go back now. He has already done it and it has damaged my character 

We will not respond in anger to our LL but just mention we are arranging a counter suit against his legal team and will be bringing a suit against him.

anselld

Extortion (demand with menaces) is a criminal matter so you would need to persuade the Police you have sufficient evidence to take action.

Slander/defamation is a civil offence but expensive and difficult to prove.

It sound more like a case of harassment ...
https://www.gov.uk/private-renting-evictions/harassment-and-illegal-evictions
.. but difficult to tell without the detail.

benbay001

Surely if you cant afford your rent, you cant afford an expensive law suit.

eidand

Pay your rent ....

[Deleted User]

Do you owe rent or is it a complete falsehood?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6173177/tenancy-in-joint-names-questions#latest

So you do owe rent.  Your lawsuit will fail and the question as to how you will pay legal costs is very valid.  

JamoLew

Threaten is a case for the Police
Discredit - dont know
Slander - depends on whether what he is saying/proposes to say is true

tom9980

Do you have rent arrears? If no then maybe you have a chance. If yes then it is simply a fact so I cannot see it being harassment until you tell your landlord to stop.

Frankly I don't see that you have any chance of winning in court based on the limited amount you have told us.

The simplest way to deal with this is pay your rent.

Annisele

I don't see that an action for slander is going to help you in the slightest. They're extremely expensive to bring (IIRC they're a High Court only thing). And from your landlord's perspective, "truth" is a complete defence to a slander allegation. From your other post it sounds as though you haven't paid your rent, so a slander case would fail at the first hurdle.

You *might* get somewhere with the Information Commissioner's Office for a GDPR breach, if your landlord has been sharing your personal information with people he shouldn't have been. But that still won't remove your obligation to pay your rent.

Given you say your landlord already has a "legal team", that suggests he's well on his way to pursuing you for something - and I guess the something is unpaid rent. Talking to him about what you can pay is likely to be a far better use of your time than trying to find things you can counter sue him for.

Spaceman450

Annisele said:

I don't see that an action for slander is going to help you in the slightest. They're extremely expensive to bring (IIRC they're a High Court only thing). And from your landlord's perspective, "truth" is a complete defence to a slander allegation. From your other post it sounds as though you haven't paid your rent, so a slander case would fail at the first hurdle.

You *might* get somewhere with the Information Commissioner's Office for a GDPR breach, if your landlord has been sharing your personal information with people he shouldn't have been. But that still won't remove your obligation to pay your rent.

Given you say your landlord already has a "legal team", that suggests he's well on his way to pursuing you for something - and I guess the something is unpaid rent. Talking to him about what you can pay is likely to be a far better use of your time than trying to find things you can counter sue him for.

This is about what is right and wrong for me

i want justice 

[Deleted User]

And your landlord wants his rent.

Perhaps you could do a swap?

bouicca21

It is apparent from your other threads that you owe for rent and possibly have other debts since you were considering bankruptcy.  Taking on an expensive legal action with little to no chance of success would be bonkers.