Landlord Gave Bad Reference

Brum2307

Hello,
I moved into a rented property in June 2017. The letting agent said they would action the standing order form that I had completed in branch for the rent to come out of my account. They forgot to complete this and the rent never came out of my bank account. In Dec 2017 I was the one that realised the rent had not been coming out of my account. I immediately contacted the letting agent and landlord who all confirmed that yes it had not been paid since I moved in. I settled the arrears and it was all sorted immediately. The landlord and letting agent both agreed that it was failings on all parts, landlord and myself for not realising and the letting agent accepted responsibility for not actioning the standing order request. At the time the landlord was thankful that I had noticed the error and been honest and cleared the arrears. The landlord allowed my tenancy to be extended and currently to date I have now been in the property for 3.5years and always made full monthly rent payments since. Recently I applied for a new property to move to. I needed my landlord to provide a reference for me. He told me that I would need to put in writing my intention to leave and the date I would move out and then he can complete the reference. He completed the reference but put that I was a bad tenant and that I did not pay rent on time!! I have gone above and beyond with this property, given it a full re paint, carpet cleaned, freshened the property up. I made the landlord aware of all maintenance issues as soon as I noticed them and even arranged for workmen to fix issues when the landlord asked me to and to knock the cost off next months rent. The boiler has broken 5 times since I moved in. I have been left without hot water/heating for more than 2 weeks at a time when the boiler has broken in winter. I asked the landlord why he gave me a bad reference and his response was that I had not paid rent when I had first moved in and that I had been in arrears. I explained to him that it was 3.5 years ago and that I had immediately paid it off and that it was me that realised the rent had not been paid and I dealt with it honestly. I also explained to him that I still had all the email communications from when this happened between myself, landlord and letting agent and that the landlord and letting agent had both agreed it was due to failings on all our parts not just my fault. How can the landlord give me a bad reference because of this when it was agreed it was not solely my fault at the time? The landlord attempted to get in touch with the reference company to change the reference to a good reference but they would not accept it as the decision had already been made by the new landlady not to accept me due to my landlord giving me the initial bad reference. As I had given my landlord my notice to leave he has now said that I can stay in this property so I have somewhere to live but I would need to sign a new 6 month contract!! How on earth can he give a bad reference saying I am not a good tenant and that I do not pay rent on time, this resulted in me not getting the new property to then saying I can stay living here under a new 6 month contract?? Surely if I was as bad as he has made out in the reference then he would not allow me to stay here and be glad to see the back of me!  He had already allowed me to stay living here for 3 years after the issue where rent hadn't been coming out of my bank account. I feel that he has deliberately given me a bad reference that is simply not true. He has given a false representation of me. He cannot answer why he thinks I am not a good tennant. Can I get some legal advice for this? He gave me a bad reference but then attempted to change it with the reference company to a good reference, he has told me that he will not make it hard now for me to move out and will give me a good reference if I want to move out again. This says to me that the initial bad reference he gave was untrue, can I complain anywhere about him giving a false reference? defamation?  

yllop1101

This needs paragraphs or it won't be read! 

[Deleted User]

Reference
Q1. Did Brum2307 always pay rent on time
A1. No
The end

zagubov

Brum2307 said:

Hello,
I moved into a rented property in June 2017. The letting agent said they would action the standing order form that I had completed in branch for the rent to come out of my account. They forgot to complete this and the rent never came out of my bank account.

In Dec 2017 I was the one that realised the rent had not been coming out of my account. I immediately contacted the letting agent and landlord who all confirmed that yes it had not been paid since I moved in. I settled the arrears and it was all sorted immediately.

The landlord and letting agent both agreed that it was failings on all parts, landlord and myself for not realising and the letting agent accepted responsibility for not actioning the standing order request. At the time the landlord was thankful that I had noticed the error and been honest and cleared the arrears.

The landlord allowed my tenancy to be extended and currently to date I have now been in the property for 3.5years and always made full monthly rent payments since. Recently I applied for a new property to move to. I needed my landlord to provide a reference for me.

He told me that I would need to put in writing my intention to leave and the date I would move out and then he can complete the reference. He completed the reference but put that I was a bad tenant and that I did not pay rent on time!! I have gone above and beyond with this property, given it a full re paint, carpet cleaned, freshened the property up.

I made the landlord aware of all maintenance issues as soon as I noticed them and even arranged for workmen to fix issues when the landlord asked me to and to knock the cost off next months rent. The boiler has broken 5 times since I moved in.

I have been left without hot water/heating for more than 2 weeks at a time when the boiler has broken in winter. I asked the landlord why he gave me a bad reference and his response was that I had not paid rent when I had first moved in and that I had been in arrears.

I explained to him that it was 3.5 years ago and that I had immediately paid it off and that it was me that realised the rent had not been paid and I dealt with it honestly. I also explained to him that I still had all the email communications from when this happened between myself, landlord and letting agent and that the landlord and letting agent had both agreed it was due to failings on all our parts not just my fault.

How can the landlord give me a bad reference because of this when it was agreed it was not solely my fault at the time? The landlord attempted to get in touch with the reference company to change the reference to a good reference but they would not accept it as the decision had already been made by the new landlady not to accept me due to my landlord giving me the initial bad reference.

As I had given my landlord my notice to leave he has now said that I can stay in this property so I have somewhere to live but I would need to sign a new 6 month contract!! How on earth can he give a bad reference saying I am not a good tenant and that I do not pay rent on time, this resulted in me not getting the new property to then saying I can stay living here under a new 6 month contract??

Surely if I was as bad as he has made out in the reference then he would not allow me to stay here and be glad to see the back of me!  He had already allowed me to stay living here for 3 years after the issue where rent hadn't been coming out of my bank account. I feel that he has deliberately given me a bad reference that is simply not true. He has given a false representation of me.

He cannot answer why he thinks I am not a good tennant. Can I get some legal advice for this? He gave me a bad reference but then attempted to change it with the reference company to a good reference, he has told me that he will not make it hard now for me to move out and will give me a good reference if I want to move out again.

This says to me that the initial bad reference he gave was untrue, can I complain anywhere about him giving a false reference? defamation?  

Broke it into chunks a human being might be able to read

anselld

As stated above.  Reference requests are very simple questions, they don't usually ask for any details.  So any honest answer to "has rent always been paid on time" or "has the tenant ever been in arrears" is going to be taken as a bad reference.

AdrianC

"False reference"? Seems to be a perfectly honest, factual reference to me.
You moved in in the June. No rent was paid until the December.

The whys, wherefores, and who-to-blames are all totally separate from that simple accurate statement of the historical reality.

As an aside, rent is most people's single largest outgoing. I'm surprised if you genuinely didn't notice it wasn't going out for half a year. Have you asked yourself what else you may have missed in your personal finances, if you check your bank account so infrequently? Fraud, errors, missing payments that were due in? And, yes, I am equally surprised that both the agent and the landlord were so lax, too - all it would have taken was any one of the three of you to be even vaguely on top of matters for this not to occur.

As far as your ongoing tenancy is concerned, he does not have to agree to you signing a new tenancy. You voluntarily terminated your previous tenancy. If you stay in occupation after the expiry of notice that you've given, he would be within his rights to charge you double rent until such time as you vacate.

Whether the landlord fulfilled his repair obligations in a timely fashion or not is a completely separate question.

ic

Take him to court, probably lose on the grounds he answered truthfully and faithfully.  It'll be expensive and stressful, and most likely pointless, plus you'll probably find yourself receiving a notice to vacate.

Brum2307

At the time I moved into the property I still had my mortgaged house payment coming out of my account which was for exactly the same amount £800 each month. I was going through a divorce, plus a total change of city where I am now living. I had all my current utilities plus utilities from my mortgaged house. At the time I had a hell of a lot going on. The first months rent was paid on the day I collected the keys. I completed correctly the standing order bank form in branch and the letting agent told me they will take care of all that. I moved in, genuinely did not notice that the rent was not coming out. Not sure if it was because I could see £800 coming out for my mortgage and that had all I had been used to, I don't know. One day in December I sat  down and worked out all my incomings and outgoings. It was that point I realised there was no standing order on my bank account and rent had not been paid. I immediately informed the letting agent and landlord to make them aware and it was settled. The landlord was thankful I had noticed and also that I had paid the arrears. He allowed me to sign a new 6month contract. There were no further issues since then. I was then allowed to do a rolling month by month contract and 3.5 years down the line I am still here in his apartment. I cannot believe that the letting agent and landlord didnt notice rent wasn't being paid either!  The standing order was never actioned. I could totally understand if I had intentionally refused to pay rent or cancelled a standing order or done a runner when I realised rent had not been paid but I was honest, made them aware, paid it off with no problems. Plus the fact that there have been no further problems at all in the past 3 years since. 

The landlord cannot explain at all why he put that I was a bad tennant. I have asked for this in writing. The letting agent have provided me with a letter to support my case by explaining the the issue regarding non payment of rent was not just my fault, it was agreed at the time it was failings on all 3 parts. I have kept every email, txt, watts app message, everything since I moved in that proves I have gone above and beyond with the upkeep of the property, maintenance issues dealt with, fully re painted the property in the same colour. Its like a show home. I advised the landlord that I have kept copies of all communications since moving into the property. I have been informed that I should have a gas/boiler inspection every year and this has never been done in the 3.5 years I have lived here. The boiler has broken down 5 times. The landlord takes ages to respond to maintenance issues, often telling me to sort it and just take it off next months rent. I have been left with no heating/hot water 5 times through winters often 2 weeks plus. 

The landlord has admitted in black and white that he attempted to contact the reference company to get them to change the bad reference to a good reference as he finally realised/admitted that it wasn't just all my fault why rent was not paid 3.5 years ago. He has assured me that he will now not make it dificult for me to move out of the property and if I apply for future properties then he will happily give me a good reference. However in the mean time if I want to stay living here then he is happy for draft up a new 6 month contract for me to sign!! So he gives me a bad reference making out that I am a bad tenant and do not pay rent so I was unsuccessful getting my new property however he is happy for me to still live in his property?! It just doesn't add up. It very much feels like its been calculated and he used that one incident that was not fully my fault from 3.5years ago to give me a bad reference to then try and get me to stay in his property under a new 6month contract so he didn't have an empty property. 

Indigo_and_Violet

Obviously it's been upsetting for you to lose the opportunity to make the move you wanted. I'd be upset too. Assuming that place has now been rented to someone else it's too late to change the past. I assume you are now in your notice period at your current flat? Are you able to find another place you would like to move to during your notice? If so, once you get to the stage of references getting checked it might be useful for you to preempt the problem by sending a short note explaining that there technical problems with payment at the start of your tenancy that you proactively resolved and that all rent has been paid on time for the past 3 years and you are willing to provide evidence as such. Maybe include the letter from the letting agency?
Unfortunately, as Brett19852010 say, reference forms often don't leave much space for nuance, so getting ahead of it is your best bet. Depending on where you are the rental market is dipping so you might be in a stronger position.
If you can't find a place you prefer during your notice period your options are to stay where you are and sign the six months agreement or try to find a short-term let while looking for something else. This is a personal decision for you: does your anger at the landlord for the reference and the general poor upkeep outweigh the hassle of having to move twice? 

brianposter

I would be inclined to write to the reference company with all the supporting evidence (including the landlords admission), pointing out that the circumstances are clearly exceptional and that the reference is clearly inappropriate.

Should they prove uncooperative point out you may well consider legal action over the reference at some time in the future.

You might also have a look at data protection legislation relating to the responsibilities of the reference agency.

[Deleted User]

brianposter said:

I would be inclined to write to the reference company with all the supporting evidence (including the landlords admission), pointing out that the circumstances are clearly exceptional and that the reference is clearly inappropriate.

Should they prove uncooperative point out you may well consider legal action over the reference at some time in the future.

You might also have a look at data protection legislation relating to the responsibilities of the reference agency.

See my first point. He cannot provide evidence that the rent was always paid on time because it wasn't.
He'd be best to contact the new landlord with explanations.