Is this legal?

Minidissapointment

Hi
I've recently finished renting a house, I was there 12 years. Never missed a payment..ever.
Also got my full deposit back, left the house clean and tidy. 
However, the landlady and myself towards the end started to fall out, little things, but her attitude changed.
Combination of her wanting me to move on so she could renovate and up the rent and she started getting passive aggressive in her text messages. 
Didn't think too much of it until I came to re rent after my daughter moved out of a house, I moved in for a few weeks, but we decided she didn't want to come back ( boyfriend left her i was there for supoort)
Applied to take her tenancy over, passed all the financial side,  however my previous landlady has left me a bad reference!
The new landlady now won't take me on. Im absolutely gutted and scared, because I have a dog and will struggle to find anywhere. Im a full time nurse and its affecting my health. Not sure what to do. 
I have sent an appeal in to the new landlady showing photos of the house as I left it, and the deposit i got back..any advice?

Grumpy_chap

Minidissapointment said:

Hi
I've recently finished renting a house, I was there 12 years. Never missed a payment..ever.
Also got my full deposit back, left the house clean and tidy. 
However, the landlady and myself towards the end started to fall out, little things, but her attitude changed.
Combination of her wanting me to move on so she could renovate and up the rent and she started getting passive aggressive in her text messages. 
Didn't think too much of it until I came to re rent after my daughter moved out of a house, I moved in for a few weeks, but we decided she didn't want to come back ( boyfriend left her i was there for supoort)
Applied to take her tenancy over, passed all the financial side,  however my previous landlady has left me a bad reference!
The new landlady now won't take me on. Im absolutely gutted and scared, because I have a dog and will struggle to find anywhere. Im a full time nurse and its affecting my health. Not sure what to do. 
I have sent an appeal in to the new landlady showing photos of the house as I left it, and the deposit i got back..any advice?

In what way is the reference "bad"?  Is it factually correct?

Have you actually seen the "bad reference" or did the new LL simply say something along the lines of "unable to proceed because of unsatisfactory referencing"?  If the latter, it may not mean a bad reference from the previous LL but may mean anything within all the check undertaken failed to meet the requirement that LL will accept.

propertyrental

If the LL lied eg said " rent was consistently paid late" you'd have some sort of case, but have you actually seen the reference? What does it say?

MultiFuelBurner

Remember when people used to say "this is really starting to p*** me off" then get on with life. Rather than getting ready to present to the well being work department.

Im a full time nurse and its affecting my health 

In all honesty thorough renting with a dog when you are a nurse leaving it in a new rental property will certainly put you down the list.

As others have said you need to get to the bottom of the "bad reference" but of course that doesn't by law need explaining by your potential new landlord but if they disclose it and your previous LL lied then you could take them on legally but whether you would want to embark on this process?

_Penny_Dreadful

Request a copy of the reference from the landlord who turned you down citing the Data Protection Act .  Landlords who handles tenants' personal data and store that data electronically must be registered with the ICO.  

saajan_12

_Penny_Dreadful said:

Request a copy of the reference from the landlord who turned you down citing the Data Protection Act .  Landlords who handles tenants' personal data and store that data electronically must be registered with the ICO.  

A reference (ie the previous LL's opinions) isn't personal information that would come under the DPA or GDPR. If the tenant's name / address etc was shared then perhaps those parts, but you don't have a right to the opinions. 

By all means ask for it, but I wouldn't bluff about things that arent' actually correct eg DPA. 

_Penny_Dreadful

saajan_12 said:

_Penny_Dreadful said:

Request a copy of the reference from the landlord who turned you down citing the Data Protection Act .  Landlords who handles tenants' personal data and store that data electronically must be registered with the ICO.  

A reference (ie the previous LL's opinions) isn't personal information that would come under the DPA or GDPR. If the tenant's name / address etc was shared then perhaps those parts, but you don't have a right to the opinions. 

By all means ask for it, but I wouldn't bluff about things that arent' actually correct eg DPA. 

It is not a bluff and the ICO does not agree with you that the reference about the OP is not personal information.  The OP could write to the landlord who turned them down with a subject access request. 

Soot2006

Both landlords are handling data for commercial purposes, so a subject access request to either of them should provide you with all data they hold about you, which includes private messages, etc.

We're constantly being reminded at my workplace that ANY mention of a person's name would be included in a subject access request ...

eddddy

Soot2006 said:

We're constantly being reminded at my workplace that ANY mention of a person's name would be included in a subject access request ...

Yep - it also extends to any information that relates to an identifiable individual (even if it doesn't directly mention their name.)

So it would also include letters / emails /documents that say things like...

• "The tenant that you enquired about in your email didn't pay their rent on time."
• "Tenant A didn't pay their rent on time" - if, for example, there's another document that says "Tenant A is George Smith"

But if the reference was given verbally (e.g. by phone) there would be nothing to include. Unless the phone conversation was recorded - then the recording should be included.

Minidissapointment

Hi
Sorry new to this, but ive contacted the ICO they said if its given in confidentiality then I cant see what she said. Ive asked the new letting agent if I can see it and they've said a flat no. 
I've sent an appeal in to the new landlady but not heard back. I attached pictures of the cleaned house I left, copies of 12 months payments, and a copy of the fully refunded deposit. If its a no from her ..im stuck apart from maybe asking the council if they can help.

ThisIsWeird

Could you ask the new LL for at least the gist of the contentious issue so you can respond factually to it?