Big Badger House (aka Noisy Lodger) HE'S GONE!

Jowo_2

Badger_Lady wrote: »

The only way I can possibly claw back some of the arrears is through a payment plan..and if I can guide her into straightening things out, I'll reap the benefit in rent paid instead of "lost".

With Quackers: lodger falls behind, council starts paying instead, no point taking lodger to small claims for the arrears because she has no income. I don't have a legal route here, only a softly-softly one...

I'm not optimistic that your patience or support will yield much success - the daft mare is already blaming you for stealing her money rather than accepting responsibility for stealing yours...When she had access to funds through her overdraft, she did not prioritise her rent.

The council is about to start paying you...as she is planning her exit so you'll probably only get a few weeks worth. Fact is, she's likely just to scarper without giving you a forwarding address.

By all means, set up a repayment plan (unworkable for someone with no income who resents you anyway, IMHO) but you must kick off a small claims action to get a CCJ against her name the moment she defaults (no acceptance of a sob story).

This is essential to prevent her gaining entry to her next tenancy and running up more debt there - it will show up on a credit check - unless the next landlord is daft enough to accept that 'my previous landlady was awful and mean' which worked on you and not take up references.

jamtart6

ooh good a bit of grit on the thread again, although im sorry you are having trouble. her letter cracked me up - she sounded !!!!ed off at you for not giving her the "other ebay thing" cheeky mare!!!

clutton_2

BL - your letter smacks of waaaaay too much kindness - she is taking you for a ride - get rid asap - she will not be able to pay back what she owes - the sooner she is out of your life the better your sanity will be ....

you are worth a lot more than this little scheming madam ....

bw

m1ntie

Badger Lady

As previously suggested by several posters the chances of you getting the arrears are slim.

For me there would also be an enormous issue of trust. You have treated her with consideration and respect, you have and indeed still are giving her the benefit of the doubt.

It would appear that she has at best been less than honest with you but more likely she has smiled sweetly and told you blatent lies. I would not under any circumstances wish to share my house with such a person.

I trully hope we are all proved wrong, not just for the financial implications but equally for the emotional hurt this sort of deceit causes. I would urge you to be very sceptical of anything she says.

You are obviousy a kind and considerate person who would never knowingly harm anyone, I think she is exploiting this because she realises you want to believe her.

I believe you need to cut you losses (and I dont just mean financial) and get rid of her immediately.

Kind Regards

M1ntie

Jowo_2

Badger Lady, remind me again of the excuses why Quackers did not pass on the rent to you in this period when she was paid LHA? And in the past, has she previously assured you that her boyfriend would pay you for things and did he?

It’s only the end of this gravy train where her overdraft no longer gets paid off at your expense that has motivated her to leave the property – the cash dispenser has been shut-down. May I remind you that when you challenged her about arrears on multiple occasions in the past which impacted your income, she kept persuading you to let her stay. Now her income is taking the hit, she can't leave fast enough.

It’s fascinating how she tries to guilt trip you because you haven’t handed her these unpaid goods – apparently, you are the stingy one…. Equally skillful, despite openly admitting she’s broke and has squandered your income, she expects you to hand them over to her an IOU to go with the others she has ignored. Therefore your response should be 'if you still want x, they are £x and I’m happy to give you the invoice with x when you or your boyfriend pays it’.

I am also thrilled with double-think at work with her belated admission that she's received her HB the entire period, owes you nearly 3 months of rent (possibly 4) but that you are giving out an entirely false impression that she's fleecing both the system and you. "Just because I haven't used the LHA to pay my rent, how very dare you.. "

The dispute over the actual sum owed is easily resolvable when you jointly review her bank statements (the ones she apparently ignored across the summer) - there should be large cash withdrawal in July to support her contention that she paid you then.

Remember, the onus is on her to prove to the local council that she’s paid her rent so she needs to find evidence of payment to them.

As you’ve observed, she's quite disingenuous since she argues that she will be ‘all paid up’ by paying you 2 months rent when another month is due in a few days time and her claim has only been suspended for a fraction of it.

Snakeeyes21

do you need another lodger? ill happily move in and live for free and get you to buy me stuff on ebay. i dont know who discusts me more, the lodger for her bare faced cheek (im also in awe of her ability to keep it going) or you for being such a doormat. surely somebody your age cant be that gullible, it seems like you have issues with confrontation. if that were me that little scamp would be out on her ear pregnant or no

Jowo_2

"I'm prepared to accept that she may have made another rent payment months ago that I'd forgotten about (it sounds kind of familiar)".

That's unforgiveably sloppy, Badger Lady, given that you find the lodger's money management frustrating and chaotic and now you admit your record keeping is dismal. Some of the criticism made of the lodger by respondents on this thread is that she was persistently not paying you but now your memory can't be trusted.

Use a standing order for your next lodger, particularly as you aren't around much to collect the cash in person which is a very old way of managing rent. It's unfair for a lodger to have to store cash in their room awaiting the next time you are both around.

The lodger fills the form in and give it back to you to forward it to the bank, that way you know its at least been completed and posted, even if there's a tiny chance it gets lost in the mail or the bank doesn't process it properly. That way your SO is prioritised and its up to the lodger to ensure funds are there - they get chased by the bank instead of you having to chase them.

That way if within a few working days of the rent date, if it doesn't show up you can politely ask the lodger to give you it by another method and each payment shows up on your bank statements which will make tracking payments and identifying arrears very simple.

starnac

oh badger. i really hope you learn a lesson from this and like Jowo says change the way you collect your rent. it just seems to get messier and messier. i really hope you sort this out and are not left out of pocket. your priorities now need to be getting your money and getting her out

Jowo_2

Let's completely accept the lodgers explanation that she is a victim of a poor state benefit system, a greedy bank and an exploitative landlord - broke, disabled and pregnant. It's possible that we are all being very harsh based on partial or biased information.

She really is too ill to work and the benefit system is not paying her what she is entitled to, they are should have progressed her claim many months ago. Her bank failed to inform her how the overdraft would operate and her landlord is pressing her for a sum of money that has already been paid, has provided false information to the Housing Benefit office and is making plans to evict her. Her hard-working boyfriend is doing his best to prepare a nest for her and pay off the debts, though sadly not yet in the position to live with her yet,

To top it off, although currently anonymous, her personal life is being publicly debated and criticised without her knowledge and there is a risk of her identity being discovered and humiliated.

Imagine the stress of on a young, sick, pregnant woman, a victim of a cumbersome medical assessment process by the benefits dept which led to the bank swallowing up her meagre income, plunging her into poverty and leading her to become homeless.

On previous threads, it seems she's chased up the bank and benefits departments on numerous occasions, kept the landlord abreast of the status of her arrears and reiterated her commitment to pay, has contacted her MP, arranged to borrow money from her boyfriend and so forth.

If the lodger presented this scenario on the benefits board, what advice would you give? I think she'd be told to visit CAB to resolve the non-payment of benefits and debt management, speak to Shelter about her potential homelessness, produce a statement of accounts for MSE members, take action against the bank to reclaim the charges and take civil action against the landlady for the damage done to her reputation (compensation).

Fire_Fox

Jowo wrote: »

She's been burning through £300 per week?! And not a penny spent on accommodation and household bills? And with other people buying her travel tickets and goods off ebay?! £300 per week without any discernible outgoings?

This works out at about £45 per day or an average weekly sum on job seeker related benefits! This is someone, who if they are eligible for ESA or DLA, is likely to have an income very, very much lower than that.

Jeez.

So Quackers is too ill to work and in fact is fainting on a regular basis, but is capable of hardcore shopping AND bedroom gymnastics?