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  • numerous problems with landlord, Next stage??

    Can some one help, this is quite complicated. We moved into a rented house as we are trying to build our own place.

    We paid a deposit of £1162 when we moved in, £150 was for having dogs, we had a signed form from the agents allowing us to have dogs. 7 months down the line the landlord decide that we must pay an extra £1000 or the dogs go and we would be evicted apparently the form we had wasn't good enough as it did not name the dogs.Hubby relented and gave an extra £500 deposit.

    I had already contacted the council with regards to repairs to guttering that needed doing, toilet didn't flush, windows were cracked and broken after builders had done work on roof. Council told landlord they view his actions as harrassment. Landlord has refused to do windows stating that as I didn't inform the builders it was my fault, told landlord it was his responsibility to deal with builders as I didn't contract them to do work. Excuses for failure to carry out repairs are: house is listed, our fault we didn't tell builders, it's too difficult, they will be done when we leave. The builders caused damage to a small lawn in the back garden due to walking back and forth for 9 weeks by at least 6 men a day.

    I am concerned that the electrics are unsafe as we appear to have sockets wired into the lighting system. The fridge and fuses box have a notice that each has been PAT tested, the date given is after we moved in so no PAT test done. we have cooker socket with exposed wiring. We had no gas certificate for over 8 months and the repairs that need to be done to the hob are still outstanding 18 months down the line,

    We have yet to have the information regarding the scheme the deposit is in, when asked the landlord his answer was it's up to the agents as they took the money. Issued a section 21, which we ignored, told him we are not moving, so he issued another one, told him again we are not moving so tried to illegally evict us, council informed and set up an incident report with the police.

    Having tried to illegally evict us, we were then subjected to an illegal rent increase, didn't issue a sect 13, we discovered this after we had paid several months rent. Tried to take us to court to evict us but that was thrown out as the he had failed to give any of the prescribed info for the second deposit, landlord attitude was so what, the judge did well not to tell the *** what to do. Landlord has written to us complaining that we have commandeered the property. We have emails telling us what we can and can't do in the house, telling us when we are leaving, an email stating that eviction will take place as we didnt phone him to tell him what we are doing(I have no idea),he also keeps hand delivering letters, as he was just passing. The best was a recent email that states we must reply as is will be beneficial to us, the implication seems to be that if we don't reply we will suffer for it.

    He has been asking the neighbours to say the dogs are a nuisance, wrong the neighbours love them, especially as they got rid of the rats.

    Can we sue him for failing to give the information for the deposit,( still no leaflet), return of illegal rent, harrassment, failure to carry out repairs, accused us of lying ( in an email) and in court. WE are planning to move soon, but I don't trust this man, he his demanding that we sort out the lawn and when we leave we are not to decorate, he will do that and charge us. Any advice much appreciated
    Last edited by PlanB; 27 July 2015, 18:11. Reason: inserted paragraph breaks to help identify the legal issues

  • #2
    Re: numerous problems with landlord, Next stage??

    not y area but have you spoken to shelter and your local council

    LL needs to understand that his behavior is unreasonable.

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    • #3
      Re: numerous problems with landlord, Next stage??

      Council have written to LL twice and did set up the incident with the police but they can not take him to court re the deposit is my understanding.
      I would really like to take him to court, firstly to get our deposit and the illegal rent back and secondly to sue him for the distress that he has caused. Am not sure the best way to word the court papers. Shelter will give advice on the phone but I get the impression that too much is going on here for them to help, the council will give me advice up to a point, if it was me at the council I would have had this bloke in the dock and would stop him renting full stop, especially as he was aggressive to hubby when he tried to illegally evict us. The council take the view that initially he needs to be re-educated as to what he can or can't do, my view is that he has been a LL for long enough so he should know the rules. Also I want to give him a bloody nose, so to speak, as he has made our time here unpleasant, the mere mention of LL is enough to send us into a spin,he is nothing short of a bully, but before I kick his arse I would like to make sure that I get it right.

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      • #4
        Re: numerous problems with landlord, Next stage??

        I think you really need to speak to shelter who can put you in touch with a solicitor who can deal with this type of problem. I am not sure you would get legal aid so their may be a cost involved. You need to write a list of problems and talk through the list with one of the Shelter advisors, that's what they are there for.

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        • #5
          Re: numerous problems with landlord, Next stage??



          I've edited your first post to help us both identify the issues. You have loads of problems - you poor thing.

          First things first.

          Shelter will not become involved in a tenancy deposit dispute at this stage since your deposit return is not relevant until you have left the property which has not yet happened.

          If you intend to leave the property (as you have said) then the legal onus is on you to serve notice on your Landlord. I'm assuming you're a statutory periodic tenant.

          If the Landlord wants to seek possession he may be in some difficulty with the outstanding deposit issues. However a recent Supreme Court ruling made it clear that these can be remedied.

          The penalty of "three times the deposit" is history - so it seems.

          Plan B x

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          • #6
            Re: numerous problems with landlord, Next stage??

            Originally posted by queenjomati View Post
            we were then subjected to an illegal rent increase, didn't issue a sect 13, we discovered this after we had paid several months rent.
            Can you clarify if there is a clause in your tenancy agreement which allows for an annual rent increase. Most ASTs say that the rent can be increased based on a formula (typically x% over the RPI).

            This doesn't necessarily mean that your Landlord escapes the Section 13 (2) Housing Act 1988 process but it might be relevant.

            Plan B x

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            • #7
              Re: numerous problems with landlord, Next stage??

              I agree, most tenancies have a clause which allows for some form of annual increase but there is nothing, no mention that the rent may increase. What we got was an email stating the amount of increase and that it was effective immediately.

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