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Room in an HMO(Extremely long post im afraid)

Started by Grant1975, August 03, 2017, 06:04:19 PM

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Grant1975

Thank you for reading this as it will be quite a long post.

My partner and myself rent a room in an HMO which is not licensed as one i believe at the moment as the council have come to inspect the property after someone reported the property i guess as unlicensed.

We where desperate when taking this room and stupidly we signed a lodgers application to rent which states the agreement period of 3 months however the landlord does not live in the property, Upon moving into the property my partner signed the full lodgers agreement however i did not

So moving on we have now been in the property for just over a year and have not signed any new agreement however we received a letter from the deposit protection scheme stating the tenancy type is a periodic tenancy and its in my partners name.

We recently fell upon hard times due to my partners illness and several months ago we where unable to pay the rent one month and continued paying rent but had not paid back the month that was owed, so a couple of weeks ago my partner was left a voicemail but the agent whom manages the property saying we have waited long enough for the owed rent and if you don't pay by a certain date then they will ask us to leave.

About a week after this my partner returned to the property to find our room door wide open with a note left on the bed saying pay today or leave someone is moving into this room on Friday the locks will be changed all belongings must be taken with you.

After receiving this I sent an email to the agent addressed the director and she responded claiming to know nothing about dealing with renting rooms as she was representing the company email address that I used as this is the only contact details I have and suggested I look for contact details of the company on the agreement however the company name on the lodgers agreement was dissolved in September last year, so we have a lodgers contract signed with a company who does not exist anymore.

After the agents behavior we have decided we are going to leave the property at the end of this month and I have not paid the rent for this month as im disgusted by there behavior which I know maybe wrong but I have certain principles.

So partner returned home today to find some documents had been put under the door with served by hand with a name of one of the agents on it.
The documents that have been given are:

Notice seeking possession of a proper let on assured tenancy or an assured agricultural occupancy.

A court claim form obviously printed of the internet as its says reference only on it trying to get the two months rent that is owed.

Request for attachment of earnings order (This is in my partners name)

Now I have several questions that im not sure can be answered here but thought I would share this on here.

Would the court be able to issue a possession order without the agent showing them a signed shorthold tenancy.

As im not named on any agreement other then the application to rent for 3 months can I be held legally responsible for the property regardless of whether I live there or not

The deposit protection scheme has money in my name should I question this with them as technically there is no document to prove I live here.

I know even if the agent is successful in getting a possession order we would have left the property by the time a court order is executed.

The agent in question is an absolute disgrace that unfortunately we found out about after moving in just be searching the company name and complaint showed many complaints and review sites show the same information.

I know this is a long post but I hope it will make interesting reading to some and also serve as warning to others to be careful what they sign especially where an hmo is involved, it would be nice to get some feedback on this post in regards to anything I have stated.

Thanks for reading

Grant


Hippogriff

Grant - life is too short for battles of this manner. You want to go anyway, so just go... make it easy on yourself. You say you have certain principles - that's fine, but don't engage in battles with people you already know to be idiots - that, in itself, is idiotic. It's of no real consequence, this... you don't own the property, you don't even rent it exclusively - it's just a room in a shared house. Lodger or tenancy, live-in or not, none of it matters... what matters is your emotional and mental well-being. Just move on, 'cos it's time to groove on...

And pay your rent!

heavykarma

Yes,you are making a bit of a drama out of this.Regardless of the agent's behaviour,you lose claim to any moral high ground by not paying your rent,including some owed for some time.You do not mention having made any offer to pay arrears off by with sums each month,and now intend living there for free until it suits you to move.Issues about deposits will probably be irrelevant,as this can be offset against the debts you leave behind.

Snowflake

#3
Quote from: Grant1975 on August 03, 2017, 06:04:19 PM
Thank you for reading this as it will be quite a long post.

My partner and myself rent a room in an HMO which is not licensed as one i believe at the moment as the council have come to inspect the property after someone reported the property i guess as unlicensed.

We where desperate when taking this room and stupidly we signed a lodgers application to rent which states the agreement period of 3 months however the landlord does not live in the property, Upon moving into the property my partner signed the full lodgers agreement however i did not

So moving on we have now been in the property for just over a year and have not signed any new agreement however we received a letter from the deposit protection scheme stating the tenancy type is a periodic tenancy and its in my partners name.

We recently fell upon hard times due to my partners illness and several months ago we where unable to pay the rent one month and continued paying rent but had not paid back the month that was owed, so a couple of weeks ago my partner was left a voicemail but the agent whom manages the property saying we have waited long enough for the owed rent and if you don't pay by a certain date then they will ask us to leave.

About a week after this my partner returned to the property to find our room door wide open with a note left on the bed saying pay today or leave someone is moving into this room on Friday the locks will be changed all belongings must be taken with you.

After the agents behavior we have decided we are going to leave the property at the end of this month and I have not paid the rent for this month as im disgusted by there behavior which I know maybe wrong but I have certain principles.


Thanks for reading

Grant

Such as not paying Rent, LOL  ::) and you wonder why the Landlord hands out Lodging Agreements instead of Assured Tenancy. If you had Assured Tenancy how long would you be there without paying the rent due? Probably months. If your Employer turned around and told you he was not going to pay you for X amount of months for the services you provided what would you think of that? Its the same for a Landlord but this time providing the services of property in exchange for money. I mean is it his fault your partner got sick? What has this got to do with him that he should be out of pocket for months - building costs, maintenance, taxes, bills, mortgages and loans that he/she has still need to be paid for. I assume the agreement wasn't for him/her to be paid on an as an when you have the money basis. Then for some reason you rationalize that its ok not to pay the end month also because they had the audacity to ask for the money that was due and had been outstanding for several months. So is the Landlord supposed to be content with waiting on and on until you are ready to finally pay money that should have been paid on time months ago - are his creditors going to do the same. What if your Employer turned around and told you that his not going to pay you your final months wages as you offended his sensitivities in asking for previous unpaid wages?

It may very well be that the contract may not be the one that should have been used but end of the day you agreed to pay rent for accommodation and agreed to that. I've rented several times in the past and always made sure I paid the due sum by the due date - unless the Landlord is not providing the agreed services there is no reason not to.