UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi all,
Long story but will keep it short.
Landlady arrives unannounced with her hubby and 3 year old daughter Sunday afternoon and lets herself in! I politely say she should give me 24 hours notice and knock, I go to my room as not comfortable and don't really know what to say. After cooking her daughter dinner she leaves....back to London.
I email her and ask that she gives me 2; hours notice and knocks. She said that as I am a woman, she will do this 'favour' for me!
She goes on to say that she lives in my home, never seen her here since I got the keys. My housemate doc tell me she stayed over 1 night in box room!
Next day, she is back with daughter shouting and screaming at me, I walk away, she follows confusing the bad behaviour in front of kid. I call police, they tell her to stop. She sleeps in loung with daughter ax the box room she claims to use all the time is way to small.
Next day she says she wants me out and that as a lodger I have no rights. I still have her ad on spare room.com which states live out landlord
Later today her hubby arrives, changes the front locks, I am locked in my bedroom. He bangs on door demanding back door key, I say no. He was shouting (along with another guy ) and trying to force the lock, I call police, they listen to what I say, get me a key for new lock and tell them they have broken the law. Police leave then they leave with my back door key!
My deposit not protected and no gas certificate although right now I feel these are the least of my worries!
Any info would be great!
She would not give me a contract, she initially said she forgot to bring it, I have a email from her confirming that I will stay for 6 months also no deposit security and no gas certificate .Cant believe I forgot this bit....she wants me out today! Not going!
Thanks
Yes ad for was live out landlord, I mentioned this in e mail and she said it was a mistake and change next time. I also still have her messages on the site saying I will be sharing with 1 other tenant

AAAAAAARRRGGHHH!!!

This is exactly why landlords have such a bad reputation ...because of absolute sh!tbags like this.

You can change all the locks and do not give her a key, (if there are multiple tenants you will need their permission and to give them a key, so Long as you are sure the Landlady doesn't live there.
If she breaks in then call the police immediately - do you even know this woman is the landlady?!?

Go talk to the council she is in breach of so many of your statutory rights I can't list them all
Go back to the police and file a report ... They have a specific tracking system for cases of ASBO that has the possibility of escalation to violence and a fast response system.

You say it was a tenancy on spare room.com. Are you sure the agreement was for a live out landlord, so the rest of the house is also tenanted?
If so she has no rights whatsoever to do what she has.

Best of luck

Hi,
I did the search and checked that she is owner of house before paying any money, she did not know I had done this therefore did not realise I knew when she bought the house. She bought it in May 2014, she claims she has always lived here. My housemate has been here 14 months and he said that when he moved in there was another tenant whom moved out.
I called the council yesterday, he said it's a tricky one. With no written contract apparently the lines are blurred ad to whether she has a right to sleep here, I am ok on not being kicked out due to the email confirming 6 months, and the fact that I have done nothing wrong to which my housemate can back me up on. He is German and in Germany and very passive so has never questioned the landlady.
I will be calling the police after 12pm, I sent landlady a message to bring key back by this time...she lives in London and I think in bad situations it's better to be seen as trying to be reasonable, I do not want them to have absolutely anything they can try and hit me with, if I take this further.
I do not want to leave here today as I can't guarantee getting back in. I have to wait for the council guy to get back to me regarding whether I can change the locks.
Last night I was drained and tired, decided to myself that I do not need this and will move out,  not sure now!
I have written to spare room and told them, hopefully they will not allow the scum to advertise. I will complain about the deposit not being secured and the lack of gas certificate then I will me informing the tax people...I think all of this is a tax dodge! She had told me before in conversation that she had many properties, one in Canary Wharf she says she leaves empty and they have property in Portugal...she was complaining how racist to Black Africans they are over there. She tried the 'black poor' card on me until I reminded her of the properties she says she owns.
Thanks for reply and info

Your current troubles aside for a second...

When you get a chance to take a deep breath - you need to look for somewhere else to live. Take some time out to do this properly and hopefully end up in a place where this kind of stuff does not go on.

It is true that Lodgers have very little rights and can be kicked-out at a moment's notice. Try to get an arrangement where you are house sharing with other Tenants who are on an AST - this will be called an HMO. Being a Tenant will give you - formally - lots more protection that you may, or may not, currently have (the situation is not as clear-cut to me, I'm more on the side of the advice you've received that says it's a tricky one).

If the Landlord behaves like this, why would you want to give them any more of your money? Give them the problem of trying to let the place to some other mug. When you are out, you can follow-up in reporting them to the Council, HMRC, whatever makes you feel better, but - for now - concentrate on getting something better.

Hi,
I am in this area looking to buy a home, my need for renting is to check out the different areas and view property. I figured renting for 6 months is the ideal solution and did not know that people like this exist! As far as I was concerned when taking the room, I had 1 housemate and landlady lives in London.
I am in an area that has about 40,000 students, after seeing all the properties advertised, majority of landlords want students, so not a lot of choices regarding renting.
I could leave and find myself in a not so great position again but I also have to look at properties I may rent, so I know for next week at least, I am here! Also she verbally asked me to leave, no proof and so judging by her behaviour, she is quite likely to get the rest of the rent from me!

Problem now sorted, I have a verbal ( and email confirmation) 6month assured short hold tenancy agreement, LL does not live in my home! Has to abide by the rules of the agreement! I had no intention of letting 'some other mug' who could have been in a worse ( no money and destitute) go through the shit I had to, it's not in my nature!! Packing up everything you own and finding somewhere else is not something everybody is able to do...and why should they if they have done no wrong?
LL has had all the legal stuff sent to her real home ( everybody had a paper trail )
The reason for her to insist she lives here is that she bought this house to be her home, not a buy to let.
For people in my kind of situation, if you have done nothing wrong don't be bullied or harassed!
This did not cost me a penny and no daunting courts to contend with.
A number to use for Canterbury area is: 01227 862000
Damien Olly was the expert for what I needed but they are all great people!
There are good and bad on both sides and I think it's better to either give good advise or say nothing!

I hope your troubles are now all behind you and your Landlord does not seek revenge in 'interesting' ways.

Thanks,
I still have my eyes and ears wide open. I can't think of any 'intrteresting' ways she would maybe do, that would not affect my housemate or not break the law in anyway. Seeing as it's pretty certain she had committed fraud with the bank and inland revenue, she would be stupid....she has already shown her stupidity in so many ways but I know desperate people may resort to desperate measures!
I received a call from a no ID caller, I did not pick up, voice mail left. It was a thick African accent pretending to be someone ( I did not fully understand who he was trying to say he was)
I emailed the gas people about gas certificate, they have been in contact with her. I did the same regarding my deposit. I also informed Spareroom.com, they took my police reference number and she will not be advertising on there anymore.
None of this is about money or taking someone to court, it's about stopping a piece of scum doing this again...nobody is above the law...unless you are a politician of course!

Nikkie you are a true champion!!
Nice one.

BTW: if you wanted to you could claim for up to 3 times your deposit from the landlady for not securing it in a deposit scheme.
I do hope though that you have physical security in the property new locks etc..

Well done though.

Thanks but it's not over yet! I guess the 'interesting' things have started!
The guy/husband/boyfriend has messed around with the water tank, I know he took panel of the bath because he did not put back properly. We already have issue with scalding water coming from hot taps...one minute of running bathroom tap you can smell scorching and you can't use the water plus the metal when you try and turn it off, burns, same with downstairs. LL had a water tank, we are told never to turn it off, we are also not allowed to pull the string thing in bathroom...it's about to snap! I don't understand why the water tank needs to be on when we have a boiler producing hot water?
It's dark now, when I turned my bedroom light on made me jump away and pull my hand off, not sure if this is called friction or small shock?
My housemate is back but totally useless, he had been here 14 months and just leaves all this to me. I think maybe his last place was worse but the problems here are not ones you can see,just accidents waiting to happen.
Forgot to mention, no smoke coming out of flue?I don't sit and watch this but I know it did before, just not sure if it's a temperature thing? Heating been on for about 90 mins, no smoke, got my window open which kind of defeats the object of having heating on!
I have contacted the gas certificate people again today, I know they emailed my LL but she has done nothing, unfortunately it's the weekend so I doubt any thing will happen till Monday
Thanks