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a few queries.

Started by janey13, January 27, 2017, 12:03:12 PM

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janey13

Im really sorry for the length of this post!!!

I moved into the property in 2012, the landlord at this point did not require a deposit and i just paid a months rent in advance.  3 years later i became ill and had to have some time off work, it was long term, this led to me being late with the rent just once.  Coincidentally, this also happened at the same time my landlady wanted to inspect the property.  We agreed a date for this, it was a Saturday afternoon.  Instead the landlady and her mother turned up on the Thursday evening prior to the arranged Saturday evening.  It was 9pm at night, no phone call was made, they just turned up. I did hear the knocking on the door, I wasnt feeling well, i wasnt expecting any friends or family and i chose to ignore it. Its a terraced house i was sat next to the living room door which is glass and i could see the front door. They knocked a few times, at this point i had no idea who it was and i continued to ignore it.  I then saw the door handle going down and the front door begin to open, at which point i jumped up and got to the door before they entered.  As well as being unwell, it just wasnt convenient to have an inspection at that time i was in my night wear and i had children in bed.  They asked to come in and i told them why it wasnt convenient, the landlady then tried to talk me into allowing her in, and i kept saying no its not convenient, at which point her mother pushed the front door, whilst saying its my daughters house and if she wants to come in you cant stop her.  In all honesty i am/was physically capable of stopping her mother from pushing the door, however,  my personality makes me incapable of  this, and i just let them in. 

A conversation was then started about the rent, it was not at this point late, however, out of courtesy i had advised i had no choice but to make the payment 3 days later than it was due.   The landlady then told me that the only way she would allow me to continue the tenancy was if i had my housing benefit paid directly to her. Id never been on benefits till this point in my life and so i didnt know much about it , my main concern was staying in the house, so i agreed to that, she then wrote a letter to my local council, as if it was from me, starting i was 8 weeks in arrears, as she informed me that this was the only way they would agree to pay her directly,  i shouldnt have done it i know, but i did.  Ill just say here, i am a smoker, because she doesnt smoke, i didnt smoke while she was there but my cigarettes and ashtray were visible on the coffee table

Since then, she decided to have a new bathroom fitted, i was really pleased about that.  Then weeks before she started buying bits of bathroom, first a bath came, i had no choice but to keep this in my living room as its a small house, a few weeks later the bath panal came, one day the toilet etc, it was unbelievable really!!  The person she got to fit the bathroom was nothing more than a handy man, within 2 months of him doing it, the kitchen ceiling fell through as there had been an unnoticeable leak.  She did put that right quickly, but in general, the bathroom still looks a mess, but it is useable.  Having the work done was very stressful, the landlady lives at other end of country, and so left me to deal with the guy, he was a pain, turning up late, only working 2 hours some days, not turning up others.  When i tried to speak to him about it his attitude was he worked for my landlady not me, he would then call her, and even though i was only saying to him what she had requested me to, she told me to allow him to work the hours he wanted, difficult at the time as my son was in hospital for 3 weeks, and was due to be discharged, in actual fact, he had to stay in an extra night as i was left with no bathroom facilities for that night and my son has crohns disease

About a year ago, she wanted to remortgage the house and arranged for 3 estate agents to come and view, one of the agents mentioned me smoking.  A few months after they came he asked if i smoked as if she wasnt aware, i said yes.

Now this is where it gets complicated and i hope i can explain properly.  Housing benefit is paid every 4 weeks, but my rent is calendar monthy;  The 4 weekly amount did not cover the whole rent or her mortgage apparently, so she asked that the top up i paid was the difference between the hb amount and the full rent, rather than working out the correct amount based on how much hb she would receive over the full 1 months. In return she agreed to return the 13th payment of hb to me as this is the amount the rent would be over paid by when 12 months was up  i agreed,to this.  When it came time for this money to be received by me she stated that she was keeping it due to me smoking in the property as a decorating allowance, if she felt the house didnt need decorating due to my smoking when i moved out she would return it.  I felt i had no choice but to agree

I went back to work again a few months ago, i called her to tell her id no longer be in receipt of benefit, and to work out what id need to pay the following month, before i was responsible once again for the rent in full. This £500 she had kept, was mentioned, and she stated she didnt know what i was talking about and she hadnt kept any money.

I was really miffed by this, a little angry, i said nothing but i decided i was going to move out of the property, not just because of this, this is just the last straw tbh, .  However i had another opportunity to bring up this money and did so it was in text message.  Sorry for how long this post is, but i am going to make it even longer by putting exactly what she put in the text

   "Dont worry ive remembered about the money. I am holding the £500 not as a deposit as it wasnt on the tenancy agreement, but just as a bond so if you move        out  thats what youll get back as long as everything is ok"   At this point i agreed, but also said i was no longer willing to pay that amount in top up and the correct amount i should pay was worked out between us, so that at the end of the 12 month period, the hb and my top ups would be the correct amount

Another gripe, is that when i moved in she said her intentions were to renew the kitchen and bathroom, the house was unfurnished however there was a very old cooker, im not exaggerating, its probably 20 years. old  and it  is now not working.  She stated at the time, if i replaced the cooker i would have lo leave it when i moved out.  I tentatively brought this up, saying, theres no point in me replacing it if she is putting in a new kitchen as she intends to have a fitted oven and hob.  Basically her position is, she still intends to renew the kitchen, however not until ive been back in work for 6 months incase of any future problems with the rent and she wont replace the cooker, she is sticking to that if i replace it i will still have to leave it.  I know the house was not valued as highly as she had expected, she wanted to remorgage to buy a motor home and is unable to do so, so from that im assuming she wont be able to afford to replace the kitchen anytime soon

Im not sure what the difference is between a bond and a deposit, i d have thought none, and cant find an explanation of the difference on any advice sites.  Im thinking she is saying this to me to make me think she does not have to put it into a deposit scheme.


Should this money be in a deposit scheme?  If it should be, do i say something about this now or when im ready to give notice.  In all honesty im scared of saying anything in case this triggers her to give me notice and i end up with nowhere to go.  Im waiting for social housing rather than another private rent




janey13

Sorry forgot to say thank you in advance for any advice anyone can give!

Hippogriff

You may well be wisest to just bide your time, like you mention. Of course you can start a battle and - of course - any money you give to a Landlord that isn't for rent is going to be considered a deposit - and any deposit must be protected in a Government scheme - it's not optional in any way, shape or form. However, it seems as if you are really on the back-foot here and you may well just be most sensible to wait out your time until you have somewhere else to go - and then go. After that, and your business relationship is ended, you can continue to exact revenge / compensation, if that's what what you like to do. There is a 6 year time limit on deposit action you can take - so it's likely you have (some) time on your side from when the 'deposit' was requested and, possibly, re-purposed by the Landlord.

There is a lot of text in your entry and what's obvious is that you're emotionally involved in this and feeling a bit stuck or taken advantage of. This doesn't sound right at all, but you have to weigh up how much worse things could get if you start to rock the boat. This is not me saying it's right (I stress) but that sometimes it's just better to be pragmatic. People need (to be able) to live their lives rather than get bogged-down in tenancy disputes.

I would advise restraint... phlegmatism.