sangina
24-03-2009, 10:08 AM
I am not a landlord but I need some of your advice as you all seem level headed people and if you do not fit into that category then I apologise! :)
We were previously living with a known attacker of a certain offence, we were renting a room from him but it was getting too dodgy so we approached the local council, after several months of battles with them they agreed to assist on the basis of my partners/my health being poor. We have an Assured Shorthold tenancy for which the local council assisted us to move into. The provided a deposit guarantee (which apparently only covers damages!) and a months rent. Both of which the landlord was prepared to accept, the landlord concerned was also prepared to wait for Housing Benefit. It was never our intention to remain on benefits for very long anyway.
To cut a long and sometimes boring story short we had our claim rejected due to me not having the full ID, when you are ex-homeless (we had been homeless for around2 years at this point) you do not carry everything round with you as you can lose things very easily. Anyway, a new claim was put in, I had my ID sorted so we assumed there would be no problems. The landlord has become 'pally-pally' with our housing officer and despite us asking for this communication to cease it is still going on!!!!!! The housing benefit claim is still being processed and with my health getting worse we are likely to becoming homeless due to that communication between the landlord and the housing officer. She feeds him information, information which is far from the truth at the best of times.
Landlord has served a Section 8, we are supposed to be going to court at the end of next month. It is our intention to vacate before the court date and the landlord is aware of this matter.
However, s/he has said to other tenants within the building that all s/he is concerned about is that s/he gets the flat back but is not chasing us for the rent we owe. S/he has cut the gas off (there are 4 flats and there are not individual gas controls it is one control for the whole of the building) claiming it is because we have not paid our bills to he/r when we have paid £10 per week for gas (we have just 3 radiators and hot water is electric as is the oven), the landlord has told all the other tenants that it is our fault. We also have had problems with our post, there is a communal postbox for which there is one key which is in the posession now of another tenant. We have important post we are waiting for so we intercept the postman daily. S/he has also used our rent arrears as a bargaining tool for getting electric cards. We are yet to see any utility bills, something this person promised several weeks ago. We have requested the water (metered) bill and the gas bill, these are yet to materialise.
I could go on but it is very upsetting. We have done everything we can to prevent the eviction but the landlord wants us out regardless, even if we manage to get the backdated rent. We have spoken with other previous tenants (one of whom is actually slepping rough because of the harrassment from the same landlord) and they have all said that the landlord concerned has a history of this kind of issue with tenants. We have done everything that the council has asked us to do in relation to the claim, we have also done everything the landlord has asked us to do.
We have harrassed the local council to see where our claim is at, all they will say is that it is being dealt with and there is a backlog. They know she wants us out and they are refusing to help us proceed in this matter. We just feel hopeless and helpless in this matter.
What would you do? I am asking this from both sides of the spectrum. I am sure some of you will agree with the way this person is behaving but surely s/he is committing a criminal offence every time s/he cuts off or refuses services to us based soley on the rent arrears.
We were previously living with a known attacker of a certain offence, we were renting a room from him but it was getting too dodgy so we approached the local council, after several months of battles with them they agreed to assist on the basis of my partners/my health being poor. We have an Assured Shorthold tenancy for which the local council assisted us to move into. The provided a deposit guarantee (which apparently only covers damages!) and a months rent. Both of which the landlord was prepared to accept, the landlord concerned was also prepared to wait for Housing Benefit. It was never our intention to remain on benefits for very long anyway.
To cut a long and sometimes boring story short we had our claim rejected due to me not having the full ID, when you are ex-homeless (we had been homeless for around2 years at this point) you do not carry everything round with you as you can lose things very easily. Anyway, a new claim was put in, I had my ID sorted so we assumed there would be no problems. The landlord has become 'pally-pally' with our housing officer and despite us asking for this communication to cease it is still going on!!!!!! The housing benefit claim is still being processed and with my health getting worse we are likely to becoming homeless due to that communication between the landlord and the housing officer. She feeds him information, information which is far from the truth at the best of times.
Landlord has served a Section 8, we are supposed to be going to court at the end of next month. It is our intention to vacate before the court date and the landlord is aware of this matter.
However, s/he has said to other tenants within the building that all s/he is concerned about is that s/he gets the flat back but is not chasing us for the rent we owe. S/he has cut the gas off (there are 4 flats and there are not individual gas controls it is one control for the whole of the building) claiming it is because we have not paid our bills to he/r when we have paid £10 per week for gas (we have just 3 radiators and hot water is electric as is the oven), the landlord has told all the other tenants that it is our fault. We also have had problems with our post, there is a communal postbox for which there is one key which is in the posession now of another tenant. We have important post we are waiting for so we intercept the postman daily. S/he has also used our rent arrears as a bargaining tool for getting electric cards. We are yet to see any utility bills, something this person promised several weeks ago. We have requested the water (metered) bill and the gas bill, these are yet to materialise.
I could go on but it is very upsetting. We have done everything we can to prevent the eviction but the landlord wants us out regardless, even if we manage to get the backdated rent. We have spoken with other previous tenants (one of whom is actually slepping rough because of the harrassment from the same landlord) and they have all said that the landlord concerned has a history of this kind of issue with tenants. We have done everything that the council has asked us to do in relation to the claim, we have also done everything the landlord has asked us to do.
We have harrassed the local council to see where our claim is at, all they will say is that it is being dealt with and there is a backlog. They know she wants us out and they are refusing to help us proceed in this matter. We just feel hopeless and helpless in this matter.
What would you do? I am asking this from both sides of the spectrum. I am sure some of you will agree with the way this person is behaving but surely s/he is committing a criminal offence every time s/he cuts off or refuses services to us based soley on the rent arrears.