Hello Everybody, This Forum is Great and I couldn't believe,Real Good people out there who take real time out and gives honest advice to another human being to get his life sort out..... "Its really a best Gift from from a mankind to another mankind." OK! My story is, I am having a problem with my local Council. The problem is kind of created by myself. I was claiming housing benefit and i am self employed person. I did not disclosed my accounts properly. I know... i know... Its all my fault.... but i have learn my lessons means now council is doing investigation about me and they stopped my H.B. few months back ago. And arrears were building up and now arrears are too high and they are taking me to County court for Arrears.. As i said above i have learned my lessons and want to fix the mess i created but don't know where to start. i am bit afraid they might go heavy hand on me as i have wife and kids, i don't want them to suffer with me all because of my mistakes.... Council hasn't accused me for Fraud or anything yet but i know deep down i made it mistake... Now i want to fix it....Don't know what to do...... Any help or advice i will really appreciate.... Many Thanks.

Hi I had a tenant who just upped and left without notice owing £800.00 rent I found her new address through asking around and also her new mobile number She said she would drop off the keys with a letter explaining she was vacating This she did also stating that she would pay for the removal of the accumulated rubbish She also said she would pay installments for the owed rent I agreed, however no back rent has been forthcoming so I wrote to her 2 weeks ago to which she didn't bother responding, I phoned and got the answerphone everytime. I have now decided that my best course would probably be to take her to the County Court for rent arrears and clearance costs I have prepared a letter to her which will be posted explaining I have already written to her and this is now a letter before action giving her 14 days to respond I am however not sure what to put on the N1 claim form when that point is reached any advice about wording would be appreciated ie Accordingly the claiment claims etc.... Obviously I can't give out too much information in this thread Thank you

hello i recently applied to go on the housing register and i recieved a letter saying i owed £202.08 from a house i had 18 year ago at that time i had been in prison and i was told i had to leave my property in 4 weeks but when i was in prison i filled out the proper forms so the council get there housing benefit and rent for 6 months so i did'nt lose my house while i was away but they still say i owe this and theres nothing i can do about this but i dont feel that i owe this money as i done everything i was supposed to to make sure my rent was paid while i was in prison and ive been told that money cannot be claimed after 6 years i was wondering if this applys to councils

Hi Folks, I moved into a privately rented property in March 2012. Agency introduced but landlady manages. I asked her about a strong smell in the kitchen a short time after I moved in, she denied any such smell. This week a plumber came round to sort a small problem with my heating. I asked him about the smell as it has persisted for 6 months, after a short inspection he found a gas leak, he fixed it and issued a Gas Safety Certificate!! My landlady seemed most displeased that I had cost her more money..... The very next day I smelt the same odour, as if there was still a leak. My landylady said by phone "well there is not a lot more I can do, a plumber has said it is sorted, you can move out if you like"!! She did however comment that her elderly mother (who used to live there) had mentioned an odd smell before...... The same afternoon I called out the emergency gas board. Lo and behold they found a gas leak!! The boiler was marked as dangerous and landlady approached to get it fixed ASAP. I have since found out that she is considering selling the property (hence being reluctant to spend out on boiler repairs etc). a) I am angry at her response and the fact I have been living in danger for months b) I was concerned that my gas bill was exceptionally high when I am barely here - can I ask her to knock some off my rent? c) her attittude to mine and my kids safety sucks. Advice please as I feel I am being treated unfairly, she takes £800 a month from me and I have been living in a place with gas leaking since I moved here. I now have no gas to the property until the plumber comes back next week Lynsey x

I moved into this private property, a single room on 21st March 2012 where I paid one months rent of £240 and £80 for a deposit on a three month agreed tenancy. All bills were included and with the following two payments for rent after that I paid £80 each time to pay a full deposit of £240. My contract having ended three months later I explained to the landlord I will stay another two months which has now turned unto three months until 21st August 2012. I have signed no new paperwork and was simply told to change the date on my original contract which I assume he has done so, however, I have not signed anything to state the new months I had stayed. I have just checked the three deposit schemes and can find no record of my deposit in any scheme and I have contacted asking him about this to no avail. I moved into a small room due to desperate measures of a bad ending to my engagement where the room was a complete mess, mold all over the walls, carpet had stains, mattress was in bad condition and the double socket was broken all to which I had informed the landlord but he never done anything about it. I replaced the double socket myself having been in the building trade to which he agreed to remove the cost from my rent. I have since moved into a free room downstairs which is £325 and as I have not been paid yet have not paid my rent due on 21st July 2012. I originally had pictures of the state of the room but having my phone break I lost the images so cannot prove it was in that state when moving in. My rent at times had been late however had fully been paid up to date apart from the one due for 21st July - 21st August. Furthermost, the landlord fails to repair things or when he does it is weeks later, the shower has leaked for months and after his many failed attempts at repairing it another tenant did it with a slight leak still. He had informed me on repairing the issue in my old room but never did forcing me to move to the room downstairs for the final month. Finally unless showing someone around the house there has been several times when other tenants in the shared house has felt threatened when the landlord called them out for lieing which I know they never did as it was the landlord who signed the tenancy payments himself, he comes into the house whenever he feels like it without notice or does maintenance on other rooms to rent out without notice at all and we constantly feel pressured by his behaviour. Any advice would be welcome on what to do about the rent (will be paid up to date next week when I get paid) and about the deposit and me not signing an updated contract and the other issues. Thanks!

Hi everyone. I have been given 3 weeks notice where I liev at the moment and need to move ASAP. I have seen a place for rent that is suitable but I do not have the total bond plus one months advance rent. I need to raise £625 to cover the rent in advance basically. Could I get a crisis loan to do this? I work full time just don't have the full deposit. If I find nowhere to live I will be homeless. Any help appreciated.

I have a small shop, which is halfway through a 20 year, full repairing and insuring lease. With upward only rent reviews. I currently pay £14,000 per year rent. There are a number of empty shops around me and for the same size the rent offered are £8,000 pa on similar size properties. Things have become very tough and I now find this rent difficult to pay. Has anybody any ideas, other than agreeing with the landlord, who will not renegotiate. thanks

i am a shared ownership tenant where i am purchasing 50% of my property the other half is rent which i am 2000 pound in arrears with, but only a small amount of this due payment is service charges. and there is no additional ground rent charges. but my landlord has demanded from my mortgage company who is the notoriously bad Santander to send them the full amount that is owed on my rent and ad this to my mortgage payments which is already in arrears of 600 pounds.Can you please let me know if they are allowed to ad this rent to my mortgage, and they are also charging me 70.00 pounds for doing so and they said there will be interest added to my mortgage account on there's arrears . this is causing me a lot of worry and concern and is only making my situation worse, damaging my credit record and this may even cause me to lose my home.can you please advise whether this is legal or not for my mortgage company to ad this rent to my mortgage the service charges is about 25% of the rent payments?which would amount to 500 pounds of the 2000 pounds they have added to my mortgage and now the mortgage company are demanding that i pay this amount or i will be in breach of my mortgage.

Hi guys this is my first post so hopefully im in the correct forum! My land lord came round sunday afternoon for a routine inspection. He noticed that one of the bathroom floor tiles is cracked. I agreed that it needs replacing but instead of replacing the one tile (which im sure would be almost impossible to find the correct match) he suggested i take all the tiles up and replace the entire bathroom floor with lino that he would choose and i foot the bill! this seems extremely over the top and far too expensive for me to pay for. I was wondering if this would be general wear and tear? any help or advise will be appreciated. thanks in advance.

Hi all. I am new to this forum , but would like some help in weighing up my options on what to do within the situation I now face myself in. I recently moved in to a flat with my partner on the 2nd of march this year. Everything seemed fine, however 2 weeks in ,we received a letter stating that the flat was under a repossession order due to the landlord mortgage arrears and that a court date had been set to determine whether or not a repossession order would be granted. 2 weeks later, we found out that the landlord decided that they didnt want the flat anymore and that the mortgage company had been given the right to posses the flat. Becuase of this we decided to move out, before we were asked to, saving the money we would have paid on rent and using it for another deposit on a new flat. We where assured at the time by the letting agency and the citizens advice bureau that because of the circumstances this would be fine. However last month i received a letter from the letting agency stating that because we moved out before the 6month term was up, that we where obliged to pay the rent that we owed for that period. After some long talks with different parties including again the C.A.B, me and my partner are now being asked by the letting agency to forgo only our deposit of 500 pounds as I abruptly showed that they had no right to charge me for a flat that wasn't theirs. I would love some outside help and opinions now on my situation. I have requested that the deposit holding company (mydeposits.co.uk) allow me to take my claim to court which they have said is fine. But i am now worried whether any argument i propose in court will stand up and whether or not i will be able to win. Going through my tenancy agreement i have come across a piece stating the housing act 1988 schedule 2 ground 2. After reading about this, does this forgo my rights in the event of repossession? Do my ex landlords have any grounds to keep my deposit? Some advice would me very much welcome. Thank you

My friend and I have been renting our house since 9th March 2012 through a letting agency. The rental of £475 has been paid in full every month, until.... During May 2012 we received a letter, recorded delivery, addressed to 'The Occupier' from Winterhill Largo with a Notice Of Inspection. The letter went on to notify us of a change in receivership for the property. After a brief phone call I was informed by Winterhill Largo that our landlord had missed mortgage payments on the property and therefore the house had been repossessed. I immediately notified our letting agency but they didn't know anything about it! Further letters were sent from Winterhill demanding payment to them, not the landlord or his representatives. We made copies of all the letters and gave them to our agency who informed us they could not get in contact with this company and adviced us not to pay anything to anyone until the situation had been rectified. We have received a letter today from our letting agency confirming our property is now under new ownership and demanding payment of £1250 in rent arrears! Does this disruption results in a breach of our tenancy agreement? We are now frantically looking for somewhere else to live and would prefer to use the money saved during this period to secure new accommodation. Do I have any rights?

I am a secure tenant (30+years) and live in fair rented HA accommodation. The rent officer visited my current home 9 years ago (as new build) and wants to visit again soon. What is (in plain language) the formula for setting fair rents? Is the service charge included in the setting of or is this on top of set fair rent? What is the maximum percentage my rent could increase by? Thank You

A desperate borrower had her account emptied, leaving her unable to afford rent, bills and food, by a payday lender she had agreed a repayment plan with. The This is Money reader, who wants to remain anonymous, borrowed £900 from payday lender Quick Quid. But despite the lender agreeing a new repayment plan to help her out after she was left unable to work, it then took a large payment that cleared out her bank account and left her stranded. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/cardsloans/article-2168712/QuickQuid-agreed-help-took-money.html#ixzz20B7mfYtg

A desperate borrower had her account emptied, leaving her unable to afford rent, bills and food, by a payday lender she had agreed a repayment plan with. The This is Money reader, who wants to remain anonymous, borrowed £900 from payday lender Quick Quid. But despite the lender agreeing a new repayment plan to help her out after she was left unable to work, it then took a large payment that cleared out her bank account and left her stranded. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/cardsloans/article-2168712/QuickQuid-agreed-help-took-money.html#ixzz20B7mfYtg

Hi all, I really need advice on this, well the story starts in May a letting agent called "Fraser Knights" has shown us a property which we liked and decided to take it. Firstly they asked us to make payment of £500 for the holding deposit as the property was getting refurbished they asked for a week time to moved us in the property, we agreed to it. So, we supposed to be moving in on 8th of may but on 5th of may I have received a phone call from the letting agent saying that I have to make the full outstanding amount for the property (upfront rent and a month deposit total £2025) otherwise the property will be given to someone else and they said someone will come to your home and pick up the money and I did asked them that the person who will come to pick up the money is he bringing the contract and receipts, etc., with him? they said Yes. When the guy came to my home to take the remaining amount he only give me the receipt and said that the agreement is ready and has been sent to landlord for signing. I was ok with that but then when I called them up on 8th of may to get the keys for the property they said the landlord has given that property to someone else. And when I asked for the refund they said they will do it but its gonna take 21 working days due to the company policy. Still I kept patience and said ok, they sent me confirmation of refund and mentioned in the letter that I will get my money back by 11th of June as the letter was dated 10th of May. Now today is 22nd of June but still I haven't received my money back. Since 11th of June I am keep emailing them and calling them they keep telling me 'Oh sorry the refund processed on 11th of june so give 3-5 working days to reach your account' then I waited another week.. haven't received any money again called them they said 'oh sorry it processed on 14th of june please allow 3-5 working days'. I really dont know what should I do in this situation. I do have receipt of payment for £2025 I do have confirmation of refund requested I do have an email from payment department that refund processed on 14th of June What I can do for it..???? someone please advise me as its really frustrating now that I have waited nearly 2 months and still haven't received money from that agency. plus the stress I had to look for another property as I had given notice to my previous landlord. Please someone advise what to do.??? Thanks guys, Zia

Hello, I have recently applied to rent a property through Fraser Wood with my partner. My credit score is 420 (very poor) due to reduced hours at work 2 years ago. I have since earned promotion and I earn a substantial ammount with guaranteed 45 hours per week salary. My partners dad has acted as guarantor for her (he earns £144,000 per year) Are the chances of us getting this property slim or do we stand a good chance? I would hate to miss out on it as it is a lovely house.

Hi, I am wondering if you would have to have been on income-based JSA for 26 weeks to get help with a months rent after starting a job? or does your time on contribution JSA count also? Thanks

Hi all, new to the forum so hopefully I'm posting this in the right place. I lived in a council home with my two younger brothers, it's our family home. My brother was made redundant Sept last year. I was temping and unable to afford the rent but my brother was applying for job seekers allowance and help with the rent. I called the council and informed them of this. My brother is now working (on a much lower wage), I'm also working but we did have rent arrears, I was paying the rent April and May with an extra £30 each week, my brother made sure I didn't see any of the letters from the council until we received the eviction notice. I didn't know what to do and so spent the two days trying to get the arrears money so I could pay the council. Too little too late. I was evicted last Thursday. I made an application to my local county court (N244) for a judge to hear my case and the situation of why we had the arrears. Due to mis communication from the court I was not informed of the court date and it went ahead with out me today and the judge upheld the council's request for evicition. I have been informed by the court, that due to the mis communication, I can make another application for my case to be heard by the judge (without notice) and so am going down there tomorrow to make the application, I was told that I need to have LEGAL REASONS as to why the court should rule in my favour. Search for this has been a nightmare, I cannot get free legal advice (I earn too much) and cannot find anything online. What I want to know is how do I word the above in legal speak for question 10 on the N244 form. Any help you guys can give me would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

Hi! I am a student living with three other students in a house. Our contract started on the 16th September 2011 as a 12 month contract, however we all finish our studies by the beginning of June. After speaking to a few people I was informed that after staying in the property for 6months or more, by law, you can not be stopped from terminating your contract as long as 60days notice is given? I was wondering if this was in fact true, and if so, how I go about terminating the agreement? Thank you!

We are currently living in a wonderful house, however weather damage caused the conservatory to begin leaking. It was reported in March last year, and on every agent inspection since then (every 3 months). As the year went on, the leak got worse and worse, eventually leading to the laminate floor coming up, and water damage to the electrics - the breakers to the house were tripping an average of 2-3 times every time it rained. When we told the agent that both the light switch and wall mounted induction heater were drenched, and that the light fitting had filled 3/4 with water, along with 1/2 an inch of water on the floor, they sent electricians out to disconnect the conservatory from the mains - the breakers tripping had resulted in the loss of a freezer full of food, on the lead up to Xmas To add insult to injury, wind damage destroyed part of the fencing to the back garden, leaving it inaccessible from the outside. The conservatory was used at night to house our dog, but recent weather has left her water bowl frozen - the conservatory is the same temperature as outside. This in turn has resulted in the temperature in the kitchen dropping, rendering it ususable for my partner & baby unless the hob is running. And since the kitchen leads directly onto the stairs to the 2nd floor, the temperature throughout the entire house has dropped to the point where the thermostat for the central heating is having to be set at 25 degrees to maintain any sort of comfort. In the meantime, the agency has sent out builders who have in all fairness attempted to rectify the problem, however with it being so long term, water has been blown into the cavity, and can be seen leaking out through pointing during rain. We are at the end of our tether with this, since as far as we are concerned, we are paying a high price for a home which is partly unusable. The garden (and view) - one of the main selling points for our decision to rent is inaccessible, and the conservatory (another of the main selling points) is unusable - water damage has now started to effect our furniture in there as well. We have discussed all the above, at length with the agents, and have pointed out that we are paying rent on unusable features - We did say that under the circumstances, a rent reduction until the repairs were complete would be fair - however our agent just keeps repeating the same line over and over. "It can't be repaired until the weather improves", disregarding the fact that the initial problem was reported nearly a year ago, and that no action was taken until 2 months ago. Is there any grounds for compensation/rent reduction - as far as my research has found, the same agency is letting houses of the same size and location for up to £100 a month less than we are paying.

Hi, this is my first post. I have a problem. Me and my boyfriend are in the process of renting a flat, it's the first time for both. Our situation is a bit complicated. We were living with his mum until October, she was the tenant, then she was evicted. His sister is now putting us up. I moved here in the UK in November 2010. I haven't found a job here yet, I don't have a bank account as I don't have an income and I am not entitled to JSA anyway. My boyfriend is working full time so he was supporting me and he is now as well. The agency requires two proofs of current address not older than 3 months but how am I supposed to have what they want (like bank statement and so on) due to my circumstances and since this is a temporarily accommodation? I am not even sure my boyfriend can supply 2 proofs of this address, maybe a bank statement, but we don't get utility bills obviously as it's not our house, I couldn't anyway since I don't have any income and I didn't have my own house and he didn't either. I do have letters from DWP regarding my NIN, but they're much older than 3 months and have the old address we were evicted from. I was thinking of discussing this with the agent himself, but first I'd like some sort of advice, mainly I wanna know if this can be a big problem. Is there a way I can get a letter from some authority in like 5 days to have as a proof of address? Many thanks in advance

Can my landlord charge for administration on my ground rent demand ... I have a set ground rent of £25 per year .. I have a demand for £28.75 .. I dont mind paying the extra .. but is this within his rights? The demand is just for the ground rent .. also does he have to include a legal statement of my rights as a leaseholder, im sure what he has added is outdated, it reads 'for the purpose of the landlord & tenant act 1987 section 47/48 etc...

I have been hassled by my Landlord for the last 8 months over paying towrds general building work needed on the flats where I live - he wwanted me to pay £800 towards the cost of a new roof. Weekly visits from him nearly ruined my marriage but we did get some help purely by chance when we came across a website suggested to us by a guy from the ground floor. Anyone who rents a property and is having hassle with landlords should have a look at myleasecheck.com

Hi all,I’m in a bit of a bad situation with my former landlord and need some advice. It’s a bit long but please bear with me. I moved into his property, which is a shared house private accommodation, just under two years ago. I moved out on May 7th 2011 and gave notice on May 21st 2011, but paid him rent for May in lieu of notice. The reason I moved without informing him was because I had just split up with my partner who I shared the room with, meaning that I had to find a place to move pretty much immediately. I know I should have given notice, but I have no written contract with him and no deposit either so just figured I would pay him a months rent. So I no longer live at his address. I owe him £550 for rent arrears which he is chasing me for. This has been going on and on for a while – I have been paying him what I can when I can and approached him via email a few weeks ago with an offer of payment, £50 for June (which I have paid) and £100 each month thereafter. The only reason I have been contacting him via email is that he has consistently refused or ignored my repeated requests to provide me with his address. He has demanded £300 a month until the debt is cleared, which I cannot afford. He has threatened numerous times to take me to court, apply directly to my employer for attachment of earnings (he does not have a court order, in fact he has not even issued a formal written demand for payment!) , sent email regarding my arrears and my sexuality (!!) to other tenants in the house. I find his behaviour towards me very threatening; I am a 20 year old female living in this area with no close family or friends nearby except my boyfriend. At the advice of CAB I did not provide him with my new address, he has found it out anyway and said he will come round to my house and my place of work to chase me about the arrears. I have voicemails, emails and text messages confirming all of this. He has also sent emails to the tenants saying that if I am seen on the premises as a guest that he will raise their rent. Anyway recently he conceded to the £100 a month on the proviso that I would pay him an extra £50 on top of the £50 I paid in June. I cannot afford this! I can pay him £100 a month starting from the end of this month and that’s it. I have stated that I will pay him extra when I can, but all he is doing is going on about attachment of earnings and contacting my employer..Last night he sent me an email saying he was going to start court proceedings tomorrow because I can’t pay him £50, but he is fine with £100 a month thereafter? The state of the house when I lived in it (bathroom door does not close, oven and washing machine both broke twice and it took him months to fix, water tank leaking all over stairs, shower pressure broken) was disgusting, and I have three tenants willing to testify to that if it does go further. He would just turn up at times like 10pm on a Sunday night with no notice whatsoever, just come round the back and let himself into the living room. This combined with the way he has been treating me AND the fact that I have offered him a reasonable payment plan and stuck to it (speaking to CAB they have informed me it is “harassment by a creditor”) makes me think that if it does go to court I stand a good chance of winning, by sticking to my original arrangement or having the debt wiped all together. A solicitor has informed me that I could seek damages for harassment but I just want it over and done with! The only things he has on me is that I owe him money and that I didn’t give notice. (payment of a months rent in lieu of notice is acceptable I think, especially considering that he did not have to find another tenant as my partner continues to inhabit the room) What is your advice? I am very nervous and stressed about this, I work in a high-stress demanding job and have had to take time off due to stress migraines from this situation.Now I have worked previously in debt collection before (sorry guys) so I know that a lot of it is scare tactics (for example the garnishing of my wage without a CCJ) but is still stressing me out! I have contacted legal aid and they have offered to make a formal offer of payment on my behalf BUT it would damage my credit rating which is the one thing I am 100% determined to avoid. I have great credit for someone my age and intend to keep it that way. Apart from this fiasco, I do not owe money anywhere else. I have no other debts. I have contacted the police about this behaviour at the advice of legal aid and have an appointment this weekend to discuss his harassment. Tl;dr – landlord harassing me for money, apparently taking me to court, scared and stressed and just want to get it sorted asap. I want him out of my life! If I could pay more I would. Please help me, CAG! edited to add that he has attemped to evict myself, another tenant and my boyfriend from the property through text message on numerous occasions which i believe is illegal eviction.

Hi there forum I was hoping for your advice/comments on the following: myself and a co-tenant entered into an assured shorthold tenancy with a person that represented that they were the landlord of a property; we paid rent in cash (which was collected from our flat each month as the landlord's agent had other properties to collect rent from also) and we were given a receipt; the term of the tenancy was six months (started in April 2010) and so the fixed term expired in October but there is a clause which says that it will then continue on until either party gives a months notice to the other to terminate; we came back to our flat last Thursday to find a notice from a debt collection/repossion company celotaped to the door saying that we had been occupying the flat without the consent of its client, the purported registered owner; we did a land registry check and this does seem to be the case; we have tried to contact our landlord but all numbers go to voicemail and the agent cannot get in touch with the landlord either; the notice asked that we vacate immediately however after speaking to the debt/recovery company, we managed to agree that we would vacate in the first week in January 2011 (we had paid rent up until the middle of January); we have also been asked to make sure that all utility bills are paid up (our rent was all inclusive and all bills were in the landlord's name) - we replied by stating that we have paid rent which included a proportion for such bills and so if anyoen is to be pursued by the registered owner of the flat then it should be our landlord and not us; we installed a BT line into the property and now will have to pay circa £300.00 to buy out the 12 month contract (as we will have to leave before the 12 months have expired); it appears as though the landlord may well be a rogue and so we have been payign rent to someone who did not allegedly have the authority to rent out the property, although we acted in good faith at all times. ANY COMMENTS AS TO WHAT OUR RIGHTS ARE!?!?!? Thank you in advance and my apologies for the distress call! Yours faithfully Innocent_Tenant