Former Landlord harassing me for rent arrears - please help!

[merak]

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.

Edited July 7, 2011 by merak

[ashmk]

If the LL goes to court I will eat my hat.

 

Call his bluff.

 

He sends you threats, he has no contract. The man sounds like a complete di*khead.

 

A court would be happy with £50 a month, but I cannot see him going anywhere near a court. It's all bluster.

 

I would tell him to sue me or frick off.

Edited July 7, 2011 by ashmk

[merak]

That's what I have thought. I am considering that I might contact a solicitor (I know one) to sue for damages. I am livid with the way I have been treated. I want this all out of the way but I also want this on his record so it doesn't happen to anyone else.

Edited July 7, 2011 by merak

[Alipeeps]

Ummm...if you had no contract/tenancy agreement with him then why do you even owe him any money? Because he says so?As far as I am aware, if you have no tenancy agreement then you haven't agreed to any terms and conditions (including notice or termination fees etc) so you can leave any time you like and you don't owe anything!His behaviour is clearly completely unacceptable and illegal to boot and I think you are doing exactly the right thing by reporting his harrassment to the police. Personally I'd tell him he wasn't getting another penny out of me and that if he continued to harrass and intimidate me I would report him to the police and seek legal advice about taking out an injunction on him.

[merak]

As far as I am aware, I was on a rolling month to month contract which is agreed verbally, and legally counts as a contract? all my bank details electoral roll etc were registered to that address?

[Alipeeps]

As far as I am aware, I was on a rolling month to month contract which is agreed verbally, and legally counts as a contract? all my bank details electoral roll etc were registered to that address?

 

Well if you had a verbal tenancy agreement then that is legally binding but the problem with verbal agreements is that they are very hard to enforce as, of course, there is nothing in writing to confirm what was agreed verbally.Then there's the issue that he has already violated your rights as a tenant, such as:The right to live in the accomodation undisturbedThe right to live in a property in good repairProtection from evictionBasically the prat hasn't got a leg to stand on and I sincerely doubt any court would ever judge in his favour so I personally would tell him if he wants any more money out of me, he can take me to court. In fact, I'd be tempted to tell him that if he hadn't harrassed and threatened you, you'd have been quite happy to pay him what you owed, but seeing as his behaviour has been so totally unreasonable and illegal, from now on he can contact you through your solicitor!

[ashmk]

And ask him if the Taxman is aware of his rental income.

[Ed999]

My comments only apply if the premises are entirely within England and Wales, and you were granted a tenancy (under which you - and your spouse/partner/children, if any - had exclusive use of a seperate dwelling, which is not shared with another tenant nor with the landlord), and you were over 18 years of age when the tenancy was granted, and the rent is less than £2,083 per month.

 

This posting is supplemental to the information in this forum's "sticky" threads and is NOT to be read in isolation.

 

 

Harassment

 

As you have already moved out, and have already consulted a Solicitor and been advised about your legal rights, but are not willing to sue under the Protection from Harassment Act, the allegations of harassment are neither here nor there.

 

 

Sharing with Others

 

There is no legal requirement for a tenancy agreement to be in writing (provided it's for a term of less than 3 years).

 

But where the accommodation or facilities of a single dwelling are legally shared, i.e. by creating more than one letting agreement, there cannot be a tenancy. This is where a single dwelling is let under two or more contracts.

 

This sharing can be with other tenants/lodgers, or with the landlord. You would be merely a lodger (known legally as a 'licensee').

 

Where other people live in the same building, in order to create a tenancy -

(a) Each must occupy a seperate dwelling in the building, i.e. a self-contained flat; or

(b) The whole building must be occupied as a single dwelling under a single contract, i.e. all the occupiers must sign the same contract, as joint tenants.

 

See, for example, Types of Tenancy.

 

 

If there is a valid tenancy, the rent continues to run - even if you move out - unless you validly terminate the tenancy.

 

To end a periodic tenancy, the tenant must give one month's notice in writing, expiring on the last day of a rent period (but if the tenancy agreement requires a longer period of notice, the tenant must give the period of notice required by the agreement); and this notice can even end the tenancy within the first 6 months.

 

Example: The landlord or his agent MUST receive the written notice by not later than 30th July, if it is to take effect on 31st August - the last day of a rent period if rent is due on 1st September.

 

But if you have a fixed term tenancy, the tenancy expires when the fixed term expires. No notice is required - no notice at all - provided you move out before the final day of the fixed term.

 

If you move out without ending the tenancy, the rent will continue to run and you can be sued for non-payment.

 

If you do nothing, your tenancy or licence will end if and when the premises are re-let. A re-letting by the landlord always ends the previous tenancy, and stops the rent continuing to accrue due, because re-letting is an act which is incompatible with the continuation of the original tenancy.

 

 

The Notice Given by You

 

If you had a valid tenancy, the termination notice given by you was invalid if it was not given in writing, or if it did not give at least 31 clear days prior notice, or if it did not end on the last day of a rent period, or if you have a fixed term tenancy.

 

It is unclear whether, in law, an e-mail constitutes notice in writing. It might, or it might not. But possibly not - it lacks permanence.

 

If it is a fixed term tenancy, such a tenancy can't be ended by giving notice (unless there is a provision in the tenancy agreement which allows that).

 

 

Surrender by Agreement

 

There is another way to lawfully end a tenancy: the landlord and the tenant can agree a surrender of the tenancy, by a document signed by them both.

 

A surrender of a tenancy is only legally valid if done in writing and executed as a deed (e.g. signed, sealed and delivered). It must be signed by both parties, and their signatures must each be witnessed by a third person.

 

This is because it amounts to a variation of the original tenancy agreement. Like any contract, it is only valid if it complies with the legal requirements for the formation of a contract. If no money is paid, a contract is invalid unless executed as a deed.

 

To draw up a valid deed of surrender, you would probably need to pay a solicitor.

 

The advantage of a surrender of the tenancy is that it can take effect immediately (or on any date convenient to both parties).

[mariner51]

A verbal contract is legally binding. A financial debt can be pursued for 6 years from date due.

If we can assume OP is not named on the orig AST, can we assume her ex-partner was the only listed T on the AST? If so, he is resp for full rent & all arrears. Is ex still LLs T?

OP says she has some prior experience of debt collection and should know debt payments can be pursued by licensed debt collectors etc, often without a Court order. The main advantage of a CC order is the CCJ which can seriously damage a person's credit rating if debt not discharged within 28 days from date of order (and an attachment of earnings order);paying off some of the debt and emails etc the OP appears to admit debt liability.

Whilst LLs actions appear reprehensible and ill-informed, they are not nec illegal.

The OP is no longer LLs 'T'

The OP has made an offer to repay debt by instalments within x months. I would respond, reiterating the offer, adding if it is not acceptable LL should sek a CC judgement when an offer of repayment at £10 / wk will be made. Approaching employer or pursuing other non=legal remedies/persistant intimidating emails will be regarded as harrassment and be reported to Police.

OP could approach employer, explain situation and ask for an advance of salary or obtain a loan with affordable repayments to pay off the debt (OP states good credit history)

This OP is taken on face value.

[Ed999]

A verbal contract is legally binding. A financial debt can be pursued for 6 years from date due.

If we can assume OP is not named on the orig AST, can we assume her ex-partner was the only listed T on the AST? If so, he is resp for full rent & all arrears. Is ex still LLs T?

 

 

Hi Mariner.

 

I considered this, before posting. A potential snag occured to me: if the contract is verbal, there can't be ANYONE named on the tenancy agreement, because there'll not be a written agreement. It'll therefore be impossible for the young lady to prove that she isn't a tenant.

 

Another possible consequence of this might be that the alleged joint tenancy - she describes it as a 'shared house' - might actually exist with the other occupiers, not just with her and her boyfriend, again making it difficult for her to show that there was no tenancy: the court is more likely to find that a single contract exists if there is no paperwork to the contrary, and a single contract for the whole house would create a valid tenancy.

 

Her best outcome is if she is not a tenant, because being one makes it necessary for her to terminate the tenancy validly, in accordance with all the complex laws that she has so far ignored.