Advice on complex situation

[akkastelli]

Hello everyone,

 

First of all, thanks for the great forum, plenty of informations here.

 

I'm writing to -hopefully- receive some suggestions regarding a relatively shady rental situation.

In brief:

 

We're living in three in a property here in London. The Landlord lives far away, one of us is the contract holder (leaseholder), the others are renting two rooms directly from the contract holder. We share communal spaces and have private rooms.

I've been living here since December, the other lodger since August, there has been an unsurprisingly huge turnover during last year.

We have no written contract, despite having requested, but all payments have been done via bank transfer, so evidence can be shown.

 

This letter presents some issues we're experiencing with the leaseholder.

 

Living here has been a nightmare, but hopefully this is coming to an end. Two people living in the smaller rooms have been harassed ever since, and have been covering with the rent roughly 90% of the total rent.

 

Recently it came to our attention that the leaseholder has been claiming housing and council tax benefits as sole occupant, hence a letter from the council was received by the landlord and forwarded to us.

 

The leaseholder is meant to leave the house in 1 month, upon ending the contract, and I will be taking over the contract then, becoming responsible for the whole rent/bills/taxes.

 

It has also been proven that heating bills has not been paid so far, despite the leaseholder pretended to and started collecting shares. Since that was discovered I refused to pay my share anymore because I wanted to be sure that those money goes into the right hands.

 

Now the problem is: the leaseholder is reluctant on paying the bills, and refuses to leave us a sum for the last two months of her life here, for the upcoming bills. She insists on us paying a share on the council tax - which I would agree to pay but I do not want to be held responsible for her cheating on the council.

 

I foresee problems in having my deposit back: as "lodgers" we left deposit directly to the leaseholder for the whole sum originally requested by the landlord. If we were to get this money back, it would be fair to presume (I've been assured of this) that unpaid bills will be deducted from the original sum left by the leaseholder to the landlord. Unfortunately, I cant see this happening and I want to know if there is some way to enforce this.

 

Hope this details are enought, any advice would be highly appreciated. My question is about finding the best way out from this.

If there is else you need to know, I am here to provide more details.

And..thank you. Sorry for my English, it is not my native language.

 

Cheers,

Edited March 23, 2013 by akkastelli

[mariner51]

Does the leaseholder have permission from landlord to sublet?

Whose name appears on the gas/elec bills? Utilities will chase account holder for payment, but could disconnect supply?

similarly for C Tax?

Contact local Council tenancy relations officer, CAB & Shelter for advice.

All occupants need to discuss situation with leaseholder before she leaves.

I would be reluctant to take on the Lease as it stands, best advice - find somewhere else to live.

 

Try postiing query on landlordzone.co.uk /forum for comm & residential letting Qs

[akkastelli]

Thanks for this reply, I will check the links provided.

 

The leaseholder has permission to sublet. Despite this, the original contract has never been posted back to landlord signed back, if that matters.

 

Council tax and bills are all on the name of Leaseholder. Infact, we never managed to see a single bill until the last few days, luckily. Leaseholder provided incorrect details of occupants in order to receive higher amount of benefits, apparently they managed to discover the trick.

 

We already tried to discuss the situation with no success. We're having another session on monday, and I will be soon required to take bills in my name as contract changes. I am reluctant to do so, all considered.

 

Thanks for the input, but I'd love to stay here. Place is ok, and I would be pleased to avoid someone else getting robbed as well.

Edited March 23, 2013 by akkastelli