Being chucked out of your house - C/D?

But at least she did give you a lot of notice. Generally I've had about a week's notice both times that I've had landlord trouble.

One landlord - who always said I was a model tenant - decided to remodel my flat while I was still living in it (and jack up the rent) and gave me about a week's notice that the builders were coming in.

Another landlord sold the house, bought a new one and invited a bunch of us to move with him (even offered to pay for the move) and then got gazzumped at the last minute.

Anyway, still, it really sucks for you. Who knows what goes through people's minds. It's probably cause you're a guy and you leave the toilet seat up. Good luck finding an even better place!

I'm just curious as to the reasons behind it. Are there any landlords on the boards that might shed some light on why you're all EVIL! EVIL EVIL!

My mum has always lived on the property, so gender is actually a concern for her, hence why I brought it up. She always has female tenants because she's nervous about having strange men about the house. Sure, that's probably illegal, but for an older woman who lives alone it's a concern.

I bring these things on myself. I said the other week that my life was getting dull - at least it'll give me something to do for a while. I hate being stressed, I go to all sorts of lengths to stop me from being stressed, but eher comes life, doing it's best to batter me down every time I get my head above water. It's never easy, is it.

My mum is a landlord.

Doh, indeed.

(However, she makes up for her evilness in other ways - like endless free babysitting for her serf's brats.)

Keep your head up, though. It sucks but hey, it's something big and controlled that you can fuss over to prevent minor stresses from grating.

But yeh, I've got plenty of time, so it's not like it'll REALLY be an effort, but it's still more hassle than I could really do with. I was going to a spanish festival with MarkH at the end of May, and I've had to cancel that because of this - ug!

ah lucky for me my new landlord is also my coke dealer.

I always pay rent and bills on time, etc etc never bother anyone, very quiet etc etc. But nevertheless, for reasons I simply cannot fathom, he had decided one day I was the anti-christ.

The only thing I can say is go with the flow, Johnney B., it's a major hassle to move out and it's a freakout to feel so personally slighted I know, but at the same time it might just turn out to be the best thing that ever happened. When the whole thing just doesn't make sense, why bother looking for answers? You've been given more time than I was, make the best of it. I wish you luck.

Oh, absolutly. She's an interefring busybody anyway, so I guess it's not a BAD thing necessarily, it's just I hate having pressure put on me, even if I am given two months to find somewhere.

Even having two months is no better for me, to be honest. I look on the interweb to try and find somewhere to move in, and they're all "We need someone to move in immediatly", and so I'm gonna have to leave it late anyway. Ah man!

perhaps she just has a friend who wants to move there, so has randomly decided to kick someone out?

i had to kick my flatmate out recently - in fact he moved out yesterday - he didn't seem to mind too much, though. just after i'd done so we had a letter from the council informing us that our landlords have applied for planning permission to knock our building down in order to build a new block of flats. this would be quite annoying if i hadn't already decided to move in a couple of months, so as it is it's just funny.

Hi!

I sent you an email regarding this yesterday - I guess you must not have got it. May I ask why you are unable to offer me a continuation of the contract? I only ask because I'll need to tell other landlords the reason for me moving, and at the moment I'm clueless!

Thanks,

John

And I got this response this morning:

Dear John,
I think you will find that nobody will ask you why you are moving. I certainly didn't. If you ARE asked, your response will be............... because your tenancy agreement has come to an end.
Kind regards,
J**y

So, it DOES seem that she just doesn't like me. And I guess that means I won't get a reference from her either.

Is it just me, or does she seem rather off?

maybe your new place will turn out to be the best place ever!

Who she rents to is her biddy business, but witholding a deposit is just plain illegal.

(Sure, it would be a hassle to go through the courts, but equal hassle for her as for you, so merely the threat may cow her.)

I had a look at the CAB website, and from what I can gather she's in the clear, at least regarding what she's done so far:

If you stay in the home after the initial fixed - term ends and your landlord does not intend to renew the agreement and wants possession, they will have to give you at least two months notice to leave the property, and will have to go to court for possession of the property if you do not leave.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/n6w/index/family_parent/housing/private_sector_tenancies.htm#The_tenancy_began_on_or_after_28_Februar

I just have a BAD feeling about the deposit, but as you say, if she's not keen on handing it over (when I blatently haven't trashed the place) then I'll address it from there, I guess.

I hope she doesn't fancy me. *shudder*

There aren't many other names "J**y" can be.

X-post

Er Jody?

He's a landlord who owns alot of the places around where J lives, you will know him by his trial of minging dogs and the lamentations of everyone.

These mails do sound bitchy, maybe all will be reserved when deposit controversy hits, and you are all "but I never TOUCHED the vase!?"

[apologies to whoever last did that]

what does this even mean? she 'didn't ask' why she didn't renew yr tenancy? eh?

We had a landlord called John Smith, and only had a mobile number for him. I should have gotten concerned at this point.

We got a letter from a lawyer telling us we'd be evicted in 28 days; we contacted the lawyer's firm, who told us that no such person worked for their firm. We left messages with the Landlord, but never got a reply. Finally, he sent a note giving us 28 days, but as he didn't put any address details on, we couldn't take it seriously.

We all decided to move anyway, as it was a scuzzy pile of shit.As summer approached, the boiler went. We contacted the Landlord, who said that we should get it repaired, and then he'd deduct the money from our rents. As we were moving, that didn't seem like a good idea, as we'd given up hope of the deposits being returned, and just decided to not pay rent in the final month we were there. Cold showers ahoy, scuzzy place, crap location. I wanted to move back to manchester at this point, but luckily my friends invited me to live with them in Blackheath, which is was altogether better.

My landlord did this. I had words with the agency I was letting through - who were themselves always very careful to do everything by the book - and they, I assume, had sharp words with him in return.

When I moved out, he took the flat off the letting agency and rented it directly himself - because by that time he couldn't legally let out all the bedrooms (unless it was to a family) without fitting fire doors and alarms. So, he rented it out illegally instead.

Man, I wish I'd gone to a posh college that would have put me up in swanky digs at minimal rent for the entire three years. Still, it prepared me for London, ho ho.

It was run by a landlord called Del who was the agent for his uncle Ishmail, who owned a shedload of houses, all of dubious quality. Ishmail told us that if we didn't pay the rent, he'd get the boys round to teach us a lesson. He added that if we broke his furniture, he'd break us. We nodded and agreed, because it was better than Morecambe.

Every week, Del would come around and pick up the housing benefit forms for the person who did not live at the house. We did not think this odd.

We discovered in the third term of the year that the cooker and gas fires were all dangerous and had to be condemend. We took this as an opportunity to complain about the fridge being shit, the lino being disgusting and the house generall a complete shithole, and withheld rent and changed the locks. I vividly recall watching from behind a net curtain as Del and friends tried to enter and got more agitated. We were terrified.

My girlfriend at the time had moved in with me, but we didn't tell Del this. She instead pretended to be a housing adviser who told us what our rights were. Her parents came round once at the same time as Ishmail and pretended to be independent housing assessors. Ishmail was told the house could be condemned as being unfit for human habitation. He threatened to get 'community relations board' on to us, as we were apparently acting in a way to breakdown the racial harmony within the town.

Eventually, Ishmail called it quits and didn't get any rent from us that term, and we had a slightly less shitty house. We had to leave in a rush, and we accidentally left behind a picture of me and my gf, which I hope Ishmail found and cinematically roared with anger and screwed up.

Hi Laura,
Can I assume from your questions that you intend to stay on at Milton Rd.? Marcus and Laetitia both intend to stay long term in the house. I will be happy to replace the curtains and will measure up when I come over on 28th. Likewise the microwave. Can you make it clear to John and Sam, that if the house and garden is not in great shape, I will have it done professionally and take the cost from everybody's deposit.

Since you were there when John took on responsibility for Byron and Claire's share of clearing the garden, maybe you could ensure that he carries this out.

Kind regards,
Judy

Okay then, background:

1. Marcus and Laetitia are two people (neither of whom Laura has met) that Judy has found to move in to my room and the other spare room - no consultation at all.
2. I agreed to take on the gardening (which isn't in that bad a shape, sorry) when I thought that I'd have at least a summer to sort it out. If I knew I was going end of May, I certainly wouldn't have volenteered.

My main question is this - can she just take money out of people's deposits (in the middle of the contract, mind) just because she thinks it all needs cleaning? As I've already mentioned, she seems to think that anything short of spotless means that the house is falling down, and the place is NOT, I repeat, NOT, in a bad way, but I have the feeling her vindictive nature (and the fact that she doesn't like me very much) has meant that she has already decided not to give me my deposit back, and I could get professional cleaners in myself, and she still wouldn't find it up to scratch.

This is so annoying. To be honest, I've already resigned myself to not getting my deposit back, but to bring Laura (and Sam, another tennant who's had enough) down with me is just plain wrong.

Sorry for my incoherence, I'm fuming.

i'm fucked.

hstencil, that sounds like a harsh gig tho. Have u got something lined up post-oct?

hstencil, good luck. i hope you'll get through it all. :-(

i think my next 'situation' is going to be in august, it depends what the other two in the flat are going to do. everything with this one seems to be ok, if a little expensive, but if the others move out, then, we'll have to see

I think the law is pretty useless with regards to renting and deposits in general. Trying to get deposits back off landlords in court is pretty difficult (I've heard), I imagine it works the same the other way too.

Yeah, she could sue for breach of contract, but for the value of rent owed her she'd have to take it to small claims court. Then she'd be elligible for the court costs (about £80), travel expenses for getting to the hearing for the 'defense', and her own costs. So after all that, it wouldn't be worth her while for the sake of one persons worth of rent for a month.

Colonel, are you EDU? EDE? We're in the middle of transfering all your sites over onto our system, and what a pallaver that is. Objections and rejections all over the shop.

This is sounding more and more dodgy by the day, and you are better off out of it. Keep copies of everything.

And if she's going to raise a stink about the garden... honestly. Looking after a garden for a landlord is a favour, not a legal obligation. It comes under outside repairs and is their responsibility, not yours. (I just do it because I want the gardening space to grow beans and rocket.)

Hope this all works out for you!

The best landlord I had when living in Manchester was Brian Skelton. His houses were really nice (we viewed several before settling on the one we lived in), he fixed stuff promptly and I don't think it even crossed his mind to try and con us out of our deposits. Bless him.

I'll talk to you soon. Let me know about the possibility of moving out early.

wow.

This unfortunately wouldnt have worked here, cos legally owners can demand to see a reciept as proof of the carpet cleaning done professionally, and its a standard lease item to ask that the carpet be steam cleaned when leaving, no matter the state of the carpet!

It blows.

Even worse is that he has also asked a guy who has lived here 8 YEARS to leave, even after he had made him the offer of taking my room as his has to be closed under the new regs. He said he picked his name out of a hat too and he would have to go anyway. The lying, cowardly, deceitful bastard. None of us has seen this phantom raffle take place and are pissed off that he did not allow us to make the decision as to who should go working no the principle of last 2 in/first 2 out. I haven't lived here even a year and am sorely peeved at being forced to undergo the stress of flat-hunting and moving all over again. Lazy, greedy, stingy, heartless fucking landlords. Two months' notice is fine but it is still a massive pain in the arse.