Hey guys,

 

Anyone have any advise? basicly i used to live with my old man etc and he got into rent arrears and now the landlord is calming almost £9200 in rent arrears from us. not a problem usually but myself, the old man, sister and brother are all on the agreement and he is suing us all. all money went from dads account and i used to give him my share. is there anything I can do?

 

do I admit on the N9A 1/4 of the cost? I'm already in an IVA so cant afford to pay again but I also cant prove I gave dad my share of the rent. landlord does not want to talk about it and on working out my expenses it would take me 21 years to pay the full amount off on my own at 35 quid a month if he accepts that, but if i accept only 1/4 then its only about 2300 and that is not so bad. I only have about 35 quid left after i pay my usuall expenses as that is all i have left after rent/fuel/food/wedding expenses etc.

 

The reason dad got into this mess is the window on his room was so rotten it fell out and he reported it to the agent, (told him in person, not via letters) and they never got it replaced, had a guy come out once and measure it up then when they came back it was the wrong size, so they changed to another company and said they would be there at a specific time, but they never turned up at the time they said and then turned up another day when noone was there or so they clame. then it got to the point that the agent said we needed to call them and arrange a time to fit it, the company never returned any calls and still never came out, 20 months of no window made dad ill and had to have lots of time off work, but it got to a point that it had to be unpaid so dad could not afford his share of the rent etc.

 

Is there anything we can do? also the contracts when we signed them was not witnessed by anyone, do they still count as legal? anyone know where i can get cheap / free advise? as i am broke, am always in my overdraft and the IVA takes most of my income anyway.

 

:cry::cry::cry::(

i would go and see a solicitor as it sounds like the house was not acceptable anyway so you would have a case as to why you didnt pay the rent but i would get some advice asap bud

 

Mike

if you offer him money and he refuses, get it in writing that he is refusing it and if he wont sign it let him take you to court, the courts will be in you favour as he has refused payment and they will tell you to pay about £10 a week until your curcumstances change, also if you go to a solicitor you will receive legal aid cos you dont earn enough to pay them. As for the window falling in do you have any proof that they did'nt call to replace it?

Your local Citizens Advice Bureau will give you free advice and probably recommend a local solicitor.

I think any solicitor in the world will agree that a house without a window is "not fit for the purpose" and therefor you dad may well be within his rights to withhold the rent from the landlord.

 

Speak to citizens advice as its free and they deal with dodgy landlords all the time.

get a lawyer

get one quickly

dont take anything anyone has said on here de-facto, so not looked, but if your in trouble like this you need to talk to someone who knows more than just speculation

pm'd you mate.

 

regards

chris

who's name is on the lease????

who's name is on the lease????

 

Dads, sisters, brother in laws and mine.

if it was just ya dads, he could have claimed hardship and went o one of those debt reducing places and worked out a plan, not sure if all of you's can though, you say it wasnt witnessed, im sure its not a legal binding document if it wasnt witnessed, do you have a citizens advice buerea near you, you will get free advice from them, also is any of you's not working, if so you could claim legal aid and get free legal representation, has it gone to court?????, maybe he dont want it to cause he knows it wont get anywhere as the house wasnt fit to live in

 

as ive said, get to a citizens advice beurea (still cant spell that word lol)

does it state the amount you agreed in rent on the lease

does it state the amount you agreed in rent on the lease

 

Yep it does, its witnessed for the agent just not us. as it was signed the day we moved in on the counter in the kitchen. looking at it the arreres started 3 months before i moved out, so was advised to fight it and say i was unaware of it etc, also I am already in an IVA and from what i have been told, if i dont pay that I go bankrupt and if i get more debit while under an IVA i go bankrupt so its a lose lose situation for the clament i guess. plus i own fookall apart from the z and thats not worth much as the body work is shagged!. so i guess its not in his intressets to persue me, and dad is in the same boat, IVA etc due to being to ill to work etc. so i think the same would apply to him. TBH we have no issues paying them, but if you dont have the cash what can you do?

pm'd you mate.

 

regards

chris

 

I was going to suggest he talked to you, can I have some commission please :D

I was going to suggest he talked to you, can I have some commission please :D

LOL and a top guy Uno is to! if i was not broke i'd pay you the commision my self lol. oh will a few :duffer::duffer::duffer: some time will have to do ;)

 

P.S. Uno, 7th is good with me to give you a hand with your car :) fits nicely between my week off and soon to be brother in laws 21 :)

Uno I suggest you have a 300zx party afterwards and offer accomodation and I may come down after work and certify the work completed :D

is he harrasing you for the rent, do you have many letters or demands from him, i know as a landlord we have no rights what so ever, you can claim damages to ill health from him if he is harassing you for the rent, has he served you with a 56 day eviction notice???, he cant do anything till he has done that, and it has to be official

 

will let you know more when i sober up and remeber more lol

 

letting all the secrets out now

is he harrasing you for the rent, do you have many letters or demands from him, i know as a landlord we have no rights what so ever, you can claim damages to ill health from him if he is harassing you for the rent, has he served you with a 56 day eviction notice???, he cant do anything till he has done that, and it has to be official

 

will let you know more when i sober up and remeber more lol

 

letting all the secrets out now

 

ooh tell me more Allan, i rent a house, although its brand new and theres nowt wrong with it YET lol

basically if you are under a privet landlord instead of a cooperation (like the council), they can be done (especially if in mtl's case) for harrasment, i know of a landlord who just recently has been done for leaving a letter a week requestin rent arresa, the tennant went on thei sick with depression claiming the reqests for the rent put him under pressure, he didn thave to paY the arrars and and got 11k for the harrasment

 

aperently he is a serial claimant and knows all the ins and out's

 

there is ways ands means

basically if you are under a privet landlord instead of a cooperation (like the council), they can be done (especially if in mtl's case) for harrasment, i know of a landlord who just recently has been done for leaving a letter a week requestin rent arresa, the tennant went on thei sick with depression claiming the reqests for the rent put him under pressure, he didn thave to paY the arrars and and got 11k for the harrasment

 

aperently he is a serial claimant and knows all the ins and out's

 

there is ways ands means

 

 

But did the landlord deserve it?

no he didnt deserve it, the person in question is in our secret little black book, as ive said-as a landlord myself i dont agree with ****ers doing this, but in mtl's case it seems that the landlord didnt deserve to collect the rent as the house wasnt habitable

 

there are some rouge lanlords, knocking about who deserves nothing but hassle, but there are some gnuine ones about (like us), we have the cleanest bedsits in sunderland according to the council, we are the only landlords in sunderland who have cleaners come i once a week to clean all the communil area's

 

p.s, my spelling is crap when im drunk lol

Hey StellaZ,

 

I think there is the odd letter asking for it that i found when helping dad to move, also I would get the odd call from the agent if he could not get through to dad, anna or pete. and he would just say to get pete to call him, hence i did not know about any of this till dad said he had to move, he was exicted on the 22 and so far has been living in his van since thursday with my brother, he also had to take all last week off unpaid to move all our possesions from the house etc. so that is more money he lost, as for the damage to the house, I will list what was wrong.

 

Back door frame is falling out, you can push the top of it out, and its only got screwes in the bottom, the top was held in with silicone sealent. same with the window next to it, its crept away from the sill.

 

Rotton floor boards in one room so much so its actually fallen though and there is a hole.

 

my old room the wallpaper was peeling off the wall by the window due to damp.

 

Dads room window fell out (thank god noone was under it) and has been like that for 20 months. infact i think it was like that before sister had her kids. and now the smaller one if falling out and is a danger to anyone using the back door as the glass is only just hanging there and ready to fall. also when it rains hard dad said the roof was leaking in his room but i never see that.

 

Last but not least, there was a small loo upstares that feed into a small electric pump/shreader box think, that then pumped it all up into the loft, where it then connected to the rain water Drains!!! and not a sewer. that cant be right can it?

 

I will try and post up pics of the issues.

the toilet thing is a big prob as it will be raw sewage going into the storm drains (not good), also the landlord has no legal right to throw you onto the street if you have no where to go to, it is against the law to make you homeless (will go in your favour), even if the tenancy agreement and your 56 day notice was up, as long as you started to pay the rent you could have stayed

 

the probs in the house will help you aswell as it was in an unsafe way

 

not sure if the people asking for the rent is harrasment, only if you have been given notice and they keep pestering you for it, it seems more the letting company's fault rather than the landlord's fault that the property is delapidated as they are duty bound to repair any damage, i would deffo go to a solicitor and seek proper advice, see if you can come to an arragment

 

also has anyone mentioned going to court????, they prob wont want that if the property is in such a bad state, you may be able to convince them to agree to disagree so to speak and get he debt written off, you may be asked to give evidence of the complaints you made about the property

BTW, the advice im giving is for you to have something to argue back at them, it aint gospel advice that will stand up in court, it is to give you a fighting chance against a shoddily run letting company, it may help and may not

BTW, the advice im giving is for you to have something to argue back at them, it aint gospel advice that will stand up in court, it is to give you a fighting chance against a shoddily run letting company, it may help and may not

Thanks mate anything is a help :) as for illegal to make you homeless, how does that work? as it was a court balift that came round etc, but now dad and brother are living in his van (only a basic ford transit ffs) and my sister and her other half and 2 kids (one is about 6 months and the other is just over 1) they have nowhere to go, and so far sister has had to leave kids with her father-in-law for last few nights while she finds somewhere to stay each night :( the agent has been great so far and said to dad that he can pay the arrers off once he has found a place, but its the landlord that has started a legal clame for it :S and he said he had a new window ready but it was never fitted cos none arranged for them to fit it. well the times we were told it was booked they never turned up, then the agent said we had to call them and arrange it, well we did but never got a reply from them.

i think the landlord is trying to pull a fast one regarding the window, but its his word against your's, not sure on the lagalities on making you homeless but i know of a landlord who is stuck with a tennant from hell as she claims she has no where to go to and he cant kick her out till she finds somewhere to go

 

like a said, deffo seek legal advice, solicitors usually give the firsst hour free and will let you know if you have a case or not

iff the house was so bad then why did you live there so long??:confused: