Advice needed. Horrendous ex landlord.

[NoMoreMarbles0]

Hi,

I’d like some advise please if anyone could help. Bare with me. I signed a 6 month contract 11 years ago and nothing since. I moved into a house with no bond. The people aren’t landlords per se and just have this one house, although the house is in their sons name. After 11 years of being terrible landlords I left and now I’m being harassed with it ‘turning ugly’.

I left because :
There was not one single gas safety check done in the whole tenancy.
For some reason they removed the snake alarms.
The radiator in my sons room started leaking and they ignored my many requests to fix it.
They offered a new kitchen...which they left half done and still wasn’t completed when I moved out.
They insisted on cash being dropped off at their relations house as the rent.

I wrote a letter explaining why I was going. Left. Now they’re saying I owe rent and need to contact them before things get ugly. I just want to know where I stand before I dell as I have no intention of paying them anymore money. They put me and my son at risk and I don’t owe them anything. I actually feel harrassed. Funnily enough I could never manage to speak to them as a tenant but now they can’t seem to get off the phone.

Any advice would be grateful.

[SisyphusAndTheRockOfUntidiness]

I'd go to the CAB, for a start.

Do/ did you have proof of the tenancy?
Did you keep any correspondence proving the above? Including phone records.
Did they lodge the deposit with one of the 3 registered protection schemes?

[SisyphusAndTheRockOfUntidiness]

Ah sorry I see you say there was no bond.

[NoMoreMarbles0]

Sorry didn’t realise I did it twice.. delete this one and use the other

[Requinblanc]

Did you give them notice and kept a record? usually you have to give one month notice.

Go to the Citizen Advice Bureau with a copy of whatever tenancy you had and let them advise you.

How do they know where you currently live? If they are threatening you I would also report them to the police. Some local authorities have landlord registration schemes in place (basically the landlord needs to pay for and be issued with a permit to rent), shop them to the council if you think they are breaking that particular requirement. It is also likely that they are not declaring the rent to the tax man if they asked you to pay in cash...

Stand your ground. They just sound like nasty bullies who are trying it on...

[Mintjulia]

Also, if they demanded cash rather than a bank transfer, sounds like they are withholding information from the tax man.

I agree with op, call the council housing dept and explain the situation. Ask for advice.

[MindTheMinotaur]

I've previously used the Shelter helpline for advice, they were very good. I think they can be prosecuted for not having a gas safety certificate.

[whataboutbob]

OMG I am a landlord and these people are completely out of order. At an educated guess they are 1) cheating the tax man 2) breaking the law by not doing gas safety checks ( a fact not a guess) 3) breaking the law by not having the correct alarms ( also a fact) .
They are now harassing you for money. They know they could never get it legally so they are trying to scare you.
You owe them nothing and if they bother you again call the police. They may even try and gaslight you and make you feel you are in the wrong, so just keep all contacts with them to a bare minimum but be firm if you have to have contact and say you will not be harassed and will call the police if they persist.

[whataboutbob]

It goes without saying that If they are taking money from you to live in their property or their sons property they are landlords and as such have legal obligations . Just because they act grossly unprofessionally it doesn’t mean the law does not apply to them.