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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Aibu -father wants me to commit fraud!!?

186 replies

pumpkinsweetie · 25/08/2012 23:32

As some of you may know, my father is also my landlord. Boiler was serviced 4 days ago and then condemned. We have been without heating and hot water for over a week due to boiler being declared dangerous by gas meter engineer.
Landlord/df came over yesterday, promised to fit an immersion and get me electric radiators until he has the money to complete it (apparently £4000). So fine and dandy thought atleast we were getting somewhere (sigh)..........until today: he has rung me and asked me to pretend i own the house so i can get a grant for the boiler!!

Wtaf: my own df is now expecting ME to commit fraud to save his own neck. Mentioned immersion to him, he said maybe monday, maybe tues.

Even if i went ahead with this crazed idea, it will not work as im not in receipt of any of the benefits needed to get one!

I obviously said to him i will be found out, he said "no you won't they won't look into who owns the house"?!!- knowing full well i recieve an amount of hb, of course they will know my name and address and know im RENTING
Wwyd

OP posts:

BlackberryIce · 26/08/2012 00:21

Surely you have the deposit and advance rent from when you signed tenancy with your dad? You can use that

BlackberryIce · 26/08/2012 00:22

And the deposit? Doesn't it have to be protected these days...

D0oinMeCleanin · 26/08/2012 00:22

We got one of those grants. We had to provide details of the mortgage.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 26/08/2012 00:23

Do you have any idea if your Dad could actually afford to replace the boiler right now OP?

He obviously has to do something, but do you really think that your Dad is deliberately treating you like nothing, or could it just be that he's in a position where he needs to do things as cheaply as possible?

MmeLindor · 26/08/2012 00:27

How much are you paying? Are you paying market rate?

Original poster

pumpkinsweetie · 26/08/2012 01:20

Market rate, but the rent in my area has steadily increased this last year and the houses available to rent are over a £100 more, completley unaffordable to us as the hb only helps to a small degree.

Outraged: he tells me he cannot get credit and does not have any savings but that doesn't dismiss him from not sorting the immersion or electric radiators.
He hasn't even offered me to have a bath/stay at his not even once

At the moment nothing is happening and when he says monday or tues, knowing him he will either forget or not bother as this is a normal pattern he follows when something goes wrong with the house.

Its taken him over six weeks to fix my oven last year, 3 weeks to get the leaky loo fixed. He has also taken 4 years to get the rotten, rubbish filled shed a rightful home in a skip-which my dh& mate had to do, all df did was pay for the skip.
He has also taken 6 months to get the fence sorted that had fallen down

I love him and hoped he loved me but i guess im just here to make things easy for him.
If he sold the house it wouldn't sell very well without a boiler...

OP posts:

TraineeBabyCatcher · 26/08/2012 01:25

Oh, what an awful position your old man has put you in. Can only reiterated what others have said. Hope you can get something sorted

sashh · 26/08/2012 02:11

What can i do about getting hot water & heating im at my wits end?

You HAVE to report him. You have a child, it will be cold soon, you need hot water and heating. Go to youor council, you are not 'suitably housed', they will either find somewhere else for you or force your df to fix the heating.

I quite like tethers idea.

ChasedByBees · 26/08/2012 04:54

I would report him but I'd give him warning. If he instants on you having a formal landlord / tenant agreement then he needs to behave as a proper landlord. I would say, 'this needs to be sorted by date xxx or I'm going to have to go to Shelter and report this. Your grandchild and I need hot water and heat'.

Inertia · 26/08/2012 07:38

I'd be inclined to invite yourself to stay at his house for as long as you have no boiler, and every time he neglects to repair something. Having your father as your landlord cuts both ways.

In the meantime, save up to move out.

cupcake78 · 26/08/2012 07:41

Yanbu they are

HecateHarshPants · 26/08/2012 07:44

oh god, don't do it!

save up to move out. You need to get out of there. He doesn't CARE!

you have to report him. He has shown he doesn't give a shit about you or your child. He's happy to let you both freeze. Why the hell should you be bothered about him?

Please tell me you have a proper signed contract with him?

Lougle · 26/08/2012 08:00

Ok, so you are entitled to housing benefit if you are renting as a business arrangement. I used to rent from my uncle,as did my sister and my other uncle. My uncle owns 5 properties, so the council were quite satisfied that we were legitimate tenants.

If you receive WTC, then you can't be in receipt of the benefits which make you eligible for a warmfront grant. Incidentally, if you had been, you could have legitimately applied as the tenant.You don't need to own the house which needs upgrading.

Your father could buy a boiler on a monthly payment scheme. The other alternative, which my father did, is to get a boiler on Ebay (my father found one which was only 1 year old and had been fitted under a warm front grant, but then the house had been sold) then pay a plumber to fit it. Dad ended up with a total bill of around £800 for the boiler and the fitting.

HecateHarshPants · 26/08/2012 08:07

Are you on the council/HA waiting list?

I wonder how many points you would get for being in a property with no hot water and a landlord who refuses to fix it?

And - I assume you will be paying the extra elec that those heaters will use? I warn you now - they gobble it up! You can see the meter spinning round so fast there's smoke coming from it!

ENormaSnob · 26/08/2012 08:14

You need to move.

diddl · 26/08/2012 08:25

So he doesn´t care that his daughter & GD are without hot water & heating?-and are still paying full rent?

Why wouldn´t you report him?

He´s a crap landlord-anyone else would.

He probably wouldn´t dare treat another tenant like this anyway?

TheArmadillo · 26/08/2012 08:36

the only person you can't rent from and claim housing benefit is the other parent of your children. Being a relative doesn't automatically make it a contrived tenancy for whichever idiot said that, but it is looked into closer than if they weren't a relative.
go to your council and get housing advice. You are not suitably housed and your landlord is doing nothing to fix it. They have several options depending on the specifics of the situation/how they see it. They may give you a higher priority on the housing list, move you immediately if they feel there is enough of a danger, or they can liase with the landlord and either force him to carry out the work or do it and bill him for it afterwards. None of this may necessarily be done quickly but something should happen.

TwoPeasOnePod · 26/08/2012 09:03

for you, aged 19/20 I initially rented from my father and his wife, and when I was 7 months preg the boiler broke, he didn't repair it til baby was nearly born So I know exactly how you feel about being treated poorly by someone you would hope would want to 'help you out' (whilst paying full rent and them still thinking they can tramp through 'their' house unannounced)
Renting from family didnt work for me; in fact it contributed to my PND. Its hard and expensive but the best thing I ever did was MOVE Sorry this is not very useful, but just offering support, maybe look at alternative rentals in your area? Definitely don't lie for your dad because you would get into trouble! Plus it would excuse his appalling half-arsed behaviour

Icelollycraving · 26/08/2012 09:05

Terrible behaviour from your dad :(
It can really be problematic renting from family. I rented from my sister & had the boiler go completely. They also didn't have money to replace yes they bloody did & so bought me a fan heater. Luckily the shower was electric so I could shower. The heater whacked my electric bill up considerably. No offer to compensate that. I think it was weeks until they did install a new boiler. I didn't have any children though so it was annoying but ok.
I would suggest giving notice to your dad,he will get it fixed then I'll bet.

TwoPeasOnePod · 26/08/2012 09:06

And I second a pp who said report him to relevant auhorities- he isnt fulfilling his duties as landlord, god knows I wish I had done the same!! When I think back on it, I was still paying full rent the whole time, aggh makes me glad I've found the strength now to cut the nasty bastards out of mine and my DCs lives. Good luck

Foxy800 · 26/08/2012 09:08

I wouldnt have any part in it either but i must say you are lucky to be getting housign benefit. I was temporaily renting of my dad when pregnant with my dd 7 yrs ago and unable to get any housing benefit as we were related.

Foxy800 · 26/08/2012 09:10

I think it may be better for you to find another place to live as it looks like this arrangement could be very problematic for you.

Hope you get it all sorted.

RubixCube · 26/08/2012 09:19

Of course he had savings.He sold loads of properties.He even told us how much he made on them.He has always lied

Margerykemp · 26/08/2012 09:27

Go to your council and make a homeless application- your home is unfit to live in.

RubixCube · 26/08/2012 09:28

His even used our trust funds to help them out of pickle.He never payed it back like he promised.He sold his buisness not long after so there was no excuse.That man does not care.I've known it for years

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