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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think these landlords are despicable?

19 replies

HannaPintura · 20/07/2018 15:01

Ex p and I moved out of a rented property 5 weeks ago and went our separate ways.

We rented through an agency. The LL's (owners of house) have always been really shit, but everything done through agency, which until about 6 month ago had also been shit til it was taken over. I had a phone call the day before we were due to move in to say it had to be delayed because the LLs had left it in such an unclean state, the agency wouldn't let us move in on time) I said that we had to (had nowhere else to go) and we had to sign a declaration saying we were moving in against agencies wishes.

Since then, tenancy has been a nightmare. Damp in house, ceiling caving in, and the whole time, the LLs refusing for agency to get it sorted because of the expense. A neighbour told me that with a particularly massive damp problem in the living room, the LLs just painted over it when new ten ants were due. This damp was all over electrical sockets and stunk the place out with musty smells.

Anyway, 4 weeks ago we moved out and I left the place spotless as I knew the landlords were nightmares from what neighbour had been telling me. The landlords have raised a dispute with our deposit saying they came round personally and gave us several hundred pounds for new flooring and are taking that from our deposit. This is untrue. We have never met the LLs.

This is now laying with the DPS, but I would really like to take the lie further, but is it a lawful matter?

OP posts:

Travis1 · 20/07/2018 15:06

I doubt the police would be interested and I doubt DPS will entertain them without proof. Just dispute it and let it go to resolution.

lostincake · 20/07/2018 15:44

Isn't that also fraud? Can you go to the police? I would get advice from Shelter, the housing charity.

lostincake · 20/07/2018 15:44

Also, report them to HMRC as they are probably not declaring the rent or paying tax if they are happy to potentially commit fraud!

divadee · 20/07/2018 15:48

Let it go with the dps. They will likely side with you as the landlord has no proof he gave you pounds to get new flooring.

ButDoYouAvocado · 20/07/2018 15:48

They would need to prove that. The DPS are great, let them deal with it, it will be fine.

Faerie87 · 20/07/2018 15:56

It sounds like your landlords are being CF, unfortunately I don’t think the police will have time for it, you could take a civil action against them but again I don’t think you would get too far with it :-(

I would allow DPS to sort you should have an inventory on going into the property and coming out of it. So you should be fine.

Did you report the damp problem to your letting agents at all? Stuff like that needs to be reported. I know many tenants feel like they can’t report issues due to fear of being evicted but there are measures in place such as bringing it to the councils attention that can stop a revenge eviction in its tracks.

I am a landlord/lady myself albeit an accidental one, as I could not sell my first house so ended up letting it out, however due to it being my first house and me living there prior to my tenants there was very little wrong with it. I do however try to fix problems as soon as they come about. I really don’t get how some landlords think they can treat the tenants to substandard conditions! I hope you have better luck for your next home xx

NoisyFridge · 20/07/2018 15:58

report them to HMRC as they are probably not declaring the rent

^ I'm liking that one. revenge and cold

NoisyFridge · 20/07/2018 16:00

p.s. I found the DPS to be absolute shit by the way, a few years ago. another useless quango. that said, obviously the LL who sound thick as well as lying scumbags, won't be able to prove anything so your deposit money should be fine. Make sure you write to DPS detailing your issues with the LL and their lies.

NotAsGreenAsCabbageLooking · 20/07/2018 16:06

Stuff like that needs to be reported. I know many tenants feel like they can’t report issues due to fear of being evicted but there are measures in place such as bringing it to the councils attention that can stop a revenge eviction in its tracks.

Has this changed recently? I rented a property about five years back that was horrendous, (didn’t have a choice at the time as I was a single mum working p/t so council wouldn’t help, but as I wasn’t working f/t a lot of agencies wouldn’t go near me). The house had damp, mound and stunk. When it rained I would have to have a bucket in the corner of my kids room to catch the leaks. Just before Christmas one year the heating and hot water went, he refused to fix and said he’d do it in s couple of months, if I didn’t like that I could move out.
I spoke to the council who said they could send someone out to do s report and enforce repairs, however.. the likelihood was that he’d evict me, and if need to stay until I was forced out. Then I’d be given emergency accommodation (hostel or B&B) until the council would house me.

With a job, two kids, a cat and a houseful of furniture I’d worked hard for this wasn’t an option.

Landlords can mostly do as they please unfortunately. Thankfully I now own a house!

tectonicplates · 20/07/2018 16:28

OP did you take photos after you'd cleaned the place?

One thing about tenancy deposit schemes is that they do mainly tend to go in favour of the tenants these days. The onus is now on landlords to go to the lengths of disputing things. These schemes were set up specifically to stop landlords from taking the piss with these things.

tectonicplates · 20/07/2018 16:30

The landlord will have to show proof that he gave you hundreds of pounds for new flooring.

Faerie87 · 20/07/2018 16:31

@NotAsGreenAsCabbageLooking

All I know is that if you report the problem to the council and they force the landlord to put the problem right, the landlord can’t issue a section 21 until 6 months after the problem has been resolved. I’m not sure if it is a new thing but it is in place to stop revenge evictions.

There are things that can over ride it for example a landlord can still enforce a section 8 for the appropriate reasons and they can still issue section 21 if they are selling the property, so for example if the landlord can’t afford to fix the property and they want to offload it and sell it they can still evict the tenants on the proviso that they sell rather than try to let it out again.

I use a landlord forum so pick up a few things from there as I was a bit of a rookie and wanted advice off more experienced landlords for help with the property I let out so there are a few threads on there about reporting to the council in order to stop revenge evictions, where I based the above info on. I would say I’m not 100% on it so if it is any different I apologise :-) x

Power2thepe0ple · 20/07/2018 17:17

Please can we stop using the phrase accidental landlord. You are either a landlord or you are not. I can't think of anything else where people start apologising for their circumstances. Does anyone say I'm an accidental hairdresser, I run my own salon, I'm an accidental artist I make jewellery and sell it. Obviously, not everyone is in a position to run a business and this is what a landlord is, it comes with responsibility.

tectonicplates · 20/07/2018 17:25

Accidental landlords are generally people who own their own homes and have to move away for work or other personal circumstances, so they move away and rent out their home. This is in contrast to buy-to-let landlords who purposely buy properties to rent them out, as a money-making scheme.

Power2thepe0ple · 20/07/2018 17:53

I know a few people who rent out a house for various reasons, I've never heard them apologise and say accidental landlord. If people take a lodger into their house, they don't say accidental landlord. I don't agree with the tone of the word accidental.

Faerie87 · 20/07/2018 17:53

@Power2thepe0ple

No I won’t stop using the phrase because it is a term that is widely used, when it comes to properties and ownership. Google it if you must, I may also like to add it’s a term described within the training involved to be a mortgage adviser. Maybe you could stop getting your knickers in a twist about Silly things?

Seriously when it comes to these forums there is always someone that wants to start an argument over the pettiest of things!

@techtoniplates has described what one is perfectly and shows there is a big difference between someone who goes into being a landlord as an invester and someone who is thrust into it due to a poor housing market, inheriting a property, negative equity or they move in with someone new and don’t want to get rid of their house in case it does not work out!

Power2thepe0ple · 20/07/2018 17:58

Taking all types of circumstances into account, someone could be an accidental and other type of landlord at the same time.Personally, I don't see the difference. It's running a business. And yes I've been a tenant...

Faerie87 · 20/07/2018 18:04

And to be fair I have not apologised for renting out my old property. I had little choice after it was on the market for sale for over a year and to drop it price any lower would have meant selling it for less than I bought it for and I could not afford to do that.

If you were to own your own business such as a hair salon you would usually go into that as someone who wanted to be self employed therefore there was an intention to start a business so there would be nothing accidental about it, however if you inherited the salon from a relative and had no idea how to cut hair and chose to train as a stylist or employ hair stylist and let the business run itself then I guess in that instance you could be described as an accidental hairdresser but that would be a lot more rare than people owning property.

Original poster

HannaPintura · 24/07/2018 15:42

Hello, thanks all for your replies.

Yes, I did report all damp which never got rectified in the whole 18 months we were there.

This is the same landlord who cam in the property without notice, just let herself in with a key to look at a problem we had reported and then blamed us for ruining her lovely home. The home that was given to us in a horrible state we had to sign the declaration!

The agency are insisting on sending our statements to the dps. Is this normal? Should we be sending anything to them? I asked the agency to send me whAt they have sent to the dps so far just so I can make sure they have sent everything, but the agency won't reply.

OP posts:

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