Witholding my rent AIBU

[littledragon99]

I'm a woman in my late 40s, living in a 3-bed Victorian terrace in West London, where I pay £1,200 a month with all bills included. I signed an AST in May.
I work in recruitment and DJ on the side. Despite being skilled in my job, financial difficulties have arisen following my mother’s death, and I've struggled with timely rent payments. I’m currently in therapy to manage my depression.
Recently, my landlady has begun Airbnb-ing the living room, removing the communal space I was paying for. Given this change, I believe the £1,200 rent is no longer justified.
Additionally, she inappropriately contacted my boss, (my boss was my reference) about paying rent directly and has threatened eviction. I’ve consulted Citizens Advice and suspect my deposit wasn’t placed in a Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS), which may breach legal requirements.
Due to these issues, I’ve withheld my rent since August 1st and am prepared to take further action if needed.

The time limit is from when the owner received the deposit, not when the tenancy started. Deposits have to be placed in one of the 3 government - approved schemes - TDS is one of those.
The National Residential Landlords ' Association says :
Section 21 rights where prescribed information is not given

If the deposit was not protected within 30 days of receipt, the landlord cannot serve a Section 21 notice until the deposit is returned.

In addition, if the deposit was protected but the prescribed information has not been served within the 30 days from the receipt of the deposit, then no Section 21 will be valid until this has been served. In the cases, the landlord can regain their Section 21 rights by serving the prescribed information. However, they will still be open to the financial penalty.

Don’t be so belligerent! The landlord will be left with a hefty asset once the mortgage is paid off.

tenants have an obligation to pay their rent. But landlords should have an obligation morally to be decent landlords who recognise it’s their tenants who are ultimately paying for their pensions. Removing communal space is a greedy money grabbing, could not care less about the people who rent from me thing to do.

whether or not contractually they have done anything wrong is another thing though.

im a property owner before you come at me. I don’t have skin in the game. But I don’t come from a property owning family, and I remember the hussle 15years ago of renting. It looks bleak still…

Ironically, if OP had paid her rent on time the LL would not have started thinking about renting out the lounge 🤷‍♀️ We reap what we sow.

I'm a retired homeless officer, the first rule in respect of finance/debt is that you pay essential debt first. So you keep the roof over your head, you pay utilities, food, and, if you have to get to work you set money aside for that. Credit cards, and debt not secured on a house are way down the list. You can be taken to court for those but you won't lose your home, it will just be a money judgement. I've known lenders take much reduced payments or even hold off adding interest because they know that if you don't have the money, you can't pay and they might end up with nothing if bankruptcy happens. So, they agree a small sum until you are back on your feet. If you have debts that you can't service ask the CAB for advice and if they, or another agency, can assist you in dealing with the debts.

Well, that sounds like a plan. 🙄

How on earth did you pass the security and financial checks?

You're very irresponsible and a nightmare tenant.

Pay your rent.

The LL has every right, morally and legally, to evict you.

Forgot to say, being a landlord is commercially motivated. When the profit motive is eroded, there will be fewer properties available for renters and the price will go up.

So if you want to stand for tenants rights, recognise that landlords need a return on their investment and they don’t owe society housing.

You need to sit down with someone and get some help understanding your finances before it spirals out of control
You've been through a tough time. There's no denying that. But your LL is not responsible for your finances. Don't bury your head in the sand

The LL has only rented out the communal space because the OP is withholding rent, and hasn't once paid on time.

🤮

what an utterly privileged point of view.
housing is not a luxury good that can be traded like a commodity.

housing is an essential. We need shelter. What sort of society would prioritise commercial investment over everyone being adequately housed. It is literally everything that’s rotting the country from the inside out.

i get that the system is not a lone landlords fault. They didn’t make the rules. But they damn well exploit them a lot of the time, and the property owning classes just keep accumulating don’t they.

what possible recourse do people have, when plenty of folks will defend the rights of landlords to make profit because ‘durr it’s got to be commercially viable’?. Nothings ever going to change.

Why are you renting in an area/house share you can't afford?

There are much cheaper areas of London that you can rent in which will be more affordable for you.

You really are behaving very badly indeed. You must have known at the outset that you could not afford this rent.

Unless all rental becomes government owned you have to accept that landlords - whether individual or corporation - will need to turn a profit. Even if all rental does become government owned, rents will still need to be large enough to cover the loans used to buy the properties and earn enough money that when tenants buy the properties can be replaced.

there is no utopia where rental is ever “at cost”. So rather than slagging off landlords for needing to make money to make it viable to take the risk of renting out, how about we focus on regulation, and mediation/arbitration options for disputes. The single worst thing about the whole process is the adversarial use of courts to end a tenancy when someone doesn’t want to leave. It does nothing to foster conversation.

Who’s going to buy the housing stock if there’s no return?

Your problem is with successive governments selling off council housing and not replacing it, not with private landlords.

Well the plus side is that she can't evict you with an S21 unless she returned the deposit in full first.

On the other hand she could issue an S8 if you get 2 months behind on rent.

If your contract doesn't mention communal areas then nothing you can do.

Either accept it or move out on 9th September at the end of the 6 months and move somewhere else.

Ps - don't use ADHD as an excuse. Just use a visual calendar in the room and write in your rent date or set reminders on your phone.

West london. Great! I can help you. Is your deposit in a protected scheme and also even more importantly does your landlord have a license from your local council for the property to be let out to tenants? You can find this out by going to your local council website and typing in selected Landlord list if you have a play around on the website you can find out if your landlord does have the necessary license secondly all paperwork up-to-date as your property is being let out it needs to have the following licenses fire safety plan And EIS electrical wiring certificate every five years they have to come and check to make sure that everything is working fine with the wiring. It’s a very poor time consuming thing and it usually cost £100 but some landlords don’t do it but it is a legally necessary step for the property to be let out to tenants , dust the property have a gas safety certificate

Great advice

Totally agree with this

I think you’re confusing social housing and private rental. No private landlord goes into renting property as a charitable act. Of course they need to at least cover costs if not make a profit. Social housing is not for profit. Arguing people should be stepping up and renting out as some form of charitable act, is beyond ludicrous. Why should they. If you want not for profit, that’s social housing.

If you want to help. Then read the thread first off.

You completely missed they need to return the deposit minus monies owed, which is the rent outstanding, thus negating it.

If people didn't buy more property than they need and then rent it to those who can't afford, or don't want, to buy their own then what would happen to those renters?

Signed, a renter who is grateful that my landlords own more property than they need.

Needing to be reminded to pay your rent is madness. Get a direct debit set up. If you can't afford it there move somewhere cheaper. I'm sorry things are hard right now but you've got to take responsibility for your life or they will never get easier.

This. You are a disgrace OP.

So what is your plan @littledragon99 ? You’ve paid late every month you’ve lived there, your idea is to withhold rent on something not in your agreement… and then what?

Your LL is already calling your reference, who is also your employer? What do you think is the end game here?

Please be a nicer. OP is going through depression, anxiety, and has lost her Mom. Maybe with help getting in the right direction, she can work her way out. Sounds like she might be newly sober to which is a big accomplishment, and she's holding down a job, so it's not all bad. Some people who are ND or depressed need help with sorting out priorities and exec function stuff.