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.

No you don’t. You set up a standing order that’s what neurotypical people do. ADHD is not an excuse and you give neurodiverse people a bad name.

what ever the rights/ wrongs of the landlord you have decided, without any discussion, to elect that the loss of one communal space (that you don’t even know if you have a contractual right to), is worth 100% rebate of your rent.

You also seem to forget the contract/ tenancy is between two people and YOUR responsibility is to pay your rent on time.

You have no legal ground to withhold rent. She could evict you for that and if she did you wills struggle to ever rent again.

Pay your rent. On time. And the back payment.

No you aren’t. A good person wouldn’t be posting here asking if they can withhold their rent for no reason, live free in someone else’s house and manipulate a situation to enable this.

Pay your rent. Stop mucking around with music and get a job.

So to paraphrase, your issue is that you are currently living rent free in a stranger’s house, and you aren’t happy with the solution your landlord has been forced to put in place to solve the problem you have created. Read this twice, then take a breath and read it a few more times.

I’m fairly sure, if you intentionally entered into an AST, the landlord cannot negate that simply by moving back in.

But you need proper legal advice on this, not listening to a bunch of anons on the Internet, so put in the effort to contact Shelter or similar. They can be busy so you may have to persevere a bit to get through to them, but it’s important to really know where you stand.

If it helps you feel calmer while you get someone qualified to look at your particular situation, here’s an example from Shelter that seems to cover a part of your concern:
https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/news_and_updates/tenant_or_lodger

However, the non-payment of rent will still give her grounds to evict you. So work out how to get that paid. It’s the thing that makes you most vulnerable at the moment.

Pronouncing oneself 'a good person' does not cancel out crap behaviour, OP. A pattern of decent, reliable, thoughtful actions are what makes someone a 'good' person.

Please do yourself a favour and stop using ADHD as an excuse. I have it too. Knowledge is power. Avail yourself of your phone reminders, standing orders to pay rent, and talk to whomever diagnosed you (hopefully you're not only self-diagnosed?) and ask them to prescribe medication if you're not already.

You're way past old enough to be taking responsibility for your life. Soon you'll be in your 50s or 60s and how will it be then? Get some support now from family, friends and a good therapist.

Also, consider that DJing as a job may need supplementing with an unfortunately far less exciting yet reliable income. One of the harsh realities most of us have to face up to in life is that the thing we love may not pay the bills and is better placed as a hobby.

I am sounding tough I know. But please wake up to yourself. You're not 18 anymore.

Do you think that renting property isn't a job? I can assure you it is! Also, if the landlady sold her property, and it seems you'd be happy with this, where would the four tenants live? There aren't enough private rental properties available because so many landlords have sold up. And there aren't enough social housing properties. Landlords are vital in a dynamic economy so people can rent when they want to move for jobs, even if they buy later.

She seems to be a tenant in an HMO so has all the tenant protections.

Gender?? Please!

@GoodLordyTheExcusesWeMakeForThem
the OPs ADHD is so severe she can't possibly manage to remember that she has to pay rent. the likelihood of remembering that chain of actions is surely beyond her.
Unless the ADHD is selective.

A good person pays rent on time, no excuses and can't banks set up regular payments at set times?

A good person does not have the brain capacity to come up with a million reasons they can't do something and can manage to turn up to jobs but can conveniently forget to pay rent

How long is your tenancy? If it's 6 months I'd be looking for somewhere new if I were you.

If you can't remember to pay your rent, set calendar reminders on your phone. No landlord will keep a tenant who is consistently late with rent.

Do you know how much money you are owed from gigs and, when does your main job next pay you? Will you be in a position to clear the arrears anytime soon? And will you be able to afford to pay the next rent on time?

OP I don't understand all the legal t and cs but omg you need to grow up and pay your rent and pay it on time!
What ever is going on in your life is non of your LL concern and do you not think she has her own things going on too?
Like constant stress every month wondering if you are going to pay and when??
You should be apologising to her and assuring her it won't happen again. Set up a monthly standing order and pay it up to date.
If you can't afford to pay your rent or pay on time that is not her problem...doesn't sound like the others who share your house are being as difficult

Whether it’s correct or not is irrelevant. If you don’t pay your rent, you can be evicted. It’s that simple. Lodger or tenant, you can be evicted. And the council won’t help you, if it’s through rent arrears.

You need to talk to the LL and sort the rent and arrears out.

Then get job/s that ensure you earn enough to pay your rent, or move somewhere cheaper.🤷‍♀️

@littledragon99 go to the landlords forum on FB you’ll see how many people don’t pay rent and how long you can away with it until you sort your situation out - good luck

Oh yes she can. If you Airbnb individual rooms in a property, you can do it all year round without the 90 day restriction.

the 90 day restriction only applies to Airbnbing whole properties (in London)

You can only short term let individual rooms without the 90 day restriction if you are living there. As a live out landlord it’s still not allowed. The person providing the rooms for short term letting has to be liable for council tax at the property for it not to require planning permission.

as the living room hasn't been rented out for 90 days and the Op fears the landlady will be returning to live in the property anyway, all of that does not assist the op in paying her full rent on time each month

the Op is just trying to find reasons / excuses not to pay the rent on time / in full - so she is not evicted because of constant failure to pay the rent on time in full.

You are not a good person, JFC who told you that? 🤣 Your LL is, and your employer is, but you, absolutely not 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣

Good people dont swan through life treating others the way you do. ADHD? More like a parasite and a narcissist

Homelessness is no more than what you deserve to be quite honest

Hope your poor ll and employer (ex employer after this maybe?) are able to financially recover from the damage you have caused

I agree OPs main issue is that she can’t afford the place she’s rented. But OP not being a good tenant doesn’t mean the Landlord isn’t a shitty Landlord.

OP has said in other posts that one of the bedrooms is being airbnb’d as well (maybe to try and get around London’s HMO rules), which seems to have been occupied by several different people since OP moved in in March.

@littledragon99 OP you are in a mess here and it’s about to get a whole lot worse. In your shoes this is what I’d be doing:

1. Stop looking for loopholes in whatever your LL is or isn’t doing. They are irrelevant. They became irrelevant when you didn’t pay rent for two months. Non-payment will trump anything else and give grounds for eviction.

2 Talk to your boss. They are clearly supportive as they agreed to be your referee. Ask for an emergency hardship advance on your wages.

3 Use that injection of cash to pay your arrears. Apologise to your LL.

4 Set up a standing order with your bank to pay your rent on the correct day every month.

That will put you back on safer ground with your current LL. Avoiding eviction has to be a priority. If you are evicted for non-payment, it will be nigh on impossible to get another rental. And the council won’t house you.

5 Start looking for a cheaper place. You can’t afford this one, it is not sustainable. Work out your budget and accept that that’s all you can afford. You need to be in very careful control of your everyday spending, goes without saying you have no room for luxuries and frittering money away.

6 Talk to StepChange for help in managing existing debts. No other debt is as important as keeping the roof over your head, but they do need sorting.

As I said, avoiding eviction has to be your main priority. If you are evicted everything else becomes a nightmare.

Your LL has been unbelievably patient and helpful, made accommodations for avoiding credit checks and putting up with you paying only once out of five months. Her patience cannot be expected to last forever and you need to show that you are getting back in control.

You may be a good person at heart OP but your behaviour is really not ok.

Now that you’ve been unequivocally told by many people that this is the case, what are you going to do about it?

I would suggest speaking to Shelter about your situation but DO NOT withhold rent.

Also, get in touch with a charity who help with money management. Make a plan / budget, set up standing orders / direct debits and stick to the plan. You won’t get out of this mess being so chaotic.

Truthfully, you're heading for eviction. Never ever withhold rent, you can be evicted with 24 hours notice. Your issues are separate to your rent obligation. Being truthful, you've not been a great tenant if not paying on time. Rent is number 1 priority.

A tenant cannot be evicted with 24 hours notice. A notice for the correct period has to be served. The landlord will need to obtain a possession order and, if it's a S8 then it's a defensible notice. That means there is actually a hearing in court, both sides are able to tell the court what has happened and the court then makes a decision. Even if immediate possession is given the landlord will have to instruct bailiffs. Only bailiffs can remove the tenants from the property.
All of that takes time.