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.

I completely agree, the landlord shouldn't have to pay the OP's bills and the OP shouldn't have to pay the landlord's mortgage or bills!

@CaptainBolt - You cannot be serious. So OP should be able to live in a property that doesn't belong to her free of charge?

This. Urgently.

It seems like the 'lounge' was a room that could be let, it wasn't for a while and you used it as an extra living space (with permission I assume). Now it's let so you can't. That's no reason not to pay your rent and it seems you were a bad payer already. My sympathy is with the landlord. What does your contract say about using the lounge? That is the important thing, if it says the lounge is common space like the bathroom and kitchen you may have a leg to stand on, but I rather doubt that is the case.

Your landlady is being unreasonable but you are being more unreasonable. You can’t expect to keep living somewhere and not pay rent for it. Go back to Citizens Advuce or contact Shelter hotline.

Ok the op was misleading, it read like you rented the house.

the bottom line is you’re in breach by not paying your rent, as such she will be able to move to eviction. And if she does so, you will be hard pressed to ever find someone to rent a room to you again. As such, you need to pay it I’m sorry. You cannot withhold rent. And honestly. You need her way more than she needs you.

Landlords are apparently reluctant to rent rooms in shared properties - as opposed to renting out full properties- to people from mid or late 30s.

i also don’t know why, but I thought this thread, as a few others have pointed it out to you is instructive. Sorry you can’t see it!

Bloody hell i have adhd bit you need to change your attitude

"I have ADHD and often need to be reminded"

So set a reminder on your phone and use a reminder app. That's how I manage. Never paying your rent on time is crap!

Separately I would ask for a reduction given you no longer have an amenity but she's hardly
Likely to feel like saying yes is she !

She has bills to pay too. Do you have the money you’ve withheld?

Pay her what you can, then work out a repayment plan for the rest of what you owe.

Does this prevent you from setting up a direct debit?
Do you need to be reminded to go to work?
How do you pay your phone contract or any other subscriptions? If you didn't pay them then your phone wouldn't work. What's the difference?
Sorry but you've lost all credibility with that comment.
Check your agreement and if it doesn't explicitly say you have use of the living room then you don't have a case.

Agree, ive seen some ridiculous things written on this forum but that may win the internet today.

Unfortunately no mention made of communal spaces in the AST

So, no. Isn't that what standing orders are for? You're giving them a valid reason to evict you. Can't really blame the LL.

It is a HMO if you and the other tenants are unrelated, share facilities and the landlord does not live there.

Is it registered with the local authority as a HMO, most London local authorities insist on HMOs being registered. If so it should be part of the licence about how many people can live there.

You can’t just not pay rent and you need to pay your rent on time. If you don’t like the current arrangement you need to find somewhere else to live.

Are you for real? What do you think her anxiety level is when you decide to not pay your rent? You sound very self-centred.
What do you think should happen? You put her in financial difficulty and she shouldn’t donanything about it? You object to her airbnb-ing the living room while conveniently ignoring the fact that she is only doing it to make up the money you owe her.

Then she can rent it out. If you don’t like it, give notice and leave. You can’t just not pay.

and I’m sorry having adhd is no excuse for not paying your rent on time. And her renting out the living room is no excuse for you just not paying.

she needs to evict you; I would. However as said. No 9ne is going to rent to you ever again when she does.

Then you should welcome your landlord’s initiative to contact your employer so your rent is paid to them directly and you won’t need to remember nor have anyone to remind you? No?

do you think lounge is let out now so cover for your late/ unpredictable or missing payments from your room?

You also need to clarify if the other people living in the house are tenants in an HMO or if they are there through AirB&B as there is a huge difference.

You are both being unreasonable. You need to set up a standing order and pay on time. If you are having financial difficulties because you aren’t working due to your health (are you on sick leave?) you need to look into your entitlement to benefits.

If your contract says that you have shared use of the sitting room, your landlord can’t take that away. That said, expect that she will give notice if you don’t agree to it. She will definitely (and be within her rights) evict you if you withhold rent. She also can’t air b n b full time in London.

Does she have an HMO license? Gas/electricity safety certificate, EPC etc.

Start paying rent on time, get a good landlord reference, find a better landlord.

Have you spoken to the other two tenants about the removal of the communal area? What do they think? Perhaps the three of you together need to approach the LL about a rent reduction but

Did your LL not notifying you about their decision to turn the communal area into another room? Did neither you or the other tenants notice when the room was being decorated and furnished to accommodate the extra person? The room must have been out of bounds for a while before person 3 moved in? Or was it all done in secrecy during the night? I think your time to complain about this has passed.....

No you can't withhold your rent, it sounds like you are having trouble paying it and are looking for an excuse to not pay altogether. Citizens Advice can help of you with debt and housing issues. It sounds like your LL may already have some grounds to consider eviction if you have had issues not paying rent recently, don't provoke them by arguing over the living room if you want to stay.

So the landlord should pay the electricity and gas and water and council tax and tv licence on a property they don't live in? Is that what you mean?

At least read the thread!

Ah then you cant use removal of them as a valid reason to withold rent, however the 8 week rule still stands. You can use this to force her hand regarding the airbnb a court would also be likely to look sympathetically on your situation given the worsening anxiety caused by this ‘venture’ of hers.

Don’t be ridiculous .

Then there is your answer.
You rent your room
You do not rent the living room
Landlord owns the property and can do what they like. That is their right
If you don't like it you can move out. That is your right.