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.

@violetto

the Op already has an offer from a Mumsnetter to go and leech off her, and apparently she can inherit her council house tenancy too...

p.s. I would not call it ' throwing her weight around ' i.e. giving you notice !
bit ott that wasn't it.

but at 29 pages in, you have at least looked up Shelter's website...

You will still owe her money even if she keeps your deposit?

Her LL can easily raise a claim via the small claims court to recover rent arrears.

Someone said my AST turn into a lodging agreement up the thread once LL moves back in and 'claims' she always lived there, which she hasn't, which is a lie. To all those saying I'm going to live in a cardboard box, I've been ill since I finished my DJ set 1st weekend of August

Presumably you have a copy of your ast? She cannot just change the arrangements. You will be evicted if you don’t pay rent, obviously.

Looks like she downloaded the contract off the Spareroom website which clearly states her address at the bottom which isn't here

None of her fuck ups really count, your withholding/failing to pay rent is the issue. You’re focusing on the wrong thing. There are things you could do to rectify the situation you’ve put yourself in, nothing will help when the court hears you haven’t paid rent and your drug taking will be obvious, believe me. How about you put your energy into sorting yourself out instead?

Give it a rest op. You’re just dragging it out.

Your a terrible tenant abusing the kindness of a landlord that forgo a credit check due to a kind boss vouching for you then you’ve been a late or non payer every bloody month.

Do one nice thing for them and just leave on the end of your tenancy date and set up a payment plan.

stop being a leach.

Is this still going on?
Just pay up or move out

Still Shocked your not embarrassed by this whole thing at your age frankly.

You come across as proud frankly.

I think the removal of tax relief on rentals made a lot of landlords sell up. That and the increase in interest rates, forced some landlords into a loss making position. Now with the govts plans to massively increase tenants rights, it's becoming less and less desirable to be a LL. Then we have this situation, which is a great warning to anyone considering becoming a LL.

This is what you need to focus on.

"To all those saying I'm going to live in a cardboard box, I've been ill since I finished my DJ set 1st weekend of August"

You're fucking delusional! Ill with what? Class-A comedown?

What about your "day job"? Actually we should just put giant quote marks around everything you write as you are so obviously full of shit.

Where was this "DJ set", pray tell? Your dealer's bathroom?!

@littledragon99

ill ? so you won't be getting paid this month then as you said it's commission only...

at least being at home all day gives you plenty of time to pack.

@littledragon99 Have you got someone to give you a reference and/or be a guarantor for your next place? How will you pay your deposit for your next place?

You will definitely have to leave your current place at some point in the near future regardless of what the landlady has/hasn't done so you need to start planning urgently, ill or not.

Yes, your landlord is probably a bit dodgy. That's because no non dodgy landlord would have accepted you as a tenant. Having actually found someone who was prepared to rent to you, you needed to pay regularly and on time, and not be an arsehole, in order to get a landlord reference that moving forward would have enabled you to rent from someone less dodgy. Instead you have done everything possible to get evicted. Which will make renting pretty much impossible. And the courts won't care that you've been ill.

Am I pleased that there are better protections for renters than there were back when I was renting and got ripped off with deposits? Yes, absolutely.
Are renters like you taking the fucking piss? Yes, absolutely.
Pay the fucking landlord your fucking rent because you are, rightly, soon to be homeless.
Not often many of us would say it, but best of luck to the landlord here getting the money they are owed and your freeloading backside out of their property. Fuck me this is one of the most frustrating threads I've read here.

Given that "she only moved out about 6 months ago and she still has her stuff in cupboard under the stairs" I would imagine that:

1. She downloaded it when she was still physically living there
2. It is still her permanent address. She hadn't moved her stuff out, where she was living in the intervening months (boyfriend's, family, etc.) was temporary only.

Stop wasting your energy looking for a Get Out Of Jail Free card, and put your energy into keeping a roof over your head! If you keep looking for loopholes, you will AT BEST delay your eviction, but evicted you will be. And as has been emphasised time and again, if you are evicted for non-payment of rent no other landlord will touch you (no reference, won't pass credit checks), and the council won't either because they will consider you made yourself homeless through non-payment.

So - if you don't want to be sofa-surfing or on the streets - what do you need to do? For starters, stop treating your landlady like she's the enemy, and instead think of her as your best hope. Right now she has every reason to evict you ASAP - what can YOU do, what reason can YOU give her to not do that. You need to PAY HER WHAT YOU OWE. And you need to persuade her that you will pay in full and on time from now on. If you can do that, you could then start looking for somewhere cheaper to rent. You would need a reference from your current landlady, and to pass credit checks - which you won't if you have a history of defaulting on your rent. So you NEED her.

You may have pissed her off too much, she may think the hassle of going through the eviction process will be worth it to be shot of you. But - and it is a really fucking big and tenuous but - she may consider you paying her what you owe and you moving out voluntarily when you find somewhere cheaper to be easier on herself. I doubt she want the drama of court proceedings if she can find another route. She has shown herself in your past dealings to be fair. Too damned fair! But YOU need to do the work to make her choosing that other route possible. YOU need to be upfront and honest and pay her what you owe. Do NOT try and 'get something on her' (which you've been scrabbling for since you started this thread) because that will just ensure she will set the eviction in motion and then you're stuffed. Because once you have been evicted - and she can evict you - you will have nowhere to go.

It's £1200 per month for a room, not the whole house. The whole house is potentially let for £3600 per month.

Have you paid up yet OP? I really hope so, for your sake.

Landlady is ‘throwing her weight around’??!!

IT’S HER FUCKING HOUSE AND YOU OWE HER £2400!

I posted a more helpful post about a hundred pages back (pre the Coke reveal) but I’m out. You’re an absolute grifter.

If I was the landlady I'd be throwing more than my weight around. I'd get some local 'big boys' to come around on eviction day and wait outside OPs room, knocking periodically, and asking with a menacing smile if she needs any assistance with packing.

Make life very awkward but not in an illegal way. Which will be exactly why she’s moved back in. Op doesn’t like it. Though titties is a shared house.

Landlady can now see you every single damn day and it’s not harassment or breaching quiet enjoyment because it’s a shared house. It’s brilliant.

Everytime op goes to make even a cup of tea the landlady could want a simple glass of water 🤣 washing machine always full just as op needed it. Shame.

Hang on, does that mean that landlords can circumvent the notice period by moving into a spare room in the house. Then the AST is null and void, they are now a lodger and they can be chucked out within days? And this is legal?
Wondering if I need to be prepared with more money in case my DS's student landlord tries this stunt.