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.

Mate, I honestly think you need to start looking for somewhere else. Your tenancy’s up in a month and you’re withholding rent.

Not necessarily true in London. Most local authority areas require HMO's to be licensed and the licence will specify the number of occupants allowed. There are also rules about sizes etc of bedrooms and whether there need to be locks on doors

Look carefully at what the tenancy agreement says about communal spaces plus how it was advertised and contact Shelter ASAP.

But don't withold rent.

I’m a LL.

If she hasn’t protected your deposit in a Government recognised scheme within the legal time frame you can sue her for 3 times the deposit if she kicks off. Ask Shelter about this
just in case the rules are different in house sharing.

I lodge deposits with the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) and my tenants have access and copies of their certificates.

Ask her which Scheme she has regd your deposit with and to let you have the password or a copy of the certificate of registration. By law you are entitled to this. Watch her go pale if indeed it’s not regd.

Pay your rent! It will go against you in court if you don’t. You might get a County Court Judgement (CCJ) against you and you teally don’t want that.

At the very least it’s a roof over your head. Winter’s coming! Don’t mess up, whatever the provocation, if you can help it. Meanwhile, look around for something else.

no, should i have been?

You need to keep paying rent if you want to get any help & win.

Ok I’ve just re read your post. If you are paying for a room only then that changes things. Yes the landlord is being unreasonable for air bnb ing the living room - that’s incredibly greedy. I agree you should have access to it as your communal
living space.

So how long have you lived there and how many months have you been late/not paid?

every single month if i'm honest

If you aren't paying your rent then she will need the extra income to cover her costs... you're not helping yourself!
She does sound inexperienced (not lodging deposit and contacting your employer for direct payment which I'm not even sure is a thing!) but you need to speak to her and suggest a more appropriate rent. If you just stop paying rent you have to expect her to have an adverse reaction as you are affecting her livelihood.

@littledragon99 Okay so what I'm trying to say is:

You said that CA told you that you would have been notified if she put it in (I always have been, the estate agents I have dealt with always gave the certificate to me).

So what I was trying to say was if you think she's put it in the last 30 days then surely you would have been notified?

If I were you I'd get in touch with them and see, there are only three so it's easy to find out.

I think the poster's point was that if you had been notified once she 'panicked' and lodged it, that would give weight to your though process that she hadn't done so initially. But you haven't been notified now, so chances are that it was logged all along.

It was you that said the CAB said you should be notified in the first place!

Set up a standing order. ADHD is not an excuse to not pay rent.

I have ADHD and have always managed to pay my mortgage on time. That's just an excuse.

Speak to Shelter but they will advise you not to withhold rent - this is a one way ticket to making yourself homeless.

So it's nothing really to do with your mum dying at all is it? Or you having ADHD. You just feel hard done to that you have to pay to live in someone's house so you think you should try to get one over on her every month.

How long have you lived there? So every month except one (month 3-which you paid early) you have paid late?? @littledragon99 with all due respect, I can see you are struggling but you need to pay your rent.

the overdraft caused the problem the first month, then you paid for two months upfront what happened all the other months??

Your thoughts about this aren't as helpful as confirmed information.

You need accuracy on this matter if you've any desire to follow GoodLordy's roadmap and assuming you're correct about the TDS. I don't know if the financial return on that would be sufficient to cope with the stress of going through this, particularly if ADHD might interfere with your execution of it. There's also the possibility of a hit on your credit record given the recency of your recent overdraft issue. And there may be consequences for your future ability to secure a tenancy.

After these events, would your boss be willing to be your reference again, after learning that you've been defaulting on your rent?

5 months. My mental health is a complete mess

You must pay your rent on time, or you will have no leverage. If you were a reliable tenant, you'd be in a much better position to negotiate a reduction.

I think you are going to have to like it or lump it.

£1200 a month all inclusive is not bad, but if you move elsewhere in London you can get a better deal.

You need to set up a standing order right now @littledragon99 then it will just pay itself! It can be done online I’m sure. If not pretend you are going to work and go to the bank. Then it’s one less worry for you.

I let out a home, I very rarely feel sorry for landlords, but in this case I really do.

You've never paid on time and now you aren't paying at all? Your landlord shouldn't have to go through anything to be able to get you removed.

Have you kept the money to one side that you should have been paying?

You will be on a Room-Only AST. Your deposit should be in a protected scheme

You are expected to pay your rent on time, every month.

Having ADHD is not an excuse, set up a standing order.

If you feel the room is no longer worth £1200pcm due to losing the communal area, then open a discussion with the Landlord.

I think you sound like a very problematic tenant. In fact, you are lucky that she hasn't evicted you as yet. You are a grown, adult that had responsibilities and commitments. Harsh but whatever is going on in your life is not your LL problem- they just need their rent paid. I really can't see how you can have an issue with her renting out her own space when you aren't even paying rent on time.

Actually you can if the landlord has broken the contract ie there was a specific clause stating that the living room was long term tenants use ONLY. If a clause is broken, the contract is nullified and therefore you can withhold rent until it’s resolved.

nothing stopping you setting up a standing order so you don't need reminding to pay rent

I would speak to shelter

contact your local council private rent department - as you are not happy with your living room being removed from use. They should be able to act as a type of mediator

check the property has a licence, gas certificate - without these you can't be evicted but the LL could and would face a hefty fine

check council tax is included within the "bills included"

This.

You really cannot be complaining that the lounge area is now being rented out.
You are now not paying rent and every single month you have paid late.

I'm sorry for things that have happened recently in your life but you have responsibilities. You manage to hold down a job and be responsible and you have a responsibility to pay your rent on time. Now you have decided to not pay at all. This really is not acceptable behaviour on your part.