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.

All of this.

The wording in this section is odd and slightly misleading suggesting that it's up to the LL if the tenant stays beyond the fixed term.

The tenant is under no obligation to return the house to the LL at the end of the fixed term - only a court or a tenant can end a tenancy.

Currently, with S21, it is much easier for LLs to evict tenants outside of the fixed period but once that is gone, this AST would not hold water. They would have to evict on an allowable ground, such as rent arrears.

That is why withholding rent is NEVER a good idea because it will always give the LL power over the tenant.

We don’t know that the deposit isn’t currently protected or that op didn’t get the info. Most of the time now it comes via email and frankly someone who cannot remember to pay rent a bloody important thing I doubt remembers every email they received or checks their spam 😅

That just makes the relationship between op and ll even worse. She doesn't need to give her more ammo evict her.

OP, given your struggles and ADHD, I am going to try to be constructive.

Firstly, you need to speak to Shelter. They are very busy so make sure you have as much relevant information to hand as possible.

Secondly, check all the tenancy deposit schemes to see whether or not your deposit has been protected. Yes, the landlord should have sent you the prescribed information, but let's not worry about that now. Someone linked that higher up this thread.

Thirdly, set up either an alert on your phone or, better still, a standing order to pay your rent monthly. That will save you from having to worry.

Fourthly, calculate how much money you should have paid for this current rental period and how much you have actually paid. You need to keep arrears down below 2 months to avoid a section 8 automatic eviction. Can you make sure that you don't owe anything by the end of this month?

You should have an up to date Gas Safety Certificate and Energy one (EPC?). Have you been sent those? If not, post here.

When you have done those 5, contact the housing department at your local council about whether or not you are living in a HMO. Maybe I misread your posts but it sounds like you might be. Rules for HMOs are stricter than normal ASTs.

Whilst withholding rent seems like the obvious thing to do, there is a very specific way of doing it. I don't think you are doing it correctly. Finally, this is not the best forum for housing advice. MoneySavingExpert's forum tends to be less judgmental and more constructive.

Wow who pissed in your porridge today? Got a tenant giving you trouble? Sometimes it can be quite fun to drop the tenancy delosit protection scheme bombshell on LL’s when they threaten eviction and watch the colour drain from their face as they realise you can take them for an absolute fortune if they continue to threaten your home and your entitlement to peaceful enjoyment of it. If they want to be LL’s then they have a responsibility to be good ones and know the legislation. Ignorance of the legislation is not an excuse and will cost them dearly. Of course the op SHOULD pay her rent on time. However references wont be too much of an issue since the LL is unlikely to be able to grt an eviction order without paying back her deposit in full and a damn site more in compensation allowing the op to pay a huge amount of rent upfront. Most LL’s will forgo references when faced with a year or more in rent paid upfront.

As per the Shelter links, it seems remarkably easy to check online if the deposit is in one of the approved schemes.

Why don’t you have a standing order set up - then your rent would arrive on time and you won’t need reminding

Amazing advice and clearly laid out in a way that my own AuADHD brain didn't allow me to, thank you!

My point is a direct debit literally does it for you. There's no excuse not to have one set up when you move in so you do not have to do anything.

All OP has done is made excuses and none of them excuse her from the very real face she is not paying rent on time and now doesn't want to pay at all... she is not a victim but is desperate to make herself one.

Landlords have a job!
Renting out a place so they can pay their own bills.
It is not such difficult concept ffs.

Or maybe bakers should also get a job and provide you with free bread?

It could be like my two rentals where the LL issued the section 21 as a standard practice to come into effect at the 6 month end date for the ast, then they could end it at that date if they chose to action it and if not then it became a statutory periodic tenancy. My section 21’s were actually post dated and handed to me with the tenancy agreement. It may be more of a standard practice in some areas of the country than others? Im in the westcountry for Example

And nothing youve sqid changes my point

I'm sorry but this is no excuse. ADHD or not, you can put an alert on your phone or note it in your diary/calendar. Sounds like she is looking to earn rent from a more reliable source.

Mental, i had a room with kitchen in shared house in Ruislip Manor for £50 a week, bills included but that was 30 years ago!!!

Point here being my salary has increased 3x fold since then, but rents have gone up 6x fold.

I doubt any communal area is in the tenancy agreement, as its not an HMO requirement to provide one.

Pay any rent arrears asap, beyond a certain amount, its grounds for eviction but she can evict you for any reason at present.

I do know several landlords who habitually issue the notice at the time the tenancy is created. It's a 'just in case', so that proceedings may commence ASAP if required.

But only if the landlord didn't place it in the deposit scheme.OP doesn't actually know.

I have ADHD and often need to be reminded

. Stop using that as an excuse. I have ADHD and manage to pay my bills on time. Set up a standing order, Set up a reminder in your phone. Use a diary. There are millions of tools out there to help you.

It gives tenants and people living with adhd a bad rep when you start doing shit like that.

@littledragon99 Firstly, sorry for your loss.

You say you've been able to work normally, just struggling to hold it together at home - so where have the financial troubles come from that make paying rent difficult?

I don’t see why I am being ridiculous? In my personal situation the judge sided with me and ruled that my medical conditions (epilepsy, therefore couldnt drive) trumped the LL’s (stroke but her husband could drive her) and I was able to have the court transfer the proceedings to my local court which was a 6 hour drive from where she lived. She hired a solicitor and barrister and it cost her an arm and a leg because of how many times her eviction notices and defences to my claim for the tdps compensation were thrown out and they had to start from scratch. It didnt even cost me a penny to make the claim. As a Veteran and a war pensioner, my income meant that my court fees for bringing the application were covered in full. I walked away with £11,000 and my deposit back in full and sent the bailiffs to her door while i was able to stay in my home unmolested by my LL who thought just because she owned the house she could ignore the law and turf me out. Lesson learned id say. The judge was certainly sympathetic to my medical situation and so it would be great if you could clarify what im being ridiculous about?

Council tax is based on the value of the property, often based on number of rooms, not how many bedrooms or what rooms are used for.

And this, people, is one of the reasons why landlords are selling up in droves. Seriously, who’d want to be a landlord with all this shite thrown at them?? I’d just sell the house, and invest the money in an interest bearing account. Too many unhinged people with zero moral compasses out there. You’ve no idea who you’re handing your property to.

Are you in arrears with your rent now?

I work full time yet still need the rent from the house I worked my arse off to buy. Don’t be silly.

To be fair £1200 per month in West London is a fair price for a room- I assume it’s a double?
My friend rents a room in SW18 and pays £1150, but not all bills are included.