UC PLEASE HELP. Need to prove housing costs, landlord refusing to give proof/tenancy agreement/letter? What to do?

[Lele101]

Landlord recently raised rent by a 300.

i reported this to uc and they need proof of housing costs.

but landlord doesn’t want to sign new tenancy agreement or give a letter about rent increase.

he says verbal agreement is enough.

im scared to explain to him too because im worried he’ll want to do an affordability check, when I first rented I wasn’t receiving universal credit.

the only thing I have is his text message.

what should I do???

Can you take a screenshot of the text message and upload that?

Can you ask what is accepted as proof in your UC journal and state the landlord is not willing to provide written proof in addition to the text message he sent you? What about your bank account? Can you download a statement showing the increased payment going out of your account to him, i.e. to the same bank account as previous rent payments?

Send them a bank statement showing the new payment amount going to him. Make sure it's clearly labeled as rent.

Would they accept that though? Anyone can just write a message pretending to be the landlord

They told me I need a tenancy agreement or written letter. Which shows where I live, the cost etc and landlord signature

I’m worried even if they accept bank and text message, they will want to call him.

This is going to sound amoral but I would absolutely fake the proof that UC need.

You ARE paying the increased amount in rent and you will presumably have bank statements to prove it. It's not your fault that you're at the mercy of a dickhead landlord and an uncaring system of red tape.

Think about it logically - if UC ever decide to look into it, you will have proof that you are paying that increased amount of rent. You aren't claiming ANYTHING you aren't entitled to claim. If they ever check with your landlord, it will be a quick phone call or letter to ask if you are paying the new amount of rent.

I know a lot of posters will read this and be horrified but I also know a lot of them will never understand what it's like.

I would be honest with your landlord first and try and get him to put something in writing and tell him it's for UC. You could even try and get some advice from Shelter and Citizens Advice. You won't be the first person in this situation and you certainly won't be the last. But if none of that works and if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't hesitate to provide the 'proof' myself.

Ok but you have to tell them and you do live there so you have to hope for the best.

send the picture of the communications and the rent payments.

Don’t pay the new rent amount without a new agreement !!

he said if I won’t, he’ll have to evict me

It seems like the people commenting know absolutely nothing about UC. You can show text messages, bank statements and whatever else but you have to specifically send them what they’re asking for, for housing costs to be approved.

Signed tenancy agreement or official letter which shows address, rent amount, Landlord’s signature etc. All they need is proof that you live there, rent amount and a signature from the Landlord. Why do they not want to give you an official tenancy? I wouldn’t be agreeing to a ‘verbal’ agreement without something official knowing that I rely on UC to pay the rent

Then let him evict you which I doubt he’ll actually do. No Landlord wants to send unnecessary money to get someone to leave their property. Why is he so against it, it sounds very dodgy indeed

Tell him you won't be paying any extra without him putting it in writing! Meantime I second just writing yourself a letter and sending it to UC

I would just tell UC the truth. Let them contact him. It will cost him more to evict you as he will have to pay court costs. He wont want to do that.

Your landlord can only increase the rent by starting a new contract or serving a section 13 notice as far as I am aware. A verbal request doesn’t count so you don’t have to pay the increase until you receive the request in writing in one of these ways. They also have to give you at least one month notice between rental periods. Do not fake the paperwork yourself as suggested by a pp as that would be fraud. Get advice from Citizens Advice if the LL refuses to give you the proper paperwork.

I think he's on very thin ice here - without a formal agreement or at the very least written notification from him about the rent increase he can't evict you as long as you are paying any previously agreed sum. If he's not prepared to formalise his rent increase request (so you can submit to uc) then how can he expect you to pay such a massive hike in rent?

On what grounds is he going to evict you? There are very specified reasons for eviction op. Have a look at shelter website.

It sounds like you're in a Catch 22 situation. You want UC to pay your increased rent but you don't want your landlord to know you're claiming UC. You might have to move somewhere cheaper OP.

Do not do this OP!
You can't provide forged documents as evidence, even if the information is correct. Having this on your record will cause you problems for life.

So?

He may want to pocket the rent increase and not put it through his books.

I would play it straight and say you need a proper contract for your records. A verbal agreement isn't good enough. You could also say that to help pay the extra rent you are going to ask for a pay rise and your employer would be more sympathetic if you can demonstrate your rental costs have gone up.

My friends guess is that there’s different rules for rolling and fixed tenancy when it comes to eviction, esp with new labour rules coming soon. (Section 21?) I think.

So he thinks on rolling tenancy it’ll be easier to evict us in future

This is correct. There is no other way around it. If they are helping towards rent they of course are going to need official documents detailing the actual rent you pay.

My friends guess is that there’s different rights for rolling and fixed tenancy when it comes to eviction, esp with new labour rules coming soon. (Section 21?) I think.
So he thinks on rolling tenancy it’ll be easier to evict us in future

Uc won't chase up things like this. If people want help with rent then the onus is on them to provide the requested official documents.

What do you think I should do? He’s refusing to give me anything