My husband and myself have been renting this house for 14 years. Landlord is excellent, lives and works abroad and when he is around will pop in, with notice, to make sure we are happy. He has never increased the rent all the time we have been here we are so lucky. He lives abroad where he works and has a young family. Previous tenant didn't pay rent and trashed the house, we saw the condition when we viewed, we loved the house and garden and took it as it was and Landlord gave us 2 weeks free rent, he just wanted a quiet life and we were happy and capable of doing what was necessary and not relying on agents, waiting for builders etc so all good
House is managed by Letting Agents.
1st Agent for 2 or 3 years ran off with all the rents of the properties he managed. All sorted with Landlord amicably.
New agents, large chain then took over and have been awful
We do all the little repairs etc as we would in a house`we owned and have only called them twice over the years when the boiler stopped working. Whenever the new regulations about insulation started etc the landlord paid and had installed a double glazed window, the only one that had not been done in this old house. The house is in good order.
As soon as the new agents took over it changed. The tried to get the landlord to increase the rent to the point that they were a nuisance. we have never had inspections here but new agents wanted to do a new inventory and do inspections every 6 months and renew our tenancy every 12 months, we are of course on a rolling Shorthold here, just to charge the Landlord. They would turn up and pretend they had an appointment, they hadn't ever contacted us about it, and would say we would be given notice and they would come in when we weren't here etc, they have no key but don't seem to realise that.
We eventually had to let the Landlord know what was happening it got so bad, real bullying. He was livid they had been pertering him too, and said he would be in UK shortly and would go and visit them and change agents. He was fed up with agents and we discussed that his father who lived quite close maybe could have the rent paid to him and I could arrange for any repairs etc no details but agreed generally something like this would suit us both
Then came covid and he couldn't come over and like all of us life changed, he was worried about his job etc we were concerned about ours etc. He did contact them to tell them to leave us alone and after a few further contacts they did and all has been quiet since
From the beginning of the tenancy we paid our rent on th 3rd of the month, every month and in full from the beginning. About a year ago or a bit longer we had an automated email to say we hadn't paid our rent. I replied immediately to say we had paid as usual, sent proof, checked with my bank and could they confirmed they had received it. I didn't hear from them and forgot about it. We then realise that this was happening a few times and getting more regular. I checked and realised that out of the past 9 months I had received these emails 7 times. Wrote several times and explained and asked what was going wrong their end, eventually received a reply telling me rent was due on 15th, never, and if it wasn't paid on time we would receive notice, quite aggressive and rude. I was not behind and they meant the rent was due on 15th after I had paid on 3rd. I wrote back, politely saying this must stop. Another aggressive letter saying they had checked and they are always right and I must pay on 15th as in my tenancy agreement, it isn't and sent proof and said this was getting a bit much and had to stop. I sent this after 3rd August last time it happened. All correspondence comes from one particular person. whoever she is, and never from anyone else ever. Last time she said she would put a note on my file but these emails were sent automatically and there was nothing she could do.
This morning I received another one. This may not sound much and I should ignore it but after a while it gets to be a worry. We have all the usual things going on in our lives and we all have the new worries with what is going on at the moment moneywise. I just need any unnecesary aggravation and aggressive rudeness. I thought of telling my Landlord but I feel I should be able to sort this out myself as it should be simple. I could not respond and just ignore it but then think if the rent goes missing, no reason why it should, and I didn't check it and suddenly I owed thousands?
Any suggestions from a legal point of view about what I can do to stop this once and for all. I thought of finding out the name of the boss and copying in my email to him/her. The man I speak to about repairing the boiler is very efficient and helpful but said he doesn't deal with this and it is dealt with elsewhere