Blackmail

[brainfoggyandtired]

I am in a hellish situation. Private tenancy, multiple reports of disrepair from start and refusal to do any by the LL. Served a S21 and later accelerated possession claim which we are waiting to hear from court if it will go to hearing due to obvious retaliation and safety issues and also harrassment. Family circs were dire throughout and chicken out of school due to relocation and MH issues. It has been hideous and all of the above has severely impacted me and traumatised me and have been diagnosed with ptsd from chronic stress, anxiety and exhaustion.

Meanwhile have been actively hunting for a new home. Lots of nos due to dogs. A yes a week ago, paid holding deposit and started refs on open rent. Accountant verified income and as far as I know financially ok. They don't tell you. LL has ignored the messages from them and today emailed us to say we have to pay her legal fees for the claim if we want to stop the court process. And in not so many words get her to ref us. This is a sum in the thousands.

I've sent it all to our solicitors but I'm completely in shock that this LL could be so evil, we've been good tenants and her treatment of us has been horrendous. I'm scared that no matter what we do even if this house is a no, we will be stuck in a situation where without refs we won't pass the computer says yes test. Advice??? I'm feeling very low and desperately trying to move on from this nightmare.

Children not chicken!

Can you get any advice from shelter?

What did you expect? You refused to leave at the end of your notice period and the LL was forced to pay to take you to court to get you to leave. You've breached the contract you signed.

Obviously you wouldn't get a good reference. I think they're absolutely justified.

I am not sure a reference from your current LL who will presumably have to answer the usual questions like would you rent to then again (assume No) and why (had to serve s21 and issue court proceedings to gain possession) is helpful.

Trying to find kind words here.. but you don’t sound like a good tenant, so why exactly are you expecting a good reference?

Surely the LL would have to mention the S21 anyway?

Lots of assumptions here. I honestly don't know why I bother with Mumsnet. How on earth can you say we've not been good tenants? We've reported everything that went wrong - badly - at thr start and ongoing. Not one thing was ever sorted. Big or small. Had to pay for everything myself. Have been actively looking as I said since the claim. Tried to communicate with her to agree a way to leave that wouldn't require all this legal stuff and court action. I never received a single response. Until yesterday when we were essentially blackmailed. We are happy to go, but there is no way we can afford to pay thousands in her own initiation of court proceedings. It's not legal. Even then I'd have no idea id she would give us a positive reference. She has been utterly vile since the beginning of the year and I have no clue what else she's going to do to destabilise our family. I'm not sleeping and in complete panic at the whole situation which is affecting my family's safety at a time when we have had so much to deal with.

If your LL gives you a good reference they will be lying and they would be very silly to even if you paid them to do it.
I am struggling to believe that they actually offered to do this

Believe me they did. It's all in writing. I can only assume she is desperate for money and can't afford to pay it. The invoice is August. You'd think if she wanted to sell urgently she'd work with us, instead this is like some kind of torture where she'd actually like to see us on the street with no where to go.

You are not good tenants because you have cost the LL thousands to get you out. The "refuse to leave" advice is always seen to be a way to force LL and the Council to give you what you want. But it can backfire.

I don't know how she could give any reference. We've paid the rent. She never saw the house before we moved in after the last tenant left and she claimed all of their deposit from what I know. I know bc I was told this. And the agent just gave it a Quick Look! There has been no inspection and I've faithfully updated them on any issues. And the inventory was nearly a month late and the house full of furniture that was meant to be removed when we go here. I had to then removals away and sort out dismantelljng things with a handyman. It's a shit show. She doesn't have a clue whether we've been good tenants. But I have proof I've done all of those things and paid for things to be fixed from day 1. I just feel very very tired and I want to go.

In your Op you say "not in so many words" so what exactly did she say?

If she has done anything illegal then do report it to the Police or ask Shelter for help but I doubt it will make any difference to your eviction

Don't be so ridiculous - we're obviously NOT refusing to leave. We have been looking non stop and told her this and asked to mediate. We didn't get a reply of any kind.

Why did she issue a S21 if you were leaving?

Edit
How long has this been going on for?
When did she first ask you to leave?
When did she issue the S21?

ALL of the answers here show a total misunderstanding of landlord and tenant law. @brainfoggyandtired please ignore the totally ignorant answers here and go to Shelter or your solicitor for support. Dilettante private landlord who think they can make a quick buck whilst evading their legal obligations make me so cross.

It certainly sounds like you have refused to leave at the end of your notice period. Otherwise why would she need to start court proceedings?

Don't worry. I can't be bothered to explain the process. We didn't know we needed to leave until it was served to us. And then you have two months to leave but we couldn't find anywhere and it was a week after I had managed to get my children who had been out of school into a school and I was desperately trying to find a place and falling apart with stress. I begged her to talk to us and try and rationalise an agreement to give us time and never heard a word. And now we're under acceleration possession and waiting to hear and looking non stop. None of this is remotely reasonable.

Op I'm sorry you are going through this with your landline. Its a horrible situation to be in. Sending hugs x

Thank you. I wouldn't be surprised if she is on here answering herself. I don't think she is totally mentally well based on what I've heard from all sorts of people locally, emails to us and weird lies that are totally blatant and in black and white. It's so strange.

@BloodOfTheRaven I'm not answering that here. If you don't know anything about tenancy law and have no advice please don't keep posting

You have no idea what I know or don't know.

These are all pertinent questions, and if you don't want random people on the internet asking you questions, then maybe pay for your advice?

Oh I am. It's all there in opening post. Thanks @Enterthewolves and @shellyleppard Will leave it here!

This thread should be called "Had a bad tenancy, breached it, now expecting the bad landlord to be reasonable and bend over backwards for me... AIDBU?" 😂

Unhelpful comment (I apologise)

You know you're rich when even your chickens go to school...

Hi landlady!