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Landlord bullying - service charge

77 replies

groundhogs · 09/03/2010 21:58

Can anyone please help?

I took on a rental 8 months ago, no mention of service charge was ever made, and now LL has tried to tell me that I have £170 to pay to bring it up to date, and £21 odd per month thereafter.

Now, in all instances I've ever heard of where service charge applies, it's included in the rent, as the bill can never be reassigned to anyone other than the owner of the house.

I spoke to a solicitor informally (he's not legal aid, and pricey, but kindly gave me his opinion) he said Service charge is not a utility (which is what LL is saying) He says that as it's not specifically mentioned on the contract that it's not applicable.

I also spoke to the letting agent of a house 2 doors down from me, and HE said the same. He also said that as the original 6m of the agreement is up, that she can't increase the rent, or alter the contract.

I was feeling all strong and confident after talking to the above, but now she's just sent me a text to say the opposite, and now she's now threatening to serve me notice, all for £21 a month.

Can anyone put my mind at rest?

OP posts:
groundhogs · 23/03/2010 20:33

Really? Well it's just grown and grown, but the alternative schools have been stuffed full for the last few years....

Was I mistaken in overhearing that odiham school always has space??? DS got an advanced preferred for there too... but I kept my original place, cos I want(ed) to walk to school...

After the flaming snow we had..... snowed in for better part of a WEEK!!!! We could get the car OUT, but not back in...

OP posts:
VKschmeekay · 23/03/2010 20:44

No idea about mahoosive being an MN identifier - I have always used it!!

And oh yeah - On yer moving out date, if you need muscle, just gimme a yell. I can get Dad to watch Turish and run down to you in no time x

BigBadMummy · 23/03/2010 20:49

Scrabble?

Did someone mention Scrabble?

Now you are talking....

ps I use mahoosive too but I can't do it in earshot of my DCs because they do that eye-rolling "mum you are soooooo embarrassing" thing when I do.

groundhogs · 23/03/2010 20:50

Tee hee, thanks VK... though there are offers of a ton of shite finding it's way to her abode....

seriously considering it actually...

[rubbing paws together emoticon]

OP posts:
PortiaCabin · 23/03/2010 20:53

Don't know about Odiham - was under the impression that Whitewater had space - apparently the head there has a few odd ideas.

BigBadMummy · 23/03/2010 20:53
groundhogs · 23/03/2010 20:54

BBM! LOL

oh the eye rolling thing? DS is 4... I have all that to come don't i? he's still at kissy kissy stage....

Scrabble on FB - I'll send you an invite..

OP posts:
VKschmeekay · 23/03/2010 21:04

Oooh, do a three way scrabble game!!!

groundhogs · 24/03/2010 17:27

Whitewater? never heard of that school... You'd never guess my family moved to the area at the back end of the 70s and I lived here till my early 20s...

I tell you having a baby wipes your memory... Wouldn't mind this, but he's 4 now... when do the grey cells come back?

Off to google, while I can still remember how to do that...

OP posts:
groundhogs · 25/03/2010 13:44

Locks changed, I feel a heck of a lot better.

Still no news on the new place, I wonder if the LL 'position' will mean that I can't get a reference from her, and therefore I'll not be accepted by any new landlord? Then I have the option to stay put and force her to get a court order.

Am recovering from Tuesday's run in, rang the safety inspection people and told them what had happened as a result of them NOT respecting my wishes. Not that it'll get me anywhere.

I think I'll put it in writing to the MD actually.

I'll possibly go back to CAB and see about the reference issue, and if I have a case for harassment and/or Forced eviction. I do have texts which state that I will be in breach of my tenancy agreement if I fail to pay her service charge (I'm not, but she won't accept that) and that if I choose to take that stance then she can and will serve me notice.

Despite her letter stating that she will give me 2m notice of changes to the contract, she has decided to give me notice anyway...

When I feel a little recovered, I'll go to CAB and see what they have to say...

If she has served me notice (2m) and miracle of miracles this house comes off, will I be able to give her notice myself, and shorten the period down to 1m before I can get out???

Anyone know?

OP posts:
groundhogs · 25/03/2010 13:53

ooooh, update on the deposit....

They confirm she didn't lodge it with them until 10 march!!!!

NINE MONTHS after she received it......

Does anyone know what this could mean in hitting that dreadful woman back with some grief????

OP posts:
prh47bridge · 25/03/2010 14:47

She should have given you details of the deposit scheme within 14 days of you moving in.

She can be forced to pay you compensation of three times the deposit. However, the law in this area is unclear. It is possible the courts would not award any compensation to you since she has now protected your deposit.

If you wanted to try, your best bet would be to threaten legal action and hope she settled before it went to court.

groundhogs · 25/03/2010 16:36

thanks prh. As I understand it, she needed to lodge and give me notice of where the deposit was located within 14 days of receiving it, not my moving date. As it was she took my deposit on 10 June. i moved into the house on 1 August... so not that she was short on time....

I know there is a new case pending judgement at the moment, the CAB advised holding off taking proper legal action, but certainly said to try rattling sabres in the meantime..

I think that the fact that for the duration of my contract proper, she failed to protect my deposit would mean that at the very least, the court would order her to repay all of my deposit, without delay, to me. Anymore would be a bonus.

I've replied to the tenant deposit email with the whole story, warning them that I'm sure there will be an issue if she can possible engineer it, and to ask what their view on my options would be.

OP posts:
groundhogs · 26/03/2010 17:25

Latest instalment....

She has just texted me "hi GH, .. HI, HI? after the Tuesday she just gave me, she has the cheek to text me with a HI??? Grrrrr

Anyway, she has said that some people want to view asap and when would be convenient if I'd like to be there?

So after I'd drafted the piss off, don't you even think of contacting me again you . I stopped, and I thought, and I called my new house letting agent.

I asked.. Do you think it would be appropriate to reply back and suggest that before I agree to viewings, that she write me a positive landlord reference letter and deliver it to my letter box by the end of this weekend?????

So this is what I have done.

Upper hand regained me thinks... she is so money obsessed, she'll do it. She won't want to risk waiting until June 1st before she can show it... which is exactly what will happen if she doesn't.....

So, fingers crossed, I'll get my letter on sunday, I'll be able to give my notice on Weds and I'll be able to get the hell out of her clutches at the end of April.....

OP posts:
groundhogs · 26/03/2010 17:26

I'll update you after the weekend....

OP posts:
MPuppykin · 29/03/2010 12:39

bump!

VengefulKitty · 31/03/2010 21:10

But I thought her daughter was moving in and therefore she wouldn't need to show it anyone

Talk about say what suits, when it suits eh?

So what's the latest goss woman?

groundhogs · 01/04/2010 11:43

Sorry to be so removed, am sick of the whole thing. I've now been forced to hand my notice in on this place anyway, in the hope that it'll sort out the agreement for the next....

She's come banging on my door on sunday, with a letter demanding a viewing, I shouted at her not to come, and that I'd call the police if she did.

I texted her the same, and also wrote it in part of the notice letter I served on her address on Tuesday.

I went out yesterday, literally couldn't face being here and waiting for the inevitable confrontation.

She vaulted my fence apparently, and gained access to the rear garden. The toboggan is cracked and the gate was undone, when I had left it bolted top and bottom. Probably thinking that I would have changed the front door lock, but not the back.

Some positive news, I am at last not feeling quite so god awfully nauseous all the time, now that I've handed my notice in, and I know that whatever happens, wherever I end up, it won't be anywhere near here.

Off to phone the CAB now and see if someone can't write her a letter telling her to literally stop harassing me. DH car seems to have acquired a dodgy looking scratch too, but of course we can't prove anything....

Sorry peeps, for yet more trials and tribulations, i literally can't take any more of myself bleating on about this, I'm sorry to prattle on about it here.

What saddens me most, is that everyone is telling me that I'm within my rights, that she can't do this that and the other. But she IS doing it, and I feel physically sick here, I feel utterly stressed all the time. If I'm right and she's wrong, How come being right feels so fucking awful? (sorry for the language)

VK, no chance you can order up a skip-load of Karma on her arse can you?

OP posts:
groundhogs · 01/04/2010 12:23

oh ffs, have spoken to neighbour, the LL attended yesterday with the POLICE.... WTF? I can't take this a second longer, really I can't. I've done nothing wrong FGS, except to say that I will not pay her bloody service charge.

OP posts:
PortiaCabin · 01/04/2010 12:39

Groundhogs

That must have been where the trio of police cars with flashing lights I saw on the A30 yesterday, were going!

She really is the LL from hell. She must be going through all this drama every 6 months or so.

Do you think that anyone has told her that if you encourage good tenants to stay then you make more money in the long run?

PortiaCabin · 01/04/2010 13:23

Did she call the police to attend when she did a viewing? Or was she doing that fav LL activity snooping around.

Alarm bells must be ringing for the prospective tenants!

groundhogs · 01/04/2010 14:06

LOL portia, there was only 1 officer, so think perhaps the 3 cars were headed somewhere slightly more important...

According to the neighbour, 1 officer and 3 women turned up.... if that was a viewing??? what would the prospective tenant think? But then again on her check out day with the last tenant, the police were called. She said the tenant called them... who knows? The tenant certainly alleged assault against her...

OH, btw, I myself called the police, to ask them WTF they were doing here yesterday... and why was my back fence climbed over?

They have no record of it???????

SO I have made a complaint of harassment against her, and they are coming around later to talk to me before they go and talk to her. I just want her to leave me alone, I never asked for any of this, and I certainly don't deserve it.

I'm seriously tempted to paste up my letter of notice on the window so that should anyone be interested in knowing why I'm leaving, then to fill their boots and read all about it....

OP posts:
groundhogs · 01/04/2010 14:10

Oh while all of this was happening, I was hiding out in the Cinema yesterday....

Nanny McPhee....

Good film, pretty entertaining, Maggie Gyllenhaal does a fantastic British accent!! Rhys Iffans was great in it too - can recommend it for an easter activity....

OP posts:
groundhogs · 01/04/2010 17:46

Think I know that that3 car thing was... what the US call DUI me thinks.... i could be wrong....

Spoke to the lad that came round. 20 he is. Bless him, such a lovely lad. He said he'll try and find out who it was that attended yesterday. He also said he'd file a complaint if he were me.

I'm considering it. I've got an appointment with the CAB for proper advice session mid April, I kind of want to know what kind of a can of worms am I going to open up if I do that, what it entails and what the process would be. In the meantime, we'll see how things are here.

I do however seem to have confirmation that the new house is indeed a go-er. I have a lovely new roof over my head with a terrific LE, and a lovely landlady.....

HUGE shout out to BBM, without whom etc etc....

big love.. and Large glass.... my shout!

OP posts:
PortiaCabin · 01/04/2010 19:01

Great news on the new house groundhogs.