Landlord saying rent not received after several months, help

[KWL51]

Am hoping someone can give advice.

I moved into a property last spring, the first weekend the landlord cleared out the garage, i informaed him of a number of issues but never heard from him again. They were minor so sorted them myself and carried on.

I paiid the rent to the account and sort code that I was given by the finding agent. Now several months on the landlord has contacted the agent (who is not managing the property they were just the finders but the landlord wishes for them to start managing it now) to say that he hasnt received any rent! I did request on numerous occassions by text/email/voicemail for confiramtion of rent received, but had no reply and foolishly assumed as no contact made he was receiving his money. (after all why would anyone not notice a large sum of money not being deposited into thier account)

The problem i have is that i was foolish enough to not keep proper records, i paid in a mixture of a bank payment or cash over the counter (only once or twice), but my account has now been forcibly closed as it was a student account and my overdraft was recalled (no longer a student), it has been converted to a loan for me to pay off (with another bank), the bank are being very unhelpful on request of copy statements, i don;t even have the account number as i dont keep anything and i had to hand my card back into the branch for destruction.

im screwed aren't I? its his word against mine?

Could be a good one for CAB. The bank should really be able to cough up statements. Did you manage it online? Could you still log in?

That's the problem really. Inwas struggling to pay my of off and kept using it so the bank closed my account and referred it to a debt collection agency i was ableto get a loan to pay the bank back but all my online and telephone banking facilities were removed a month ago.

I always pay my rent first before any other bill and have never had an issue in the past with previous landlords. I'm worried that the landlord won be Patient and will issue notice before allowing investigation. Or that I will have to repay the whole amount which I can't afford (over £1000 a month)

I believe for a fee the bank have to give you copies of your bank statements, so I would suggest you request the last years worth, and if resolved, and you choose to stay as his tenant, start keeping a record.

However your problem lies with the times you paid cash into your landlords account. I dont know if you can prove money going into his account without copies of his bank statements? Maybe someone on MSE can help?

At least the bank payments will prove some of the months you have paid.

How far back is your landlord claiming unpaid rent for? baring in mind you have rented off him now for a year?

The bit I find odd is that the landlord hasn't queried it before now

moomoo- me too. it is extremley frustrating. The bank are being quite unhelpful, i will try another branch in the hope that i get someone a bit more sympathetic.

I have no reason to think that he would lie to me the only thing i can think of right now is that the agent gave me the incorrect acocunt number, or i entered it wrong online? and by some fluke someone else has been receiving my rent and not honest enough to say? (although i would def question where money i wasnt expecting ahd come from.

Have you checked the a/c no. and sort code were correct ? You should keep records for at least 7 years for tax purposes anyway.

Which months are he claiming are unpaid? You've been there 12 months now??

He sounds an odd landlord if he has only now informed you, that you are in arrears!

No contact from him since the weekend after I moved in. I emailed and text on multiple occasions but no reply. Phone would just ring off.

Rather foolishly I don't keep records. I have learnt my lesson now and will request/demand receipts for all future rent Payments. It transpires that either I was given the incorrect account number or I typed it in wrong and has been paying someone else for the last 8 months (some rent was paid in advance as I didn't have any previous references due to previous rentals in now xh's name and not mine)

I'm absolutely flabbergasted that he didn't approach me 6 months ago, 7 months ago etc. now apparently there's a protocol to go through that may take some time and even result in me having to pursue through small claims to get the money from the person I paid.

I really need some communication with the ll but he won't answer my calls or texts or emails and is not answering the new agent. How can I negotiate a Plan to pay my 'arrears' and to pay the rent into the account he wants when he still won't communicate? I don't have £10k to pay and claim back but in order to restore faith I want to negotiate an extra amount to pay weekly to show I'm not and have not been dishonest?

" i will try another branch "

Have you tried their main customer services line instead of a branch? I've often found the staff in branches to be quite limited and they get flustered if you want something outside of the usual.

Yes cs were unhelpful too told me to make an appointment with a personal banker. I will give them a call again and ask to speak to a manager

Surely he's either received all or nothing if the number was wrong. Tell the agent to ask for clarification, ours collected rent for us and then paid us net of commission etc, and keep a record of any offers to resolve it in case he pursues it legally.

hes received nothing, other than the payment i made to the agent at the beginning.
ive hopefully negotiated a plan anyway now, a payment each week until the money is recovered and his monthly rent to go to this agent instead of his personal account.

The bank must be able to track who actually got the money?

If he is a landlord with lots of properties he may not have noticed the non payment but I agree it is a bit weird. Having said that we didn't realise we were not receiving rent for our rental house for six months as we were moving house, country, job and having a baby. Tenant was paying but agency were not passing on. Never got it back either.

they can, but it will take time, its not instant. bearing in mind only been 48 hours since i knew, have appointment at bank to get as much info and as much sorted as possible, but in the meantime they wanted a plan of payment which i fully understand them wanting tbh.

Follow complaints procedure to get your bank's attention. Do this in writing, and it will be taken more seriously.

People in the branch are usually rewarded for sales, people in Customer Service / Service Quality - for the number of resolved queries. That's why branch people can be unhelpful in your situation - they simply may not be skilled/trained to help you.

this is it i dont need 9 months worth of statements, i just need a transaction list. I can get that on the account i have now (halifax) i type the account number or the reference into search and it brings up a list of what i paid and when, which i can then print off.

At the moment as i paid a largish payment ( a few hundred) yesterday the agent seems prepared to accept my offers of repayment plan until the money is returned to me/placed in the correct account.

CAB have said it may have to go to small claims, but there is a £ limit at small claims, and if the payee can 'prove' they thought the money was rightfully thiers then it could be dismissed/denied :(

I have asked for written proof (an email) that the sum paid in yesterday ahs been received so that I know it went to right account and will require email receipts within 5 days of each further monthly rental payment.

Well where we're you planning to pay the money for next month? You must have a record of that. Check it against what the landlord is expecting, it might be one digit difference or a transposition error. With that the destination bank can trace and recall the money (legally you can't keep money paid in error).

To be honest I think the landlord needs to take some responsibility. If he had let you know that the first payment hadn't been received then you wouldn't have been paying into the wrong account all this time. If he contacted you when you were trying to contact him neither of you would be in this position.

I can't believe a landlord would have let it go on so long. He sounds very disorganised. I know we did it but we do realise that it was partly our own fault that the agency got away with it for so long. We (and other landlords) took our agency to court and although we won we still got nothing back.

Payments are now to be made to an agency instead of the landlord, so I have a different acocunt to pay them into and a letter with the details on, which i have scanned into my pc to keep a record of, i have also printed the standing order mandate which shows the account and sort code and reference for the payment, as well as the bank printout from my new account which shows the payments made so far. All scanned and put in a folder on my office pc, and paper copies signed and dated and in a folder in desk.
I wont get caught out with lack of paperwork again.

Fwiw the landlord himself still has not contacted me or returned the last few days calls and emails, I have only had dealings with this new agent.

I found one bank stub for one of the cash payments (due to xh paying maintenance late and then in cash) but it doesnt say anything only says the amount, date and which branch as a stamp. So according to the CAB not proof of anything other than a payment to that bank.

The reality at the moment is that I have to pay twice, even though the landlord should accept some responsibility, he still needs back dated rent or will be entitled to issue me with notice. There are literally no houses for rent in this area right now, and if i get notice due to these so called rent arrears, the council would not be obliged to help. I know that they would not help at all with rent arrears, I know someone who a fmaily of four had to sleep on friends floors (mine included) and in their car (children at friends or family) for several months until they managed to find someone willing to accept them with housing benefit and a history of rent arrears.

Hang on. Who is telling you to pay new agent? Have you had any contact from landlord himself?

no, none!

The agent who i found it through confirmed that the landlord has several properties with this new agent.

I just dont want to end up where i'm served with notice as we will have nowhere to go. I have 4 children, one mid gcse and can't live out of suitcases, or in fear that even if a judge says i am fine and paid/paying etc, they can still give notice as contract expires soon and no new contract signed yet.

the downside to renting in the UK at the moment.

What evidence do you have that this isn't a scam and they found out you rent?

Eeek don't say that!