Hi guys I'm in a bit of a pickle, it's a long story so please read to the end.
I'm a single parent to three children and currently on benefits. I was renting from a private landlord for three years and my tenancy ended last week after he served a notice, his reason was 'due to repairs being requested that makes the property unviable as a rental' now there was a leak in the upstairs bath that his handyman couldn't find (I have pictures of where the water was coming from) the handyman then ripped down the hall ceiling and left it open for nearly 3 months before returning, when he did return he came with a plasterer who was completely intoxicated at 7pm and told me he would be back tomorrow at 7:30pm to take down the rest of the ceiling, I said that was too late and asked if he could come earlier as the kids would be in bed, he agreed to call at 6pm and left. I then get a barrage of messages from my landlord saying he was disgusted by the way the handyman was spoken to (I was nothing but polite) his handyman then went back to the landlord and said I set up this leak (complete bulls**t and he's not even a plumber). The landlord then comes out the next night and tells me if I don't grovel I would get an eviction notice in the post. Two weeks later I get the notice to quit. Now I moved out he is refusing to return my deposit. He never put it in a protection scheme. He says I owe him two weeks rent and the rest is to sort out the back garden. At the start of my tenancy I paid him the deposit and first month's rent, I get housing benefit which is paid a month in arrears and top up the difference myself. Now because I paid the first month's rent upfront and he gets paid in arrears by dhss he was actually double paid for the first month I was there. So I dont see how I owe him two weeks rent when my new tenancy started on the 1st and I gave him the keys back on the 11th, he is still getting paid in Jan and he was double paid the first month. As for the back garden there is a bit of muck due to the kids and dog running around and there was no drainage for the water to go anywhere, it also doesn't look great as I had raked out all the moss last March and put down grass seed, there's some of the garden which doesn't get much sun and its growi g slower than the rest. It's actually in better condition now than it was when I moved in but stupid me didn't take any pictures. I was on the phone to the dhss today and they told me that he had sent them an email looking the two weeks rent and he has been awarded it and will be getting paid in Jan so if he's getting it then why is he still saying I owe him it. I also told them that he wasn't intiled to it. Another issue is that the rent was supposed to be £120pw rates included, I signed the contract and it said that the tenant is responsible for paying the rates but there was no information on how much they where and who it was to be paid to, when I asked him about it he said that the dhss would pay the rates and it was included in the rent. He told the dhss that the rates weren't included in the rent so he's been getting more than he should have been from the dhss and me. I also told the lady today about the issue with the rates. My housing benefits also went up by £11 a week back in April but I have still been paying him the same amount for the past 3 years, he never told me about this and I hadn't got any letters from the housing excutive to confirm the increase as my area has been having problems with post due to covoid. I'm afraid that he's been taking advantage of the benefit system and myself.
Would anyone have any advice on what I can do?
He tried to call me today but I have put a request in with the housing excutive to have a copy of all his payments and the emails that he has sent and I don't want to talk to him until I have been to a socilitor and know what to say or do. I'm the type of person who hates confrontation but all of this has made me very stressed to the point that I can't sleep or think about anything else, and I would hate for him to try this on someone else.
Thanks in advance.