Landlords discriminating against UC

[Hola93]

Hello,

I've just moved into a new property as my previous landlord was selling up. I have two children 2 and 5 years old and I receive universal credit to top up my rent - I do work part time as a health care assistant.

So, the flat I've moved into I had to pay 12 months rent plus deposit up front, I wanted to move in on the 17th December to prevent paying two rents but the estate agents said they wanted someone in December 2nd so I agreed. I've moved in and there are so many issues with the property, I've attached a picture of my snagging list but the previous tenants have really damaged the property for example using a wall as a dart board.

I've complained to the estate agents but I was told to go through the landlord but as I've only been here a week I've contacted the estate agents as well to make them aware of the damage as well.

The landlord is happy to do the repairs but he's made a comment that he wouldn't usually rent to someone on benefits but was persuaded by the agents. Despite the fact I've paid all this money up front and now I've got to have loads of repairs done while trying to work, get kids to school, nursery etc no apologies or acknowledgement that I wanted to move in later and the repairs could've been done before I moved in and this is all a massive inconvenience.

I've attached pictures but basically I wanted to know if I'd be able to complain about him to Shelter or the council? I know landlords aren't supposed to discriminate but clearly they do and I've now paid over £10,000 (all my savings) for a flat with no working blinds, front door doesn't lock etc and really he seems to begrudge doing all the repairs for someone on UC.

Any advice greatly appreciated as I'm absolutely sick of being looked down upon because I'm a single mum on UC
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I just don't understand how landlords get away with this. I am a landlord, and occasionally a tenant has had a list of things they would like me to change (the properties are all totally cleaned and redecorated before being let). One tenant I painted out a wallpaper and changed the matching blind to something more neutral. I could have refused, as the wallpaper was only a couple years old and in great condition but I did agree.
As for UC, as long as rent is paid what's the issue? Your money is as good as anyone else's.
My agents do a thorough inventory before a tenant moves in - didn't yours? And any repairs are agreed BEFORE occupancy (snd usually completed before too).
As for the communal door - ugh I also have this issue with my freeholder and it has been a nightmare. But as your landlord is the freeholder no excuses! Again should have been dealt with before occupying the unit.
I have no idea who you can complain to. But look at your lease closely. It will lay out landlord and agents responsibilities.

Exactly this! I need to save because I'm fully aware a lot of people (I'm sure some on here as well) think I'm a benefits scrounger etc etc so I need something that can set me apart from the rest of the applicants. This does mean however you end up getting treated badly because you're on UC it's as though you don't deserve to complain etc I work 4 days a week one of those being 12 hours and I volunteer at my son's school one day a week so trying to find time to get let them in to do the work is a complete pain! The estate Agents have actually been very apologetic and have taken over the property from another estate agents at least they've been helpful unlike the landlord.

When you're on UC you can't just sit back and take your time looking for properties if someone says they'll take you, you have to take it. I'm very careful with money and save as much as I can for situations like this and it's so disheartening having a landlord like that who looks down their nose at you when all you want is a nice property for your family which I have paid through the nose for!

Missing the point by a long fucking mile. Why the hell shouldn't someone on UC be allowed to save a bit?

I think yabu. None of the issues are big issues and are getting fixed. Fair enough re telling you to speak to Tina re the blinds. Also why would you complain to shelter or the council about any of that? You have no idea how bad housing Is in this country.

You don't know anything about me or how hard I've had to work to save that money. I'm ex military so believe me you have no idea what I've been through and the things I've experienced. How dare you.

No idea if that’s to me, but seriously- go to the council and tell them the blinds need fixed in your private rental and your landlord is doing it. See what they do - I would bet nothing and that they will be pretty bewildered as to why you are contacting them.

It's because it's illegal to discriminate, and if I had known he was that against UC I'd have never have wanted to rent from him. The council don't want to house people because there aren't enough homes, he can actually be fined up to £5000 for saying something like that and stupidly putting it in writing. This is why I work hard so I can provide a nice homes for my children rather than be put in random temporary accommodation until the council can find me a home which literally be anywhere in the county. But you keep looking down your nose at people in your ivory tower.

Also you're completely missing the point! All these issues should've been resolved before I moved in. I've been told it'll be a month's wait to get blinds sorted, so now I have no privacy. The front door has been kicked in and doesn't lock, the intercom doesn't work. I work 4 days a week one of those being a 12 hour shift so it's really hard for me to find time to let the builders in repair stuff. And the landlord has basically said I'm lucky he'd even rent to me.

The front door not locking is a pretty big deal actually!!! Th property should never have been let if it wasn't secure!

I would return to the agent if you rented via them. I would say that you require their help in getting LL to fix anything that is their responsibility.

Actually, I’d ignore the comment about not renting to those on benefits. This could purely be a factual statement. The truth is, he is now renting to you on benefits. Perhaps his comment was to try to put you off asking for work to be done. However, you don’t have to be put-off.

As a tenant, the best thing is to be clear on what a LL is required to do, to pay your rent and then to insist that the Ll meets the obligations they have to you..via the agent if there is one. Do not be fobbed off or have any sense that because of this your rent comes from UC, there is any impact of this.

Was an inventory done? Did it list the faults you mentioned? Did you sign it? If it didn’t mention the faults and you still signed it, well that was an error on your part and will make addressing the matters more tricky. If it wasn’t done or you weren’t asked to look at it, when contacting the agent, I would be asking for a copy of that too.

Quite simply, you’re always in a better position if you know what your money entitled you to and you ask for it assertively. You then usually get what you have paid for.

To be honest, some of the issues you mention strike me as non-issues. You need to know what is your responsibility and not try to foist it onto LL. if you do that, they may well take you less seriously. Also consider if you are quite simply having a degree of buyers regret. You sound like you rushed into this rental agreement. I get that you were under pressure. But did you rush into it and now wish you hadn’t and some of that is manifesting itself in being annoyed about aspects that aren’t down to the LL? Generally speaking you do rent ‘as seen’. Properties must meet minimum standards of safety but beyond that, a tenant accepts the decorative order etc as they see it. Sometimes tenants do accept crap properties…and later wish they hadn’t, but they chose to sign the tenancy.

So Op, I’d say to get the issue of inventory clear and also discuss with the agent what their role is as intermediary between you and LL. Be clear what things you took ‘as seen’ and what are things the LL needs to rectify. To be honest, with most decorative stuff, you need to negotiate the LL to do them BEFORE you sign the contract and move in and not start asking AFTER. A LL may rightly feel irritated if after a tenant accepts a property as seen, they then start raising stuff as soon as they move in…..unless it was stuff it would be impossible to know until in situ.

I know right, how dare I want a secure front door and have blinds so my kids can have privacy!

Okay so all the issues I have raised were not on the inventory, not even the door which had clearly been kicked in at some point. I was told one blind was broken, it's actually been completely ripped off the wall. I didn't see the room the blinds were in as the tenants were in there and didn't want me to come in the room. I realise why now as they totally trashed the walls and had a dart board on the wall and have really damaged that wall. I actually felt sorry for the LL at first because he's clearly put a lot of effort into the property and I was so shocked people would treat a property like that and damage it the way they have, but that doesn't seem to bother the LL as they weren't in receipt of UC. Turns out all the blinds were broken, and it's going to be at least a month to fix them as they're custom made. So if I'm honest there's not a lot I could've done as I didn't see that room and the front door was open when I viewed, it's only when I was actually moving in I realised it had been so badly damaged and didn't lock. The estate agents didn't check the flat until the day the tenants moved out that's when they realised how badly damaged this particular room had been. I was supposed to pick the keys up at 2pm I got an email saying they couldn't get the tenants out and could I come at 5pm so that wasn't a great start.

A previous property I rented the estate agents really tried to blame a lot of issues from previous tenants on me, luckily I took videos and pictures etc so they couldn't argue with me when I pushed back plus the LL took my side as she knew I really looked after the property. So I'm very wary of estate agents trying to blame damages on the current tenant even if it wasn't them which is why I mentioned so many issues so it's on record.

The inventory was online and I added all my comments and picture's.

I've never lived in an 'ideal property' because I'm on UC the nice properties will not rent to me even with good references, credit check 12 months rent etc 2 years ago I viewed over 50 properties and everyone said no, I ended up on anti depressants because it took such a toll on my mental health. When I applied to get a council home i was told because I could hold down a job I wasn't seen as vulnerable so wouldn't be a priority! So when a LL says yes I go with it because it's so rare someone will rent to me. But if I'd known how he felt about UC I'd actually rather have waited and found a property that was okay with UC. I've seen properties that I asked to view told no because they don't accept UC still on the market a month later but reduced I call up again and say please can I view and I will pay the original asking price still no. So a lot of LL would rather earn less or have an empty property than rent to someone on UC

I actually wasn't fussed about the painting, decorating etc it was only an hour before I moved in the estate agents told me it needed painting. That's why I'm so annoyed because if they'd actually checked the property sooner I could've said no I'm not moving in until the work is completed. I'd already booked a removals van and I needed 24 hours notice to cancel which I didn't have so if I'd said no I'm not moving in I'd have lost my money. So this is why I'm so fed up because this could've been avoided but I'm the one being spoken to like dirt because as far as he's concerned I'm lucky he'd even rent to because I'm on UC. The council has come down hard on some LL who discriminate because they can't house people and there's such a huge waiting list so if you judgmental LL like this it just adds to housing issue's

Can you get advice from Shelter? And maybe Citizens advice bureau? Landlord sounds like a twat. Good luck op. Xxx

I think this is a problem with the agent.
I think this would have been a problem for any tenant and the issue isn’t actually that you’re on UC, although that clearly has meant you’ve had limited choice.

The problem is this property wasn’t fit to let to anyone. It was damaged and the agent and LL let it before tenants had moved out, it had been checked and repairs done. They shouldn’t have done that. It was unacceptable that it was let before it had been checked and repaired. You need to take that issue up with the agent - this is their failing.

Unfortunately, your failing was accepting a property that you hadn’t seen in terms of all the rooms. you clearly felt under pressure with time and options available to you…but you’ve now got a crap property.

It’s good you wrote it all on the inventory. I think you need to email all the details of your complaint about the property. Don’t turn it into an issue if a complaint about discrimination. That isn’t what the problem is here….it’s quite simply a problem with a damaged property that isn’t fit for purpose and has been let to you without full info. You are far more likely to get somewhere with insisting they sort these issues out, than approaching from an angle of discrimination. This property would have been inadequatefor any tenant and not just for someone on UC.

Im sorry you find yourself with this. It’s unacceptable. And I can see that you felt you had no real other options and were under pressure to find somewhere becaue UC means not everyone will rent to you and so that fact has left you with in an adequate accommodation. That’s where UC has impacted you, not discrimination against you from this particular LL. can you see that? And yes, you may find that the agent and LL don’t respond as positively to your issues as you’d expect and you might feel it’s that they treat those on benefits less well. That might be the case or not, but this isn’t the angle to take in terms of getting the property sorted out.

Communucate by email so everything is in writing. Stick to the basic facts about inadequacy if the property and insist that the issues are addressed as a matter of urgency and they reply to you by email to tell you the steps they are taking and timescales. Tell them you will be speaking to Shelter and forwarding inventories and copies of your communication with them. Stick to the facts. Don’t get side tracked into this being a discrimination case. It’s not.

And one last thing….do you want to stay or do you actually want this tenancy to be ended and to move on? Get clear in your mind on this too. What do you hope to achieve?

The flat itself is actually quite nice, just a really crap area sadly. Ideally I'd leave as he clearly doesn't want me here and I'd rather not give my money to someone like that but because I've paid 12 months upfront I'm stuck here. I imagine after 12 months he'll either end the tenancy and ask me to leave or he'll raise the rent which I can't afford and ask me to leave. In that case I'll tell him to go through the appropriate procedures section 21 etc and let him deal with it. When my previous landlord told me she was selling she asked if I wanted to be served a section 21 and I said no because a) I liked her and didn't want to be her through that b) I didn't want to risk being moved around until the council found me something, but this time round I don't care he has a huge property Portfolio so he can deal with it.

Shelter and citizens advice have advised I should send him a polite email with a few links from the shelter website about discrimination etc they were particularly amazed he's actually put it in writing as he can't deny he said it.

Thank you xxx