Tenant In Distress – Mowing The Lawn

Reply to the comment left by "Jill Harding" at "01/12/2016 - 10:57":

Just a thought. Have you paid a deposit in connection with the tenancy? If so, has it been protected and the prescribed information provided? Apologies if this has already been covered and I've missed it.

Reply to the comment left by "Seething Landlord" at "01/12/2016 - 19:17":

YES a deposit has been paid, it was back in 2002 when I originally approached the letting agents that looked after the property. It was £900 which is protected where I have a separate document explaining this and my rights, how the money is held etc. That deposit was then transferred over to the new agents when my current landlord took over in April 2015. Again I have received the appropriate documentation regarding protection of my deposit.

Reply to the comment left by "Jill Harding" at "01/12/2016 - 19:32":

Thanks for clearing that up. If the deposit had not been protected it would have given you some leverage but at least we now know that they appear to have dealt with it properly.

Jill hi
I have to say that your thread has generated some bizarre and aggressive comments that really do not seem to provide a positive image of the landlord community. A landlord is running a business and therefore needs to make a profit, but there are good ways and not good ways of going about it and there appear to be people on here who have a bad attitude!

I have tenants who I've given permission to undertake work on my properties because they have wanted things that did not really need doing but, like you, they wanted to put their mark on a property and it benefited both of us. However, I have drawn a line and always paid for the essential maintenance issues that are my responsibilities as that is what renting is about.

I think that you may have to face up to the fact that your time in the current property may be drawing to a close as it looks like you are being managed out and your relationship with your current inherited landlord is deteriorating to a point where recovery is increasingly unlikely. The toxic addition of an aggressive agent is also unhelpful but the bizarre contact/non-contact arrangements are like nothing I have heard of. I would just ignore their demands for payment as they would be hard pressed to prove in court what exactly they are trying to charge for by the sounds of it , but you may need to take proper legal advice a bit further down the line.
Now is the time to be canny:
No 1 - keep all your correspondance and even copy this thread. Unfortunately for you if you do move your new agent (if they are worth using) will need to acquire references. It is unlikely that you will get one from your current landlord or their "agent" and references via ouija board do not usually pass muster!! Therefore you will have to have some proofs to back up your story. Emails are great because they are always time stamped and you can prove a thread of correspondence. The fact that you have rented the same property for 14 years is a good foundation to build your case on and if you have different contracts with the fathers and sons names on that would corroborate your case too.

2. If you want to engineer more time for your departure I would suggest (if you haven't done already) you follow up my thread about HHSRS and get your local council on board as it will prevent retalliatory eviction and potentially give you more time to leave at a point of your choosing.

3. With your skills acquired regarding contract law I would recommend your research uses the power of Google to glean a working understanding of:
HHSRS - and what it covers as you can guide the council to reveal any deficiencies that help your case.
Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 Section 11 - as this will give you an idea of the responsibilities the landlord should be undertaking regards repairs and maintenance and it is him that should be doing it.
Remember also that a Section 21 notice is not an eviction notice - only the Court or High Court can issue one of these. The S21 is only a statement of intentions to bring current contract to a close.
If you are offered a new contract to renew then it will be worth reading it carefully as it will almost certainly include garden maintenance etc and if you sigh it your commitments change. Interestingly, if you do not sign, continue to pay your rent and if they accept the rent then your contract automatically becomes a Statutory Periodic tenancy under the terms of your last signed contract and they will have to serve notice to bring the tenancy to an end. If the Council have been wound into action the S21 will be null & void until after the remedial work has been signed off and he will also have a 12 month notice freeze after that + the landlord will have to pay the council for these services as well as the work carried out under Statutory Notice. By the time all this rattles through it could be 1 1/2 - 2 years before the process is concluded.
4. I would also mug up on the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 and Protection from Harassment Act 1997 as these too cold be useful if things get grim as the miscreants will be breaking criminal law as well as civil laws and get a criminal record if you wanted to go this route.
5. If you do go down the eviction route I would seek advice of how far you can take it before you are the recipient of a CCJ as this will also stick to your record for 6 years and make future renting a lot harder. - move in time to stop this & remember the landlord can get his case bumped up to the high court in fairly quick succession so go before you are pushed.

I think if I were in your shoes I'd get the council's protection to give you more time to find somewhere of your choosing. Get yourself accepted by the new landlord then give your notice in the ordinary manner sothat you still do things properly.
Remember while you are still at the property you have all the responsibilities to pay and do the tenant things but don't pay for landlord maintenance things in the future. If a repair is required, notifiy the landlord an if he fails to act the council could be your ally again.
I normally operate on the other side of the fence but hate to see bad agents and landlords getting away with blatant mistreatment of tenants. I hope this is all coherent as it has been an uber long day.
Remember home is in the heart not bricks and mortar - there will be many other places you can settle into and make a happy home with a good landlord and agent. Download a copy of the Government's "How To Rent" pamphlet (Feb 2016 edition) as this will guide your thoughts on how to find a new property and what to expect from either or both agent & landlord (It is also a mandatory requirement now for you to have a copy before notice can be served in the future - it also has a lot of sound guidance for what to expect/ look out for

Good luck

Reply to the comment left by "Tim Wragby" at "02/12/2016 - 01:01":

Excellent post Tim.

We have also corresponded offline and I look forward to publishing your guest blogs in future.

All the best

Mark
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Reply to the comment left by "Tim Wragby" at "02/12/2016 - 01:01":

Whilst I agree that Tim's first comment on this thread was excellent, there are elements of the most recent post that are a little disturbing on an open landlords forum.

Points 2 and 3 are what I'm referring too.

Retaliatory evictions are by definition 'in retaliation'. Nowhere in the OP is it suggested this would be the case. Use of the word 'engineer' by Tim is suggestive and if nothing else, inflammatory. I agree that tenants should not be evicted in retaliation for a separate matter, but in this instance it is being suggested that it be abused.

HHSRS is specifically aimed at the health and safety and each issued scored according to risk, which does not necessarily cover the same as general landlord maintenance. For example, a dripping tap that is potentially costing you money in excess water charges that you told your landlord about months ago and he's just too lazy to fix is absolutely of great annoyance, but not a safety hazard. Even damp, depending on cause/type/location/amount can be a low score on HHSRS and not prevent eviction. From what I've read, I believe the main problems are the garden and some damp, not likely to be grounds for any Category 1 mandatory hazards. Having said all of that, prevention of the service of a S.21 Notice under the 'retaliatory eviction' scheme is only applicable to tenancies that began after 01st October 2015.

Landlords should be fair and reasonably, but they only *have* to meet the minimum legal standards. In a similar vein, advising a tenant not to leave upon the expiration of a S.21, whilst not breaking any laws, is not exactly fair or reasonable either. We as landlords are forever getting uptight that Shelter/CAB/councils are advising tenants to stay put until the last possible minute...is this something we should be peddling here?

Reply to the comment left by "Tim Wragby" at "02/12/2016 - 01:01":

Tim, thank you, thank you so much. You have certainly gone above and beyond in providing not only your time freely but the amount of advice and in depth information. Just amazing, thank you so very much!

Best wishes,
Jill

Reply to the comment left by "Luke P" at "02/12/2016 - 10:18":

Luke, thank you for posting your comment regarding the cooment from "Tim Wragby" last night, which I will address as best I can for everyone who may be interested in my input.

I want to assure ALL landlords who read my thread I am not some loony, irate tenant, I use the word "loony" as it has been suggested on the thread that I might be. I am not against private landlords, or one in particular ( my current landlord) but I am a woman of integrity and feel strongly that if I'm sold something on the basis of providing a service, item or verbal agreement then I expect it to be adhered to. This does not mean to challenge this, or stand my ground, I cannot do it in a civilized and measured manner where dialogue is kept open without threats. Once you enter into making threats of any kind, you've lost the battle, you lost the ability to communicate and improve any future relationship, whether it be professional or otherwise. It is no different to people who resort to physical violence in an argument, it's a inability to communicate properly in arguing your point, and once you lash out verbally with threats or physically....you've lost. I don't intend on losing..I jest!

Since being on *Property118* and the many people who have offered advice and put another side to being a private landlord, I see more clearly that renting in the private sector is a "business transaction" for the purpose of the landlord to make a profit like any business - it's not social housing, and IF you can't afford to privately rent or you don't like the clauses, then I'm afraid you don't rent from that landlord, it's part of life, as tough as it may be. Nevertheless IF you've been offered something and two people have agreed on it, then one would be have to be a *walkover" not to debate it, that is all I'm doing. The housing market is in crisis, and everyone in one way or another is affected. YES..even landlords, as I see from some of the fascinating articles on here.

I'm a pragmatist and can be objective and clinical when I need to get something done, although my natural personality is to be soft and open to compromise and discussion, so please, I have no intentions to do anything but communicate and to try and reason with my landlord over the garden, if I fail, then fine, but I will walk away with my head held high not resorting to threats or very bad feeling between us. Always leave people smiling or semi smiling 😉 never leave anyone wanting to crucify you. I hope over the next few months once my heating is fitted (21st December) Hoo rah!! And the damp ideally improves over the next 6 months, my landlord and I will then approach the garden again..and who knows what will happen. Thank you to everyone!

Best wishes,
Jill

Here's a fairly easy solution. Buy a reasonable petrol mower for about £200 find a local teenage who wants a bit of Saturday work and pay him/her £7 an hour to mow it once a fortnight, you can get away with that. Then find a fit local pensioner to come in once a month for £20 to tidy the borders. You'll really only need to do this from about April to the beginning of October. Far cheaper than what they currently want off you.

Reply to the comment left by "Gillian Schifreen" at "03/12/2016 - 10:08":

Thank you Gillian, I'm always grateful for all input, but I'm afraid I'm NOT paying out for something that will ONLY benefit the landlord when I leave. The garden and the land the property occupies...is his. I would never choose a property to rent or buy with a large garden where I had to either pay someone or do the back breaking work myself. The property was rented to ME under the assurance the maintenance of the garden was incorporated into the tenancy. Hence the only reason I ever took the property and have stayed 14 years.

As I have said before, buying a lawnmower or paying a gardener is NOT what I would have to do elsewhere. Buying items to keep the property internally maintained I would have to do any where I lived, so a normal expense..i.e.vacuum cleaner, mop, cleaning accessories, a lawnmower of £200 is NOT. The only person to benefit out of the garden being maintained ultimately is the landlord by being able to present a property for sale or rent without having to do anything to it, and therefore benefit from it. So although I appreciate your input I will not be buying a lawn mower. If the landlord wants to buy the lawn mower so it becomes part of HIS his "rental property" fine but I won't be.

Thank you Gillian..