Illegal Eviction 6 weeks into 12 month Tenancy

[Neptune]

Just a couple of other questions about one of the issues.

Is a landlord responsible for ensuring there is working heating and hot water before a tenant moves in? And if a property does not have any heating or hot water, is that considered to be uninhabitable?

The property I recently moved into is oil heating and the inventory stated there was a considerable level of heating oil provided in the tank and there is a photograph on the inventory of the measuring guage on the side of the tank, with a tape measure alongside showing the alleged level of oil.

On moving into the property however, the heating and hot water was not working and the tank was found to be completely empty when dipped with the stick provided on top of the tank. As a result I had to pay an excess charge for emergency oil delivery, which costs more than a standard delivery and the boiler system also then had to be bled, due to an air lock as the tank had been allowed to run completely empty.

I notified the agent of the faulty guage on the tank and that it was completely empty on moving in. They refused to confirm any amendment of inventory and falsely accused me of lying about the oil.

I had to suffer with no heating or hot water for the first few days of the home move, in freezing conditions, preventing me from any sleep and also making me extremely unwell when I was already recovering from serious illness. Can I also claim anything from LL for this?

[efpom]

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...ation-act-2018

[atticus]

s11 Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 - landlord is responsible for things like heating and water system. You may sue/counter-sue for breach of the landlord's implied covenant.

[Neptune]

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...ation-act-2018

Thank you for this and the above link.

I am sure they would argue that it was a genuine mistake on the inventory and that they thought there was oil provided in the tank. The inventory was carried out the day before I collected the keys. In between end of previous tenancy and beginning of my tenancy, the property was vacant for approx 2 months during winter / very cold weather. Surely a LL or their agent should be making sure that the property is adequately heated during any vacant period, to prevent any mould or other problems?

There were some slight areas of mould which were noted on the inventory. Various curtains were also left at the property, which had grown mould at the bottom of the back of the curtains, which was not noted on the inventory.

As the agent refused to correct the inventory and accused me of lying, I then had to also spend considerable time gathering written evidence from independent witnesses. I have an email from my removal company confirming that they dipped the oil tank and found it completely empty, an email from the oil delivery company confirming that the tank was completely empty when they delivered the oil and a receipt showing that the boiler system had to be bled. Would that be considered sufficient evidence?

Is there any way I can obtain copy of check-out inventory from previous tenancy?

From information I have discovered since moving in it seems the LL has form for evicting tenants for no reason other than financial gain.

Is "retaliatory eviction" a defence that can be used for a Section 8 eviction?

So the landlord is demanding and expecting that I move out within 2 weeks, only 6 weeks into a 12 month tenancy agreement, in the middle of a rental / housing crisis, and presumably expects to keep all of the 6 months rent money paid, plus the heating oil I have just paid for, and expects me to be able to find another property within 2 weeks, pay for removals again and a further 6 months rent in advance on another property, and go though all of the huge stress, time and inconvenience of moving home again, without any offer of refund or compensation at all.

Would this situation also come under Landlord "Betterment"?

[Neptune]

s11 Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 - landlord is responsible for things like heating and water system. You may sue/counter-sue for breach of the landlord's implied covenant.

Thank you for this info.

Just a couple of questions about one of the other issues.

At the time of collecting keys for the property, the agent suddenly presented an additional document relating to me being responsible for maintaining extremely large and substantive boundary hedging, to the landlords specific requirements, and also for maintaining gutters, and demanded I sign it. When I questioned this, the keys were snatched back out of my hand and I was aggressively threatened that I could not have the keys unless I sign. So I signed it under duress.

Would this be considered to be an assault?

Can a tenant be held responsible for the cost of hiring specialist contractors for the above?

Some of the hedging is extremely overgrown by several meters and also growing through power lines. There are various trees on the property also growing through power lines. A ladder was provided by the LL.

Is a landlord responsible for the cost of the above?

[Neptune]

I would appreciate if anyone is able to answer any of my other questions in previous posts, and to assist me with how to respond to this?

I am not in a financial position to instruct a solicitor and would like to respond as quickly as possible, in the best way possible to the other partys solicitor, in an effort to prevent eviction proceedings being commenced through the courts.

In addition to some of my earlier questions:

1. If I wanted to make a claim for damages against previous LL1, how can I do that, and should that be directed to their solicitor, or should I write to the LL directly with a pre-action letter?

2. Is what I have written in previous draft letter examples acceptable regarding current situation? If so, please could somebody help me to revise or re-word the letter in a more professional manner, or add / delete / amend as appropriate?

3. I have previously reported previous LL1 to the Police for their stalking / harassment / other matters - Should I also report to the Police the false allegations and malicious communication they have made to my current LL?

4. If I wanted to make a separate claim against the letting / managing agents, should I do that as a completely seperate matter, or should that be done via claim against the LL? I am confused as my contract is with the LL, so not sure to who exactly or how I should claim?

I appreciate you do not have the full information of all details, however as this is involving various parties, there are many several hundreds of pages of previous documents and I have no way of sharing this information, other than trying to explain as clearly as I can.

If any further specific details are needed about any of the issues, please just ask and I will do my best to clarify and explain anything further.

Would anyone please be able to help draft a letter to the solicitors?

[efpom]

The solicitor firm representing the landlord has stated to you that if you have not quit the property by the date specified in the Notice of Possession served on you, it is instructed to issue possession proceedings, aimed at obtaining an Order Of Possession and will do so - unless, meantime, those instructions are withdrawn from it by your landlord.

From the 2^nd paragraph of your post #51 , your objective, is to write to the solicitor firm representing your landlord, aimed at persuading the landlord to withdraw those instructions.

On ground 12, you say "I was unable to accommodate inspection on the date and time they wanted to inspect." , stating that you felt inspection at 6 weeks [from tenancy commencement]was a bit too soon" and proposed "to accommodate inspection at 6 months with a mutually convenient appointment only."

The weakness of your position here is that the court may well decide that your proposal was unreasonable and, in consequence the landlord would be granted an Order of Possession.

You may, therefore, wish to consider offering, in writing, inspection dates in the coming days to avoid the issue of those proceedings.

On ground 17 you admit that you "fail[ed] to provide my previous LL personal details and stated I was living with family".

The weakness of your position here, is that the court may well decide that your untrue statement - "I was living with family", is enough to justify the grant of an Order of Possession, particularly if evidence is put before it that you quit your immediate previous property only following the grant of an Order of Possession, and only after bailiffs had been instructed to execute that order, that you owe rent to your previous landlord and that you have unpaid costs Orders against you, in those previous proceedings.

You may, therefore, wish to consider offering a written apology to your present landlord about making that untrue statement, again aimed at avoiding possession proceedings issuing.

If you choose to proceed along the lines I suggest above, post up your initial draft on here.

[Neptune]

The solicitor firm representing the landlord has stated to you that if you have not quit the property by the date specified in the Notice of Possession served on you, it is instructed to issue possession proceedings, aimed at obtaining an Order Of Possession and will do so - unless, meantime, those instructions are withdrawn from it by your landlord.

From the 2^nd paragraph of your post #51 , your objective, is to write to the solicitor firm representing your landlord, aimed at persuading the landlord to withdraw those instructions.

On ground 12, you say "I was unable to accommodate inspection on the date and time they wanted to inspect." , stating that you felt inspection at 6 weeks [from tenancy commencement]was a bit too soon" and proposed "to accommodate inspection at 6 months with a mutually convenient appointment only."

The weakness of your position here is that the court may well decide that your proposal was unreasonable and, in consequence the landlord would be granted an Order of Possession.

You may, therefore, wish to consider offering, in writing, inspection dates in the coming days to avoid the issue of those proceedings.

On ground 17 you admit that you "fail[ed] to provide my previous LL personal details and stated I was living with family".

The weakness of your position here, is that the court may well decide that your untrue statement - "I was living with family", is enough to justify the grant of an Order of Possession, particularly if evidence is put before it that you quit your immediate previous property only following the grant of an Order of Possession, and only after bailiffs had been instructed to execute that order, that you owe rent to your previous landlord and that you have unpaid costs Orders against you, in those previous proceedings.

You may, therefore, wish to consider offering a written apology to your present landlord about making that untrue statement, again aimed at avoiding possession proceedings issuing.

If you choose to proceed along the lines I suggest above, post up your initial draft on here.

Thank you for your reply, but with all due respect I do not think you are understanding the situation. Your advice above would not be in my best interest whatsoever.

I am confused, as in earlier posts you seemed to understand and agree with my stance.

I think I will stick to my previous drafts, and would appreciate if anybody else could help with this asap. Thank you in advance.

[Neptune]

It would be so hugely appreciated if anybody could possibly help with writing a letter as quickly as possible, as per my initial post. Many Thanks.

[Neptune]

An attempt to help Neptune. I think that she should begin her letter with:

1. A statement of her willingness to allow inspection, by agreed appointment. She should offer 3 or 4 dates/times.

2. A statement that the landlord and his agents were sufficiently aware of her previous problems, and that these were overcome by her offer to pay 6 months' rent in advance. That payment is what influenced the landlord to let to her. [check this is all correct]

Only after dealing with the case being made against her should she continue with her counter allegations. If she is going to say that things were misrepresented to her than she needs to say what was said, and when, how, and by whom, and in what way they were incorrect.

I prefer this advice - I am however struggling very much and would appreciate help writing the full letter if possible?

[islandgirl]

I would a) forget all the compensation stuff - it won't happen 2) write a simple basic letter with points 1 and 2 above 3) if you wish to stay offer dates for inspection as Efpom says 4) if you do not wish to stay state your terms (I will move out on x date if you refund me x)

[Neptune]

I would a) forget all the compensation stuff - it won't happen 2) write a simple basic letter with points 1 and 2 above 3) if you wish to stay offer dates for inspection as Efpom says 4) if you do not wish to stay state your terms (I will move out on x date if you refund me x)

Thank you for your reply.

I have already made a reasonable offer re point 1.

It is not realistic or possible to specify a date I would be able to move out. A refund alone would not be enough to enable me to move out - Additional compensation, such as removals / other expenses / loss of income would also be required to be able to afford to to that.

This is having a severe impact on my mental and physical health and preventing me from being able to sleep / work / function / live / enjoy life.

My only possible terms for each option were set out in my previous draft letter. Failing that, the LL will have to go through the courts, in which case I would be pursuing much larger damages. They are deliberately trying to make me homeless and I should not have to fight this through court. I would prefer to try and reach amicable agreement as per terms previously stated.

I am struggling to write a simple letter, due to severe stress and ill health - Please could somebody draft the letter for me. Thank you so much.

[Neptune]

Would it be better to firstly ask what exactly is being offered in order to enable me to move out, rather than specify an amount? Or should I specify an amount?

It would be so helpful if somebody could help write a letter, as I am not thinking clearly due to stress and the nature of the situation, and somebody else could write much faster than me and much more clearly and professionally worded.

Could anybody help with this?

[efpom]

“"The purposes of a Section 8 Notice are essentially twofold: (i) to warn the tenant that the landlord is considering seeking an order for possession and to give the tenant time to remedy any default; and (ii) as a gateway to court proceedings”"
– per Saini J at 47 NORTHWOOD SOLIHULL LIMITED v DARREN FEARN & Others [2020] EWHC 3538 (QB)

Here, because the Notice relies on Ground 12 and 17, which are discretionary grounds, the court would only have the power to make a Possession Order if it is satisfied that it would be reasonable for it to do so.

So, in this matter, the issues for the court to decide would be:

On Ground 12 - was it reasonable for the tenant to refuse access by the landlord for inspection until 6 months after tenancy commencement had passed?

On Ground 17 – was it reasonable for the tenant to make the untrue statement to the landlord that she lived with family immediately before the grant of this tenancy, when the true position was that she had immediately previously been a tenant who had been served with a s. 21 Notice of Possession, an Order of Possession, and a bailiff warrant of execution and had not satisfied costs Orders and unpaid rent Orders, resulting from those proceedings?

If the court finds as a fact, that:
a)it was reasonable, then the Possession Order will not be granted.
OR
b) If the court decides that it was not reasonable, then the Possession Order will be granted and costs will follow the event.

Further, on b) any claim for damages made by the tenant, i.e. compensation. is bound to fail because it is trite law that a defaulter cannot claim damages footed on his own default.

The process of recovering one’s property from a tenant can be a stressful, time consuming and expensive process, made frustrating for a Landlord if he is also not adequately compensated for the costs incurred in bringing the matter to court.

However, the vast majority of ASTs will contain a provision that the tenant pays the landlord’s costs of court action in seeking possession.

Of course, at present proceedings have not yet issued, but nevertheless the landlord has instructed solicitors to draft and issue the Notice of Possession, which will probably have cost him around £1,300, so far. If an application to the court for an Order for Possession is made, the landlord will probably have to lay out about another £1,500 but those costs are recoverable from the tenant if, as is likely, the AST contains a clause that the tenant pays the landlord’s costs of court action in seeking possession.

If the OP wishes to compromise the matter before proceedings issue, she may wish to propose that she will:
a) Quit the property 2 months hence.
b) Be repaid any rent remaining to her credit on that date.
c) Be paid the sum of £1,500 as consideration.
d) Be refunded her deposit, subject to inspection of the premises.
e) Allow access to the landlord at one month intervals, commencing on the date of the compromise Agreement, and upon her receipt of the statutory notice - 24 hours notice.

[Neptune]

Hi, I tried posting a reply earlier but is not showing on the thread. Is there a maximum character limit per post?