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Hi I am new here and very sorry for the long post that follows. I am a long term tenant in a first floor flat with security of tenure, my current landlord bought the property at auction and is trying everything to get rid of me as the difference in price with me here v vacant possession after a bit of doing up is about £50K. Alongside that I also haven't spoken to my downstairs neighbours whom have a 999 year lease for over 3 years due to various disputes mainly due to their being no sound proofing between the 2 flats and their intolerance of hearing everyday living noises. My landlord is their Freeholder.
So basically I had a long dispute with my landlord that went to tribunal over whether he could put the rent up using a section 13 or if he had to use the existing rent increase clause in my existing TA. His Solicitor withdrew the case just before it went to hearing after I had given my written submissions which showed he had no chance of winning.
Subsequently myself and my landlord have had further dispute over repairs and him trying now to misinterpret the meaning of my rent increase clause. I had letters back and forth with his Solicitor in which I argued a good case on all fronts.
However now he has stopped using his solicitor since January and writing letters himself. However these letters have been pretty bad. They sound professional but they are absolutely full of what I am sure must constitute harassment. He wrote one marked without prejudice in which he threatened to evict me if I didn't take £3K to go quietly. Also if I didn't go he said he was going to send builders around and totally redevelop the flat with me still living there, knocking down walls, moving room locations and services, converting the attic, knocking a big hole in outside wall of my flat for an external staircase he would have nowhere else to place than the downstairs leaseholders garden which belongs to them and he would have no right to do it within their lease terms.
My TA is very short and doesn't contain detailed terms. Yet he wrote another long letter trying to tell me what I can and can't do according to some 'standard tenancy agreement' that he must have found on the Internet. Telling me to get rid of my dog I have had for 9 years and before he bought the property etc. Also false allegations purportedly from the downstairs leaseholders. These include that I am running a home dog boarding business from my flat and that I have a man living here full time and that he is playing loud music late and night and smoking near the vents in the downstairs flat (which don't exist). None of this is true. I do have a dog walking and pet visiting (in other people's homes) business but would not dream of boarding dogs here, you need a council license for that. My business is professional and above board in all respects. I don;t have anyone else living here, I do have a partner who may stay once a fortnight at the most and he has his own house (not rented) where he pays council tax etc. Also writing that I am in rent arrears due to his misinterpretation of the rent clause.
After extensively legally researching all of the issues I wrote back only so far in relation to the complaints letters denying allegations of loud music or home boarding dogs. That my partner does not live here but if he did there would be no breach of tenancy terms. That having a dog has always been permitted so again no breach of tenancy again. Also pointing out where I felt that his letters were harassment. I also have asked for proof of the leaseholders complaints but he will not produce it even though he refers to emails and letters from them. I sent a data subject access request, he still refused. He also accused me of housing benefit fraud which is totally not true and if the HB dept investigated any complaint it would be verified that I have not committed any fraud.
He wrote the very next day basically saying everything I have said in the letter is lies and repeating the allegations and has written further allegations saying that my TA is a fake so accusing me of fraud again. Yet he did not accuse it of being fake during the rent increase dispute though his Solicitor hinted at it.
He has also written things that I have not said and misconstrued things regarding the repair issues, he denies all repairs and says if there are any it must be due to my damage. He has refused to inspect and not visited here for 2 years now. And so on.
I feel overwhelmed and don't know where to begin. I am confident about where I stand legally on all the issues, that he has no grounds for eviction, that there has been no breach of tenancy, that I have not caused any nuisance. But I do not know how far he intends to pursue this so do not know what to do next.
If this was just a personal dispute argument with someone sending me nasty texts and emails for example then I think the answer would be to report it and never respond to any of it because it encourages them to carry on harassing you.
However if I just ignore everything here from now on I worry that it will all come back to haunt me should he start court proceedings for eviction for example. It seems that writing back to him only encouraged him to write another letter. Thus if I write back denying everything again and correcting him on points then I am sure I will get another harassing letter reply within a week accusing me of new stuff and repeating the old. However if I don't write back covering each point I worry that some adverse inference could be drawn from me not denying it in any later court proceedings?
Has anyone any experience/advice what to do in these situations of getting false allegations and the other side lying at every juncture? Maybe these are common techniques people use to intimidate during legal cases? It has been causing me a lot of anxiety and detrimental effects on my business and personal life for 2 years now mainly due to the tribunal case but now he seems to be threatening to put me through more legal proceedings.
I don't know if the complaints from the neighbour even exist but I can't ask them as we haven't spoken for over 3 years since the man downstairs harassed me in the street and I had to lock myself in my car to get away from him having a go at me. I am sure they have probably made some complaints about everyday noises but making up that someone lives here full time and that I have hoards of dogs boarding when I have 1 pet dog seems over the top even for them.
Thanks in advance.
So basically I had a long dispute with my landlord that went to tribunal over whether he could put the rent up using a section 13 or if he had to use the existing rent increase clause in my existing TA. His Solicitor withdrew the case just before it went to hearing after I had given my written submissions which showed he had no chance of winning.
Subsequently myself and my landlord have had further dispute over repairs and him trying now to misinterpret the meaning of my rent increase clause. I had letters back and forth with his Solicitor in which I argued a good case on all fronts.
However now he has stopped using his solicitor since January and writing letters himself. However these letters have been pretty bad. They sound professional but they are absolutely full of what I am sure must constitute harassment. He wrote one marked without prejudice in which he threatened to evict me if I didn't take £3K to go quietly. Also if I didn't go he said he was going to send builders around and totally redevelop the flat with me still living there, knocking down walls, moving room locations and services, converting the attic, knocking a big hole in outside wall of my flat for an external staircase he would have nowhere else to place than the downstairs leaseholders garden which belongs to them and he would have no right to do it within their lease terms.
My TA is very short and doesn't contain detailed terms. Yet he wrote another long letter trying to tell me what I can and can't do according to some 'standard tenancy agreement' that he must have found on the Internet. Telling me to get rid of my dog I have had for 9 years and before he bought the property etc. Also false allegations purportedly from the downstairs leaseholders. These include that I am running a home dog boarding business from my flat and that I have a man living here full time and that he is playing loud music late and night and smoking near the vents in the downstairs flat (which don't exist). None of this is true. I do have a dog walking and pet visiting (in other people's homes) business but would not dream of boarding dogs here, you need a council license for that. My business is professional and above board in all respects. I don;t have anyone else living here, I do have a partner who may stay once a fortnight at the most and he has his own house (not rented) where he pays council tax etc. Also writing that I am in rent arrears due to his misinterpretation of the rent clause.
After extensively legally researching all of the issues I wrote back only so far in relation to the complaints letters denying allegations of loud music or home boarding dogs. That my partner does not live here but if he did there would be no breach of tenancy terms. That having a dog has always been permitted so again no breach of tenancy again. Also pointing out where I felt that his letters were harassment. I also have asked for proof of the leaseholders complaints but he will not produce it even though he refers to emails and letters from them. I sent a data subject access request, he still refused. He also accused me of housing benefit fraud which is totally not true and if the HB dept investigated any complaint it would be verified that I have not committed any fraud.
He wrote the very next day basically saying everything I have said in the letter is lies and repeating the allegations and has written further allegations saying that my TA is a fake so accusing me of fraud again. Yet he did not accuse it of being fake during the rent increase dispute though his Solicitor hinted at it.
He has also written things that I have not said and misconstrued things regarding the repair issues, he denies all repairs and says if there are any it must be due to my damage. He has refused to inspect and not visited here for 2 years now. And so on.
I feel overwhelmed and don't know where to begin. I am confident about where I stand legally on all the issues, that he has no grounds for eviction, that there has been no breach of tenancy, that I have not caused any nuisance. But I do not know how far he intends to pursue this so do not know what to do next.
If this was just a personal dispute argument with someone sending me nasty texts and emails for example then I think the answer would be to report it and never respond to any of it because it encourages them to carry on harassing you.
However if I just ignore everything here from now on I worry that it will all come back to haunt me should he start court proceedings for eviction for example. It seems that writing back to him only encouraged him to write another letter. Thus if I write back denying everything again and correcting him on points then I am sure I will get another harassing letter reply within a week accusing me of new stuff and repeating the old. However if I don't write back covering each point I worry that some adverse inference could be drawn from me not denying it in any later court proceedings?
Has anyone any experience/advice what to do in these situations of getting false allegations and the other side lying at every juncture? Maybe these are common techniques people use to intimidate during legal cases? It has been causing me a lot of anxiety and detrimental effects on my business and personal life for 2 years now mainly due to the tribunal case but now he seems to be threatening to put me through more legal proceedings.
I don't know if the complaints from the neighbour even exist but I can't ask them as we haven't spoken for over 3 years since the man downstairs harassed me in the street and I had to lock myself in my car to get away from him having a go at me. I am sure they have probably made some complaints about everyday noises but making up that someone lives here full time and that I have hoards of dogs boarding when I have 1 pet dog seems over the top even for them.
Thanks in advance.
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