Back in August I moved into a 2 bedroom flat that was sold to me as a 2 bedroom self contained flat. The landlady is now beginning to cause me some issues. She keeps referring to me as a lodger, and the 'Lodgers Agreement'. True, I do have a lodgers agreement, but she does not live in the property. The landlady is getting shirty with me having people round, namely, I have begun dating someone, and she has an issue with him staying. She was quite vile to him the other day, and made reference to the fact that he is 'moving in'. This is not true, he occasionally stays over as we haven't known each other for very long, and he lives 2 hours away from me. She also went on to ask what I was doing for Christmas ('I assume she'll be spending Christmas with you') and told him details of my rent payments. My agreement does not saying anything about overnight guests, and this was first an issue at the end of October - the first time I had anyone other than my parents stay over (a couple of friends that had been to thee Halloween party my landlady hosted - she had known for weeks that they were staying). She will often text me to say she is staying on the sofa, as she likes to go out and get drunk in the town I am in. She has demanded to have access to the property at all times. My issue is this; I found out yesterday that it is not actually legal to have a lodger if you do not live in the property, and that would in fact, make me a tenant (thus me having more rights). I believe she is actually subletting. I'm planning on leaving as soon as I can, but in the mean time I would like to enjoy my home without fear of her pretty much harassing me. Any advice???

My leasehold flat is rented to tenants and the landlord's agents, a company with a reputation for charging high fees, is demanding a registration fee of £120 from me. This is not for permission, just for registration; my lease says that a "reasonable" registration fee is payable. I have offered them £40+VAT for this registration as I had understood that this is what LVTs / First Tiers have determined as reasonable for this kind of clerical work. They have refused this sum and requests from others to have similar cases resolved through First Tier have been met with a response that LVTs / First Tier do not have jurisdiction over registration fees. Any suggestions on how I can get this fee reduced? Thanks

Hello, Im in a spot of bother renting a summer apartment on a 4month contract. I found the apartment on ownersdirect.co.uk and emailed the landlady. (early January 2013) She asked for £2,500 deposit to be payed up front, and £2,500 to be payed on the day of arrival May 20th, and then on the 20th of each month up untill Sept (4months). The apartment sleeps 8, i let her know that i was only going to have 6 of us in there, This was all agreed. but i must stress no contract of any sort has been signed. Then 2 weeks later i find im unable to go, ask is it possible to recieve my deposit back which she declined because of potential missed bookings. So i say to her im going to fill my spaces so the apartment is still taken (meaning i get my deposit back, and the apartment is still filled for the summer), she is fine with this at the time. I then post an advert on facebook to my friends and friends of friends and get a group of 6 lads, and a couple (i receive my 2.5k back) and forward on the names and contact details like the landlady asked. i mention that the couple and the group of lads do not know each other but are now friends on facebook. she is fine with this she says. then after a couple of weeks after me telling her to deal with the others direct and effectively getting me out of the rental. so for a few weeks all is well and i dont hear anything. then i get an email saying i have made the 'agreement' void, by filling my spaces with '8 indivduals' and that im sub letting the apartment (i stress i asked for the exact same amount of deposit that i payed so wasnt making a profit just breaking even and filling the places like she knew about). She also tried to say that because they havent payed the first full months rent 3 weeks before arrival that the 'agreement' is void. (still no contract has been passed over even with the lads asking for it she keeps delaying it on and on). So she expected us to pay 2.5k for the deposit, then pay another 2.5k 3 weeks we get to a apartment with out having signed any kind of contract. All this is a private letting just via ownersdirect.co.uk please can someone advise me where i stand legally having not signed a contract nor seen terms and conditions and if she can just say its 'void' and point blank refuse to return the deposit. we have tried to resolve the problem many times now and she is just refusing all emails now saying she welcomes a letter from my solicitor. Im worried i will have to pay the lads back the 2.5k and she keep mine. id really appreciate anyones helpful input and any questions you have i will answer. many thanks

Hi there, This forum seems to be pretty good so any help really appreciated. I have rented a property for almost a year. Split with partner and decided to rent out the living room in order to meet the rent. This obviously breaches terms of the tenancy agreement with the landlord. The amount of rent that was agreed with the sublet was £100per month more than 50% of the rent although when he asked at the time I said it was 50%. He agreed on the amount, paid the deposit and moved in. We had some mutual disagreements with regards to how we lived together practically and decided that it was best if he moved out after two months. At this stage it was still amicable. Now two days after moving out of the property he says that he wants the difference that was above 50% and will move this to small claims court to get the money. When he challenged me about this I admitted that the amount was higher than 50% of the actual rent. Does he have a case? It's worth noting that morally I was going to pay him back the money (it's not really that much) but he has now blown this whole thing out of proportion so much with many threats about small claims court and the effect a ccj would have on my life. He also works in financial law and believes he has the upper hand. At this point I would prefer the landlord not to know as my own very large deposit is potentially at risk for breach of terms. However I believe to have a reasonable relationship with him and have always paid the rent on time. There is also a situation where I have paid this guy his deposit back in cash instead of by transfer. I haven't got any record of this but he has made a small admission to receiving it via email and I doubt he would lie about this as he doesn't seem as though he is that kind of person. But I could be wrong. Given his profession it would be unethical of him to state such a lie. Another point to note is that he did not pay bills for the first three weeks of his stay as he was still living in his other property and on holiday for this time (he had keys though and moved some of his stuff in). Any help really appreciated. I really just want to know do I have a case to defend this if he does go to court. All agreements between me and him were verbal so nothing is recorded although he has a copy of my tenancy agreement. Thanks