Nightmare Landlord

[Welsh_Boy]

Hi all, wonder if you can help me with some advice

 

I started renting a small farmhouse and land back in the middle of last year. with the house came approx 20 acres of land, otubuildings and stables.

 

I have been served notice by the landlord last week, giving me 2 weeks notice to leave as the landlord wants to move back into the property. I informed them on Sunday this week that i needed 2 months notice, from the date of the lease, not some random day of the month.

 

I have a catologue of complaints about the landlord, listed below. To be fair i would be pleased to move out, however, their actions are causing me distress

 

- Rent on lease document is half of that verbally agreed, yet the landlord wants to full verbal figure. I have paid what is mentioned in the lease, so they are now claiming non-payment of rent

- we have no rent book or receipts for funds paid to date

- soon after taking possession of the property, several outbuildings were removed from the lease, without consent or lowering of the rental figure

- landlord has been using some of our land for their own uses, stopping us from using the land

- landlord has sub-let some of our land to a third party, yet still expects us to pay for the land outside of our control

- boiler isnt working and hasnt been for 6 months, we have no heating except for a log fire and the immersion heater on the hot water is temperamental to say the least

- we have leaks of water from the roof which we have had to fix ourselves, at our cost

- several times we have been asked to pay the rent money to a third party instead of them to cover some debt or other of theirs

- we are liable for all council tax bills however, she has another tenant on the land living in a log cabin for the last 18 months who doesnt pay council tax as its a "temporary" dwelling.

- last week this other tenant locked off one of the stables kicking out my horse stating that the landlord have given them permission to use the stable

- today the landlord is moving out the rest of my animals from the stable into a field so that they can move their own horses into the stables - without asking permission or consent

- we are on an assured shothold tenancy here, but not sure if its legitimate ask i am lead to believe that assured shortholds dont apply to properties with over 2 acres?

 

i obviously am looking to get out as soon as possible, but can someone give me guidance on what i can do about sorting the accommodation for animals etc? i fear that they will drum up charges of non-payment as reason to serve notice, even though no receipts or similar exist to prove otherwise.

 

guidance please?

[rebel11]

Hi Wel

 

Welcome to CAG

 

The guys will be happy to advise as soon as they are available.

 

Have you answered all the questions in the sticky?

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?118080-Questions-for-new-posters

[MrShed]

Has he just given you notice in writing to leave, or notice formally under Section 8 of the housing act? Some of the actions of the landlord could constitute unlawful eviction. An AST cannot be set up for a property that has mroe than 2 acres of "agricultural" land - so I guess this depends upon the nature of the land. There are some quite complex issues here that need addressing. Did you in fact verbally agree to pay double the rent as listed on the agreement? It is not entirely clear from what you have said.

[Welsh_Boy]

OK - Answers to the sticky questions

 

- Tenancy agreed verbally, followed up in writing with contract signed by myself and landlord, plus witness

- Lease agreed on 17th January 2011, 6 months Assured Shorthold Tenancy. NOTE - this replaced the original AST document dated 17th July 2011. Landlord wanted me to sign a new lease every 6 months

- Landlord verbally requested £1900 per calendar month, formally lease states £1000 PCM

- I have been issued a letter dated 30th June 2011 asking me to leave the property at my earliest convienince due to a change in the landlords circumstances. When questioned, landlord requires date of departure as 25th July 2011

- a separate letter was also included with the original notice letter on 30th June, asking to clear any arrears otherwise court action will be started, however, no sum of alleged arrears has been forthcoming or clarification of what dates etc

 

Hope that helps

 

Welsh Boy

Edited July 20, 2011 by Welsh_Boy
bad spelling

[Welsh_Boy]

No, not a formal notice under Section 8, just asked us to leave.

Land is agricultural as it is a farm and we smallhold it

[raydetinu]

required notice would be in the lease/contract? which I pressume you signed and have a copy.

maybe worth posting it up so we can have a look and advise.

I imagine it would be legal as long as it listed the land/outbuildings specifically.

did you pay a deposit and is it protected?

your notice to leave must be in a prescrbed form and valid. section 21 etc. do not withhold rent!

They can only use the reason that the poroperty was their primary residence to regain possession if it was sated in the contract that you signed ( prenotified ) if not they cannot use that reason to regain possession.

[Welsh_Boy]

Landlord used to live here before vacating it and renting to us. They moved to some land and applied for permission to build a home on green belt land which was refused. Landlord given 28 day notice by planning to quit the land and hence they want to move back here. No deposit was paid, no guarantor requested/ clearly deleted from lease. Land and outbuilding not specifically mentione din lease. lease just states, "the property and all grounds"

[raydetinu]

as said before, notice requirements will be in AST!

Notice of repossesion must be in prescribed form with valid dates i.e. section 21 etc. or section 8 if behind with rent!

notice is just that a notice you do not have to leave, it just means that LL can proceed with legal action after the end of notice ( if valid ). can only evict with court order.

If AST says all grounds, then sounds pretty clear to me that he is taking the pxxx, and you can refuse his action to move your horses or take possession of any outbuildings and not let him enter the prorperty or grounds; call the police if he gets difficult.

Courts usualy fast track eviction if it was noted as prevous main reidence of LL, but this must be in the contract to be used.

[MrShed]

Raydet - this isnt an AST, it is excluded. As such, it is a contractual tenancy only I would surmise. Therefore, whatever terms are in the contract will be the notice that needs to be given, and almost certainly not in a prescribed format. However, I am now rapidly heading out of my comfort zone.

[MrShed]

OP. You probably have (from my limited reading) an "agricultural holding" as opposed to an assured tenancy. I would STRONGLY advise that you seek professional legal advice urgently. I feel that the advice you are going to receive on this forum (or probably many others) is going to be extremely limited. It is certainly an area of law I have no knowledge of.

[MrShed]

OP can you just clarify for me. Is the land agricultural and you ACTUALLY CURRENTLY USE that land for farming?

[MrShed]

Also (sorry) would suggest reading this link. http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums/archive/index.php/t-32787.html

[Welsh_Boy]

the lease clearly states "assured shorthold tenancy" on the front of it. The land that is with the property was part of a farm, the landlords farm, and the parts of the land in our control (does seem to vary from day to day) has sheep and a horse upon it.

 

Now, it wouldnt surprise me if my tenancy agreement is someone else's just photocopied and my name stuck on it, however, i signed a AST - does it not comply then? if it doesnt comply, does that mean the tenancy is invalid and any current claims under it are void? jsut thinking outside the box, lease states £1000 pcm, they ask for £1900 which obviously leaves a £900 pcm deficit. if the lease isnt valid, (a bit shady i know) but is that £900 pcm lawful owed? i have no paperwork to say that the rent is £1900??

[MrShed]

The question as to whether this is an AST or not depends upon the usage of the land. I am still completely unclear as to the usage. I really do strongly suggest that you consult with a solicitor. The "tenancy" is not an AST irrespective of the contract if it is not valid to be an AST. This would mean that you lose the statutory rights and obligations under an AST, OTHER THAN THOSE explcitly documented in the contract - i.e. you have the contractual rights and obligations only. This is referred to as a common law tenancy.

[MrShed]

RE: Rent. You had a verbal contract to pay £1900, and this is a binding legal contract. ?YUnless you intend to lie at a court hearing I would forget about this rental discrepancy.

[Welsh_Boy]

no, i would not lie in court. thats a no no.

 

The fact that there are sheep on the land would lend itself to agricultural use. does this make much difference?

[MrShed]

It PROBABLY in my opinion makes it a common law tenancy. But I thinkyou need to get this checked out properly.

[Welsh_Boy]

landlord has knocked on the door tonight and asked, politely, if i would mind being out of the property by sunday night this week so that they can move in otherwise they will be homeless.

 

Has asked if i would mind moving in with my parents (7 hours away) or with my in laws (3 hours away) and i can leav e any animals here whilst i am away and they will look after them for me, billing me for their up keep!

 

Apparently they have no money for a deposit and no time to find a property - join the club!

 

Even so, they still havent given me the redrafted notice to quit i asked for. they are still sticking to the letter they wrote on 30th June asking me to quit the property by 25th.

 

Just out of interest, i know that over 2 acres means that the property cant be an AST, that is now clear, however, having re-read the lease, it makes no mention of acreages or of outbuildings etc. all it says is the property and all grounds. now if you take that as ALL THE LAND, then i have effectivly had all 500 or so acres at my disposal!

 

If the lease doesnt state the amount of land, and only refers to the house, does that mean that the AST stands and is applicable, and then the land is a separate concern to teh rental of the house?

 

Landlord has asked me to consider moving out early seriously, as they wouldnt want refernces from them to "jade my applications" to rent other properties. I was reminded several times in the conversation about how well they are connected and how they wuldnt want to drag us through the courts and let everyone know about our predicament? does that sound like a veiled threat to you?

[MrShed]

Let them drag you through the courts quite frankly. Even under the contractual tenancy they have given insufficient notice. I wouldnt worry too much about references either.

[raydetinu]

You defo need to get legal advise; but they cant get you out without a court order anyway and by the sounds of it this will take a few months, enough time to find somewhere else anyway.

Dont let their problem become yours.

Do not leave the property unattended at any time or they may just move back in!

[Ed999]

My comments only apply if the premises are entirely within England and Wales, and you were over 18 years of age when the tenancy was granted.

 

 

Agricultural land

 

My opinion is that MrShed is on the money!

 

There cannot be an assured tenancy if agricultural land exceeding two acres is let together with the dwelling-house (Section 1 & Schedule 1 paragraph 6(1), Housing Act 1988).

 

For this purpose, the statute provides that 'agricultural land' is land that is exempt from rating on agricultural grounds under the General Rate Act 1967.

 

This looks like it MIGHT be a farm business tenancy under the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995.

 

• http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/ihtmanual/ihtm24211.htm

 

The tenant needs to obtain specialist advice from a Solicitor, to find out whether it is a farm business tenancy. If it is, in some circumstances the landlord MIGHT - I put it no stronger - have to give up to a year's notice to evict the tenant under section 6 of the 1995 Act.

Edited July 22, 2011 by Ed999

[Welsh_Boy]

Since my last post - the landlords son has been up to see us, asked why we havent moved out out. Reminded him that i havent had a correctly submitted notice to quit. All i have had to date is verbal requests to leave the property and a letter saying that they would like to move back in. No correct notice period, not served on correct date.

 

Yesterday, landlord came up to the house, again asked why i had not moved out, and stated that they needed to move back in by Monday 1st and that they are making arrangements for a skip and a barn to be made available to me to place any rubbish in the skip and my belongings in the barn so that they could move back in.

 

Yet again i stated that i have yet to see notice. They replied they would sort that out if i stated to move and back date the notice to the 17th July, last rent day.

 

If they come up again today to ask whe ni am leaving, can i take this as "harassment"??

[MrShed]

They cant "back date the notice"! Its more than harrassment, its potentially unlawful eviction. Have you, as we have advised, consulted with a solicitor?

[Welsh_Boy]

i have an appointmetn with one, the trouble i have is finding one in the area that hasnt got dealings with this landlord! they seem to deal with many around here for land purchase, being sued etc that finding one without a conflict of interest would be novel!

[deathbycrayons]

I really feel for you being in a similar situation.