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Hey guys,

 

To cut a long story short, I rent a flat, which is a nightmare to live in. It has no central heating, the cooker trips the electric if you tunr more than one ring on and has given me more than one electric shock. The shower is broken. The sink is leaking. The fire alarm doenst work.

 

and I'm struggling for money - so four month ago i decided, its either keep paying him for this pig sty, or feed me and my wife.

 

So i stopped paying.

 

Then on the 10th may i recieved this letter from him,

 

Mr (spelt my name wrong right away_

 

Re: NOTICE TO QUIT

 

As you are aware, your rental has fallen considerably in arrears in breach of your tenancy agreement, and I am therefore giving you notice to quit.

 

If I do not receive a response from you within the next seven days, with your payment in respect of the outstanding rents, I will assume that you are no longer a tenant and please let me have a forwarding address in addition to you vacating the flat I will also need you to make arrangements to pay off the arrears.

 

I will also need you to make arrangements for the return of the keys.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

---

 

I straight away phoned the council, they told me that its illeagal to evict without 8 weeks notice - so I sent the landlord a letter telling him this -

 

May 10, 2012 – REF:PR/BB NOTICE TO QUIT

 

To Mr ,

 

As you aware I have not been able to make rent, however, you are required by law to give me two

months notice prior to eviction.

 

I have confirmed this with Gwynedd Council.

 

If any attempt to evict myself prior to the lawful timeframe is made the police will be called, and I

will take this to court.

 

Please note the relevant statue below.

 

Housing Act 1988.

SECTION 21 POSSESSION.

Where the tenancy is an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (informally just called a Shorthold tenancy) the

landlord can evict the tenant under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988.

 

The landlord must comply with each of the following requirements, and the tenant has a valid

defense to the claim if the landlord does not do so.

 

Firstly, the landlord must give the tenant written notice under section 21 of the Act, ending the

tenancy. If the rent is paid weekly or monthly, which is the usual arrangement, the tenant must be

given not less than *two months* notice to leave. You could be charged with Criminal Offenses if

you don’t follow this statute.

 

Without Prejudice,

 

****

 

His reply,

 

Dear Mr

 

I was very disappointing to receive your letter and note its contents, and i am disappointed indeed that you are making no effort whatsoever to pay your rent. This being the case, please note that I have immediately entered my claim in respect to your outstanding rent. and you should hear from them very shortly.

 

Rest assured, in view of your attitude, that I will do my utmost to collect the outstanding rent.

 

In accordance with the Housing Act 1988, section 21 you refer to, I formally give you two months written notice terminating your tenancy.

 

I note that you contacted the Council, and I also have been in touch with them, and I will be able to establish if you have been receiving housing benefit in respect of your rental and not passing the monies over to myself.

 

Yours truly,

 

 

 

----

 

 

So now i have received papers from the court which are very confusing saying i have to pay the 1250 rent plus court fees.

 

Im really struggling here, please advice !

 

thankyou

 

 

I have removed personal identity for you own safety.

 

Conniff

Edited by Conniff
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Firstly what are your intentions, do you intent to make the payments for the rent or negotiate any kind of payment in regards to the rent. If your not intending to pay rent and trying to just live rent free I feel you may have to hold your hands up and think whether what you are doing is morally right.

 

If your looking to move out, then you may want to start dealing with that as soon as possible because any court proceedings may take a while and could quite easily be dropped if you are no longer there and the landlord can start actually earning rent on the property.

 

Also are you getting housing benefit and were you not passing it on, data protection means they will not be able to tell him anything but if he was clever I think he might be able to find out and if thats what you have done you are treading on thin ice and you better be careful.

 

I would work on damage limitation here and try and negotiate something with the landlord as nobody wants to take anybody to court but whilst you are in his house not paying rent he will be upset, failing all that go to court and you may well find the court will find in his favour but only make you pay back what you can afford which might not be much. Either way your current situation cant last for long.

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Thanks Rennuz, I was going to negotiate with him and pay back monthly - but i wasnt going to pay it in full, as i am not happy with the state of the flat.

 

I am moving out on saturday, but I have the court papers here, he gave me no chance to sit down and talk he just fired off the court claim.

 

I am not breaking any laws about the housing benefit. i recieve 16 pounds (one six) a month from the local council, and there is no law stating that i have to forward that to him, only if i have a drug problem is that the case.

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, he gave me no chance to sit down and talk he just fired off the court claim.

 

.

 

I fear you didn't give him or yourself any chance to negotiate, you jumped in with both barrels firing saying you have been to the council and will call the police ...etc; not the ideal way to start talking.

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I suggest Court papers are for simple debt recovery order, not repo, so s21 not required.

LLs NTQ though has no validity if OP stays put.

 

"So i stopped paying." Big mistake.

 

"they told me that its illeagal to evict without 8 weeks notice " - Incorrect, LL can get a s8 Repo Order after 10 days

 

OP fails to mention rent or extent of arrears, nor when/if faults were reported to LL.

 

Ts have resps as well as LLs, the main one to pay rent, which Shelter regards as a priority debt. Also eviction for non-payment of rent will be viewed as 'intentionally homeless' so Council only have to do the bare min for OPs family once evicted. In current times, we can expect to see more rents witheld and quick, robust action taken by LLs & Councils. IMO

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