Councils encouraging law breaking

Reply to the comment left by "Julie Ford" at "29/01/2014 - 12:36":

The councils are NOT allowed to give legal advice to landlords OR tenants however they seem to think they can do what they like, I have been put thru hell over the last mth or so due to their bullying & unlawful advice that they found to be their job to give, they invited ME TO MY house I turned up & there was about 8ppl from council there they then refused me access to MY house whilst they discussed MY house & me with the scumbag tenants that where there, on top of which they had told the police to be "on alert from me" with absolutely NO foundation to do so! needless to say I was & am still furious, so I brought my MP into the picture, they found absolutely NO fault in MY beautiful house but that did not stop 1 woman in particular from being an absolute monster, Fortunately she then started giving me advice that she should not have done & then proceeded to lie saying she had not said these things but I had taped the call. This woman is now on suspension & I have been asked what I would like to see happen, & ive told them I want her removed from her position WORDS i NEVER thought would come out of my mouth. Now I have been left with bills running into thousands of pounds for the damage this tenants caused & I could not prevent due to their interference! I am now having similar problems with my HMO property so this time i have left it up to my MP to deal with as I have had to miss 2 knee operations due to all the stress! I must have looked very threatening when they advised the police to be on alert trying to stand up on my crutches!! I believe they are just trying to take control of the property to house their tenants as property is at a premium but the behaviour is appalling & I would urge anyone going through this to contact their MPs as we the landlords do NOT have any rights whatsoever its a disgrace this can happen . To contact your MP is very easy just google writetothem & put in YOUR postcode NOT property postcode & email them it is so easy & believe me when they know your MP is involved they withdraw pretty damn quick BUT another thing we should ALL do is REPORT bad landlords as it is because of them that we all have to pay the price & its wrong

Jeremy

I give little weight to what tenants say they were told

you need it in writing otherwise you are in fantasy land

Reply to the comment left by "Jim " at "05/02/2014 - 12:01":

The tenants in this case never told me any of this the council themselves told me hence my recorded phone calls, In those calls I asked them to clarify if they had notified the police & said NO " so I asked again to be clear you have had NO contact with the police where my name was mentioned, she then started to stutter & said yes I did ask them to be on alert" when I asked why she thought it was acceptable to criminalise me with no foundation she simply could not give an answer! They had asked me in the past if I would allow them to take over the house to put their numerous tenants in, but I refused as this house is immaculate & if it was in a different location I would have preferred to live in it myself. I will now no longer accept DHSS not because of behaviour of tenants but because of behaviour of the council which is a sad position to be in.

Reply to the comment left by "Alan Loughlin" at "02/02/2014 - 12:05":

Alan I put in a formal complaint & in fact they did respond (amazingly) but this was not enough to satisfy me & clearly they would not have done what I wanted done so I contacted my MP who is also a landlord & is aware of all the issues we have to contend with. This seemed to do the trick & one of council officers who made my life hell has been suspended, the other people from the council are now running around like idiots trying to make me happy & I have told them all to keep away from me & my property, I was going to take them to court over their behaviour for harassment bullying to name just a few, I am so pleased you have brought this into the open as I really was starting to think it was just me! I would give the same advise to everyone & anyone in this situation & that is to contact your MP by email as I have done this several times over the yrs & it really works, I would have happily given tenants an eviction notice that they needed to enable them to be rehoused (it has to go to eviction notice) however they thought the council would somehow find fault in the property which did not happen, which left them with no choice but to scarper trashing my house before doing so! This is tax payers money YOURS , mine, & everybody else on this site & its time for it to stop. Landlords seem to have NO rights whatsoever & it wrong on every level..I have signed your "petition" & I hope something can be done Good Luck

Reply to the comment left by "sharon underwood" at "05/02/2014 - 14:05":

Hi Sharon, thanks for taking the trouble to reply, a very interesting post, really useful information, will let you know how I go on, made the complaint in writing end of last week and still heard nothing, do you know if there is a time scale for replies?
Alan

Reply to the comment left by "sharon underwood" at "05/02/2014 - 14:05":

Hi Sharon, thanks for taking the trouble to reply, a very interesting post, really useful information, will let you know how I go on, made the complaint in writing end of last week and still heard nothing, do you know if there is a time scale for replies?
Alan

Reply to the comment left by "sharon underwood" at "05/02/2014 - 11:46":

I feel absolutely gutted for you, and you definitely chose a correct Title for such like SCUM BAGS tenants and this word could also be fit to describe such Councils and their staff, and other officials who actually help them carry out this crime, they are a party to this themselves. I was also refused access to my own house I rented despite the tenant not having paid me rent for well over 9 months and the scumbag tenants are protected by scumbag law! I now also take with me a Camera and record anything anyone may say as evidence, it is time now that we law abiding private landlords also do equip ourselves with Body Camera like some bailiffs and Court Officials wear, recently an official from some company or a court knocked on my door asking me details of my neighbours, who were also scumbag tenants, but I was not too happy when i am not envolved in their problem that my video and conversation was being recorded, in other words if the scumbag tenants found out I gave evidence against them, I could end up in a hospital or get hurt. Everyone seems to be scumbags except us good landlords.

Reply to the comment left by "Romain " at "29/01/2014 - 17:49":

the councill will pay on two properties but only if the tennant applies for it ,and only in certain circumstances,i.e if the tenant is living in a 2 bed house with 3 children and she is moving to a 3 bed house due to being overcrowded , the tenant can aply for booth properties to be paid for , the councill will pay for booth for 1 month only ,but only when the tenant aplies not the landlord ,

This is from the DWP guide to councils regarding section 21s and homelessness which you can get here ... https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/7841/152056.pdf

Scan down to 8.32.C. This says if there is no proper defence to dispute a Section 21 notice then it is wrong for councils to encourage them to stay beyond the s21 date. ie tenants need to have a proper defence in order to go to court. My council wants me to draw this out for as long as possible because they are a bunch of lazy Guardianistas is NOT a valid argument.

Personally I think councils should be charged with wasting court time advising tenants to take unwinnable, undefended, vexatious action which only delays the inevitable and destroys their future housing options with a CCJ and bad reference.

By the way I'm a bitter and twisted Landlord who no longer lets to DSS.

8.32. Each case must be decided on its facts, so housing authorities should not adopt a
general policy of accepting – or refusing to accept – applicants as homeless or
threatened with homelessness when they are threatened with eviction but a court
has not yet made an order for possession or issued a warrant of execution. In any
case where a housing authority decides that it would be reasonable for an applicant to
continue to occupy their accommodation after a valid notice has expired – and
therefore decides that he or she is not yet homeless or threatened with homelessness –
that decision will need to be based on sound reasons which should be made clear to
the applicant in writing (see Chapter 6 for guidance on housing authorities’ duties to
inform applicants of their decisions). The Secretary of State considers that where a
person applies for accommodation or assistance in obtaining accommodation,
and:
(a) the person is an assured shorthold tenant who has received proper notice in
accordance with s.21 of the Housing Act 1988;
(b) the housing authority is satisfied that the landlord intends to seek possession;
and
(c) there would be no defence to an application for a possession order;
then it is unlikely to be reasonable for the applicant to continue to occupy the
accommodation beyond the date given in the s.21 notice, unless the housing
authority is taking steps to persuade the landlord to withdraw the notice or allow
the tenant to continue to occupy the accommodation for a reasonable period to
provide an opportunity for alternative accommodation to be found.
73 Homelessness

Reply to the comment left by "Alan Loughlin" at "05/02/2014 - 14:40":

Hi Alan I am not sure how long they have but I wrote to my MP the same time as writing complaint to council & guess which reply came quickly & swiftly??? I have been duped by them AGAIN despite the fact that we all felt the matter had been dealt with. They tried to lumber me with council tax & when I spoke to manager of CT dep he said any action had been suspended until everything had been resolved, So i did NOT attend court as thought it had been suspended!! Yet ANOTHER lie so now have a CCJ so once again I have got to fight with them, whilst my MP is dealing with another of the councils on my behalf, he has said he will take it to local government Ombudsman, so wish me luck xx I will update you as soon as I know outcome. How much response have you had via your survey?? We need to set up a petition of some kind because I know this is crucifying us GOOD lanlords xxx