Landlord intimidation – now is the time for action

Landlord intimidation – now is the time for action

14:55 PM, 7th July 2014, About 10 years ago 64

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I am aware that a lot of landlords on this site have faced some of the same problems with councils that I have had to endure over the last several months. Such as giving tenants legal advice (they are not allowed to do this) and lots of other problems that they try to intimidate me with making up the rules as they go along.

I Googled “how to take the councils to court” the results where shocking not just for landlords, but for tenants too. I have therefore decided that enough is enough, I emailed my MP yet again to no avail, he said he would take it to government ombudsman. I laugh because he made this suggestion to me a few months back and the reply I got was a nameless guy on the end of the phone laughing and saying” MPs are bl##dy idiots they make the bl##dy laws” quote un quote.

So I am now in the middle of yet another dispute with another council and have come to the conclusion that the only way forward is to allow them to take me to court!!!

This is the only way that I can think of to get it into public arena and whilst I could do without the grief they will I suspect be really upsetting some poor judge for waste of court time and money.

I am now asking for as many of you as possible to back me on this. Just send me your stories etc, I have already emailed my MP and one of the chief executives telling them that this is my plan and it is now up to my MP to finally pick a side and move forward, so please ANY help or stories please comment below. I am a GOOD landlord which many many tenants will attest to. My tenants live in much nicer houses than I do simply because I realise that it is them that is keeping the roof over my head, but the good are being targeted and the bad just let go.

Sharoncourt


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Comments

Jamie M

14:37 PM, 9th July 2014, About 10 years ago

Good on you Steve, what an utter bunch of ##### they are proven to be at every levy and through every interaction I have and have heard others having. An utter bunch of lying cheating machiavellian socialist morons intent on running their agendas whilst utterly wasting our taxes on ridiculous schemes and their trips to twin with other useless unemployable b####### in europe.

John Daley

15:52 PM, 9th July 2014, About 10 years ago

No sweeping generalisations here then ?

All BankersAreBarstewards Smith

9:30 AM, 10th July 2014, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "John Daley" at "09/07/2014 - 15:52":

There is an awful lot of anger on this thread, and no doubt I would feel anger if some of this had happened to me. But, anger which fuels a difficult fight can get out of control and the angry person may lose sight of the main objective.

Is main objective is to get the tenant out ?

Using other landlords experiences in court is of no value to you - a judge will probably class such statements as "not relevant to this case".

Assuming that council staff will tell the truth in court is pointless...... they are often motivated by a terror of losing their jobs/not fulfilling their quotas. .

Throwing good money after bad is pointless... you are already broke and suffering financial hardship.

Fighting a battle you cannot win is pointless... you will end up even more angry.

Focus on your one goal, don't fight the world.

You could allow this to take over your life and embitter you.... is this what you want ?

and yes - none of this is fair, reasonable, or just..... no one ever said life was .... do what you have to do and move on...

good luck

sharon underwood

10:20 AM, 10th July 2014, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Steve Gracey" at "09/07/2014 - 09:15":

Hi Steve that all sounds really interesting, can you contact with landlord association by phone or do I need to write to them???
They do beat us down trying to baffle us with all their nonsense with the hope that will give up, I will let everyone know how I am progressing as & when I get the chance but if you & all other landlords could keep letting me know about their own particular situation it gives my MP to keep up with the situation, I am now going to send him the link for this topic will be interesting to see if he even bothers with looking at it.
I will ask him questions lol...but an apology is not going to cut it with me this time I want action & judging by comments so do many others...Sharon

sharon underwood

10:26 AM, 10th July 2014, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "John Daley" at "09/07/2014 - 15:52":

Judging by the response I have had on this site & others this really is not a sweeping generalization this is a major problem running thru lots if not all councils, even the guy that was in charge of inspecting my HMO said he had rental property but got rid because of how HIS council operate, the proof is in the pudding as they say

sharon underwood

10:45 AM, 10th July 2014, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "All BankersAreBarstewards Smith" at "10/07/2014 - 09:30":

When I first wrote this comment I was EXTREMELY angry but now I am focused on what needs to be done, I refuse to be bullied intimidated & lied to under any circumstances NOT just for me & the hundreds of landlords but for my TENANTS they have lost their home of 13yrs & I could lose MY home, if you look at many of the comments LL are not out for "revenge" just looking for justice, you tell me how it is right when a tenant has lived in a lovely place they call home for 13yrs is then told that he has to be evicted for no good reason, is it safer for that tenant on the street??? is it fair they should lose their home?? & yet I have said that they could pitch a tent in the back garden THATS OK!! REALLY??? & what about the fact that I can move a family with 8 children can move in without any of this grief .
I have NEVER had a single complaint from my tenants apart from the family that didnt think it important to pay rent they broke EVERY term on the tenancy agreement which THEY insisted on having, I took her & her 3 children off the streets no deposit no nothing as the children where covered top to toe in flea bites & the council would not house them...When you dont have to work for these things you have no reason to look after those things, I am not going to go back over all the problems that they caused but then the councils wonder why we wont rent to them & that is a travesty as well because there are amazing tenants out there, this is not about a few LLs stamping their feet this is for the benefit of LLs & tenants alike!...I have never been im an ok jack kinda woman & wont be beaten down by bullying "thugs"

All BankersAreBarstewards Smith

11:30 AM, 10th July 2014, About 10 years ago

Sharon - of course none of those things are fair - but there is no legal mechanism for you to fight several different councils simultaneously that I know of.... let others fight their own fights.....

I am not suggesting you let yourself be bullied - I hate bullies also - but " tilting at windmills" is draining and unproductive in the long term for you and tenants

Iain Lettice

13:09 PM, 10th July 2014, About 10 years ago

Wow - this is all scary. I am just about to look into becoming an HMO landlord having never done this before!

sharon underwood

14:04 PM, 10th July 2014, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "All BankersAreBarstewards Smith" at "10/07/2014 - 11:30":

I get what you are saying but as seen in this past there has been court cases all around the country successful or not they all stood together, It does need legislation OR at the very least a common sense approach hence why we should all be involving our MPs we need to show that this has now become common practice within most councils, I cant stand alone & say that... There has to be others involved & IF the councils where to behave better then LLs would be happy to take council tenants waiting on their lists its a win win...I dont mind taking DSS IF I know A) that rent gets paid directly to me 2) If I have the reassurance that these tenants misbehave then I can get them out sooner rather than later, If councils would stop defending these people & say well if you behave in a way that has caused you to be homeless then actually we are only obliged to put you in B&B or temporary housing, then at least these tenants might think twice about how they treat OUR property, They have to STOP doing this to good LLs & concentrate on the bad ones, actually then we might all be able to work together & as already stated the tenants themselves may stop behaving like animals & take some responsibility for themselves! If I had neighbors that contacted me about the behavior of one of my tenants for example I should be able to get rid of them thus making antisocial behavior less acceptable someone or something has to change we are going to hell in a handcart at the moment & its all because when people do bad things they punish all the good people & things wont change for the bad LLs....If you are a crap LL then you should be punished NOT every LL in the country its ridiculous.

All BankersAreBarstewards Smith

14:20 PM, 10th July 2014, About 10 years ago

"I don't mind taking DSS IF I know A) that rent gets paid directly to me"! -

well good luck with taking on Ian Duncan Smith and Lord Freud....... if the likes of Shelter cannot get this appalling universal credit legislation changed - you don't stand a cat in hells chance !!

With the greatest of respect you are living in cloud cuckoo land.... you need to factor in your legal expenses adequately into your business model.. or change your tenant target market - or leave the BTL business....

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