UK Landlord Forum / Life

I am being harassed by my landlady who is trying everything she can to evict me. There are no rent arrears and I have abided by the terms of the tenancy which runs for two years with another twelve months left. I am a good, responsible tenant and keep the place in good order.

There were no issues until the landlady, a former friend, became drunk and abusive one night and remained abusive the next day, insulting an autistic mutual friend. I decided to distance myself from her while remaining responsive to all messages regarding outstanding repairs and admitting workmen to address them.

The repairs were ones I had reported at the beginning of the tenancy. The landlady took 9 months to finally fix the leaking boiler. Other repairs I have reported are still outstanding. I was not given a gas safety certificate, electrical safety certificate, How to Rent booklet, EPC or any other documentation at the start of the tenancy in spite of reminding the landlady before moving in that I needed these. I still do not have them. The EPC hasn't been done since 2020 and the place is in a poor state of repair, added to which it is Grade 2 listed and the landlady converted it into an AIrbnb, carrying out major structural changes without planning permission or listed building consent.

Four months ago, the landlady suddenly emailed me saying that my tenancy was 'causing her anxiety' and that she was therefore appointing a managing agent and raising the rent to cover their fees. She also stated that I would have to sign a new contract with this agent. I said I absolutely would not, that the original contract stood and that if she wanted to appoint a managing agent, she would have to pay for it.

She then bombarded me with increasingly offensive emails accusing me of not letting in workmen to carry out repairs, demanding an inspection and then, two hours later, announcing I had refused an inspection without even giving me time to respond. She also demanded a key to the property and I pointed out that there was one as she had requested in the key safe she had installed, setting the code to it herself. She continues to ignore this and demand a key.

Things turned really nasty when she appointed a solicitor who sent me an initial letter stating that I had not been cooperating with facilitating repairs or allowing in someone to carry out an EPC to which I responded that this was simply not true, that the EPC had been outstanding since 2020 and that I was more than happy to facilitate one and any other agents of the landlady who wished to carry out necessary repairs if he would suggest dates and times that were convenient.

The solicitor's response was three pages repeating the abusive emails the landlady had already sent me and repeating the landlady's demand for a key to the property. insisting I get one cut. No attempt to offer me dates and times that suited them so I could facilitate repair and EPC visits. This form of communication went on until I reported disrepair to the council who issued a Hazard Notification, highlighting mould, damp and water ingress among other concerns.
I'm the lone parent of a disabled young person who has recently been seriously ill in hospital, suffer from CPTSD and am worried sick about it all. I have been to see my GP for the resultant impact on my mental health and am receiving counselling.

The solicitor emailed me at 10.07pm last week to suggest workmen attend today at noon. I responded by reiterating my right to at least 24 hours' notice and asked for details of the works to be carried out so that I could arrange a mutually convenient time. The solicitor also demanded I stop using my bedroom in what is a three-room cottage, one room on top of the other, as the hazard report incorrectly identified the middle room as a bedroom and through-room. I live alone here and sleep in the attic bedroom. The hazard report suggested this through-room be partitioned off, as it was before the landlady altered the cottage without planning permission or consent, or stop using the attic as a bedroom. The landlady has used this to further harass me.

The landlady then emailed me with an attached copy of the How to Rent booklet 'in case I had mislaid the physical copy' she had supposedly given me when I commenced the tenancy. I responded that this was a complete fallacy, that she had never given me the How to Rent booklet and that all future communication should come from her appointed representative. When workmen came yesterday at the time I had agreed, two turned up instead of the one I had been informed about and attempted to remove my bed from the attic bedroom. I refused to let them. The solicitor is now pressing hard for an EPC inspector to attend despite the property not having had an EPC since 2020 and being let to me without one. I want to know if I can refuse this inspection as it will be used to accelerate a Section 21 order.

It is clear to me that the landlady is aiming to evict me by any means possible, including lying. I urgently need help and feel increasingly harassed. I would be very grateful for any help and advice you can offer.

Your landlord can't do anything legal to evict you without going to court and for that they will need you to have done something wrong. It's only possible to end a tenancy early for a reason unless you agree. So that's the start point.

I would be concerned about the involvement of the solicitor, because what they are doing isn't good practice for a solicitor. What they are asking is more than you are legally required to do, and they shouldn't do this

The EPC issue is in the past. The only reason to have one carried out would be to satisfy the requirements of a section 21 notice, and the landlord can't do that for some months yet. The landlord can't demand that you stop using a room or provide a key. Neither of those things that a landlord can demand.

You can only be given the How to Rent booklet by email if you have agreed to the service of that and/or other notices by email (which is usually included in the tenancy agreement and you have to agree the email address to be used).

If there was no gas safety certificate given to you, it may mean that there was no gas safety test performed. If that was the case, the landlord will not be able to use a section 21 notice to evict you at all. If there was a test, but you don't have the certificate, that's different.

The long term issue is that, even if you ignore the harassment, the landlord will almost certainly ultimately be able to evict you (gas safety issue notwithstanding). Given the harassment, it's probably best to think about finding somewhere else to live. You can't live with a mad woman as landlord.

Thank you. The harassment is hard to ignore.

An EPC is valid for ten years, so "the property not having had an EPC since 2020" isn't an issue, you not seeing a valid one is.

However, if the harassment is so bad (and how I read this is that it could easily be bi-directional) why don't you vote with your feet rather than dig your heels in? This relationship isn't going to miraculously improve to cordiality now, is it? I see this as a butting-of-heads between a high-maintenance Tenant and a careless, unprofessional Landlord - the two should not work together.

At the end of the day I wouldn't want to stay somewhere like that. Why would you?

I'd hardly say I'm 'high maintenance' when I have spent nearly a year waiting for repairs to be done, having to finally call on the council for help and only responding to a person who started harassing me for her own gain. How exactly are you suggesting I'm harassing her? By standing up for my rights? The EPC expired in 2020. It is therefore not valid.

Yes, I can read between the lines (and also sense your defensiveness) so I have a pretty good idea how you two have not been productive. Problems will arise in every tenancy... they're things... and it's always people who cause the real problems and just don't know how to deal with each other apart from in an adversarial way. I can imagine being on the receiving-end of tomes from before you moved in to now. That doesn't excuse the faults, no, but I can see a form of harassment too.

None of that answers the question - why don't you leave for a happier existence? The inability to take this course of action isn't being scuppered by the Landlord, right? My guess is that you don't want to - probably enjoying fighting the good fight. Get out, don't look back, live happy.

I did find myself thinking there is more than this side of things. I am always cautious when there is just so much " story"  going on. I am not saying you have not had a lot of problems,  but there is a little bit of wallowing going on too. It is a very human foible,  but not very useful in the long run. All this energy would be better used in finding a better place to live. The best revenge is to live well.