[fictionuk]

Hi and thanx inadvance to anyone that can give me a piece of mind either way.

Anyway, I have been in my present home for just over 5 years. Last year the landlord changed agents and I had to sign a new contract. He wanted my mother to sign just in case he didn't get his rent...I had to sign a (i think) a section 28 eviction notice in the event of any wrong doing......oh and all sorts of things I had to cover even though I have been there for over 5 years.

Well, this week I had to re-new my contract which I thought would be fine with no problems. I went round there and the lacky in the office told me that D_____ wanted £100 for an admin fee. I thought he was joking. I told him, show me 100 quids worth of 'work' and i'll pay it. Anyway, he wasn't gonna budge so it was either give him 100 admin fee for the place I have rented for 5 years or he wasn't going to re-new my contract. So I paid it. I honestly feel that I have been ripped off.

I'm now thinking that i'll let him know that when i moved here, it wasn't decorated or re-carpted. It wasn't bad - quite nice but all the same it hadn't been done. Now i'm thinking I could have him by demanding that I have NEW carpets etc. Is this allowed and can I ask for the place to be re-carpeted etc.

There was another instance where he threatened the guy down stairs. He phoned A___ on a Saturday at 8:30 in the morning and was demanding that a gas inspector came round his flat (downstairs to me) and inspect his gas supply. A___ told him no, make an appointment for next week and the agent replied with 'do you want your contract re-newed. That to me is a direct threat.

He has told people that they can park there cars in my/our car parking spaces outside our place. I went mad. He (the agent) has told people that 'all this is mine' which is rubbish, he'd like to think so.

Anyway, I feel that he is a nasty piece of work.

I'm just so pissed off. I'm on my own have health problems and recieve housing benefit which the agent just simply isn't interested in. Theres more probs with him but they are a bit complicated regarding Housing Benefit and the way they pay. Honestly, the guy is a f*cking menace. Can I name and shame him and his very unproffessional outfit.

Can I ask for the Landlords contact info to write to him etc as I feel that the present agent is a chancer.

Thanx again for reading and any advice or piece of mind would be appreciated.

Best

DEH

[Bluey]

You will find Shelter an invaluable source of expert information - their website is brilliant and there's a free phone line for tenancy advice.

I am not qualified to give advice but here's my informed guess. Check with Shelter and come back and tell the forum what they advise.

The document that you received with the AST is probably an S21. It's a common practice to serve this document with a contract to make it easier for a landlord or letting agent to evict an unreliable tenant.

It is a common but deeply unpopular practice for agents to charge renewal fees. It's just as unpopular with landlords who also have to pay a fee. Some tenants and landlords insist that their tenancy becomes periodic (i.e. runs on indefinately after the fixed period expires) to get around this fee. What does your contract say about a renewal fee?

You probably have no right whatsover to demand decoration and new carpets - landlords are obliged by law to maintain heating/water systems, for example, but I am not aware of any minimum standards for decoration.

Yes you can demand the landlords address - a letting agent is obliged by law to provide this within 21 days of receipt of a written request. If not, report him to the private tenancy relations officer of your local council.

More importantly, did you receive confirmation within 14 days that your deposit has been protected in a Tenancy Deposit Scheme? If not, look up the information about TDS on the Shelter website.

Perhaps that gas inspection was an annual Corgi gas safety check? Landlords can be fined if they don't have this in place - it's an offence not to have one - and while it's required in law to give notice and receive permission to enter a property for maintenance, the general advice to landlords is to evict tenants that don't comply with gas safety inspections - landlords don't want to risk legal problems just because a tenant won't cooperate.

Remember that landlords/agents can evict what they see as a nuisance tenant rather than provide a better service and that many Housing Benefit claimants struggle to find their next property. The Shelter advice provides good info on your housing rights but it also warns tenants, however justified, from ruining the relationship they have with agents/landlords, because it could result in their eviction.

[crabs]

a section 28 eviction is illegal at the start of the contract make sure when you sign it put the date when you signed it, that way it proves that it was done before the contract was signed.

[Bluey]

It's an S21 (Section 21 - Notice Requiring Possession of an Assured Shorthold Tenancy). It provides tenants of an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) with a minimum of two months' notice in writing that the landlord wants possession of the property.

Many landlords/letting agents do this at the start of the tenancy so they can commence possession proceedings after 6 months if the tenant proves to be unreliable during the fixed term of the contract, rather than waiting to serve it at the end of the contract, which would add on another 2 months if the tenant doesn't vacate when they should.

As far as I am aware, it is not illegal for a landlord to serve this at the same time as the AST. At most, it's an ethical quandary around whether it's appropriate to serve notice at the outset of the tenancy just in case something goes wrong much later.