A long read (sorry!)
My lease is ending and I had found the new ideal flat.
I went through the tenant referencing and accountant, bank, and current landlord reference came though well. However my previous landlord reference (you may have seen posts dated a year back about him harassing me) gave me a negative reference. To clarify, I let that property for 6 years with never a late payment and had the flat professionally cleaned before leaving.
On a previous post I mentioned asking the landlord for the initial inventory report. This is something my current landlord supplied to me a month before the end of my lease. My reason for this was the tenancy was six years, a very long time so this would best place me to return to flat to identical condition. He refused to send at the time and the inventory was send a week after my lease ended and 2 weeks after I vacated so was obviously of no use to me then.
His deductions from my deposit were;
- One broken shelf in an IKEA wardrobe
- The professional cleaning wasn't good enough. This handover happend at the beginning of the first lockdown so I handed the cleaners the keys and a tip and left them to it. The landlord claims there was dust under a radiator and that the metal blind was dirty and took 2.5 hours to clean at £20 an hour.
The exact (identical) blind, new, costs £6.99 which would obvious solution as opposed to charging me for hours of cleaning after such a long tenancy. The wardrobe I concede had one broken shelf. Both these things I think are not outrageous findings after a 6 year tenancy. Nevertheless he requested £200 off my deposit and keen to move on without conflict, I just agreed. I mention these two small things because its the only thing I can think of, as the property was otherwise in good condition and rent was always paid. This doesn't however seem enough to have put the new landlord off - so I assume something completely fictitious was said.
That was the last I saw or heard of the landlord and my full disclosure as to any issues with the flat itself. I paid rent quarterly and on time for 6 years and we renewed every year. I kept up with his rent increases also.
So all my referencing for my new flat, current landlord, bank, character, employer, and accountant comes back positively. But I am then informed that my previous landlord (above) gave a negative reference. I have no idea what was said, only that the issue was not to do with the financials (my ability to pay). This landlord had given a glowing reference to my current landlord at the time saying I was a great tenant (those exact words) and he was sorry to see me go. My current landlord and I still have that reference on file. Needless to say if I was dishonest or thought in a million years he would say something negative- I'd have left him off the reference form.
Since going, and having paid over £150,000 or rent to him on time over 6 years, he has maliciously given me a negative reference, causing me to lose the flat I had paid a holding deposit on, 2 weeks before the end of this current tenancy and thus putting me in a terrible position. Worse than that, the landlord who has now refused my offer due to his reference has s total monopoly on the area, meaning 80% of the property I would want is now unavailable to me.
I have been renting consistently for 12 years and have never had an issue with referencing or getting a flat. Now I am scrambling for a place within the next 4 days or face being homeless at the end of the tenancy.
I have no idea what the former landlord said and have no way of rebuking it. I have offered to pay a year up front on the new tenancy but the landlord still said no. At the end of that tenancy I was continually harassed by that landlord who was accessing the property 4-6 days a week. I felt completely harassed at the time and made a report to the police to have on record should anything happen. He did a lot of wierd things like asked me to surrender the tenancy early, and then after signing the surrender document, I moved out early and he then claimed because HE hadn't signed the early surrender it wasn't valid - I therefore was tricked into moving out early and then stuck with 2 leases for some time.
I have accepted my dream property is now gone but going forward I feel something should be done. Do I have any right to report the landlord or take legal action. I am utterly amazed that a bad landlord from a year ago has the right to completely ruin my reputation and negatively affect my access to housing, and I have no idea what was said.
Thanks for reading.
Pipedreams.
My lease is ending and I had found the new ideal flat.
I went through the tenant referencing and accountant, bank, and current landlord reference came though well. However my previous landlord reference (you may have seen posts dated a year back about him harassing me) gave me a negative reference. To clarify, I let that property for 6 years with never a late payment and had the flat professionally cleaned before leaving.
On a previous post I mentioned asking the landlord for the initial inventory report. This is something my current landlord supplied to me a month before the end of my lease. My reason for this was the tenancy was six years, a very long time so this would best place me to return to flat to identical condition. He refused to send at the time and the inventory was send a week after my lease ended and 2 weeks after I vacated so was obviously of no use to me then.
His deductions from my deposit were;
- One broken shelf in an IKEA wardrobe
- The professional cleaning wasn't good enough. This handover happend at the beginning of the first lockdown so I handed the cleaners the keys and a tip and left them to it. The landlord claims there was dust under a radiator and that the metal blind was dirty and took 2.5 hours to clean at £20 an hour.
The exact (identical) blind, new, costs £6.99 which would obvious solution as opposed to charging me for hours of cleaning after such a long tenancy. The wardrobe I concede had one broken shelf. Both these things I think are not outrageous findings after a 6 year tenancy. Nevertheless he requested £200 off my deposit and keen to move on without conflict, I just agreed. I mention these two small things because its the only thing I can think of, as the property was otherwise in good condition and rent was always paid. This doesn't however seem enough to have put the new landlord off - so I assume something completely fictitious was said.
That was the last I saw or heard of the landlord and my full disclosure as to any issues with the flat itself. I paid rent quarterly and on time for 6 years and we renewed every year. I kept up with his rent increases also.
So all my referencing for my new flat, current landlord, bank, character, employer, and accountant comes back positively. But I am then informed that my previous landlord (above) gave a negative reference. I have no idea what was said, only that the issue was not to do with the financials (my ability to pay). This landlord had given a glowing reference to my current landlord at the time saying I was a great tenant (those exact words) and he was sorry to see me go. My current landlord and I still have that reference on file. Needless to say if I was dishonest or thought in a million years he would say something negative- I'd have left him off the reference form.
Since going, and having paid over £150,000 or rent to him on time over 6 years, he has maliciously given me a negative reference, causing me to lose the flat I had paid a holding deposit on, 2 weeks before the end of this current tenancy and thus putting me in a terrible position. Worse than that, the landlord who has now refused my offer due to his reference has s total monopoly on the area, meaning 80% of the property I would want is now unavailable to me.
I have been renting consistently for 12 years and have never had an issue with referencing or getting a flat. Now I am scrambling for a place within the next 4 days or face being homeless at the end of the tenancy.
I have no idea what the former landlord said and have no way of rebuking it. I have offered to pay a year up front on the new tenancy but the landlord still said no. At the end of that tenancy I was continually harassed by that landlord who was accessing the property 4-6 days a week. I felt completely harassed at the time and made a report to the police to have on record should anything happen. He did a lot of wierd things like asked me to surrender the tenancy early, and then after signing the surrender document, I moved out early and he then claimed because HE hadn't signed the early surrender it wasn't valid - I therefore was tricked into moving out early and then stuck with 2 leases for some time.
I have accepted my dream property is now gone but going forward I feel something should be done. Do I have any right to report the landlord or take legal action. I am utterly amazed that a bad landlord from a year ago has the right to completely ruin my reputation and negatively affect my access to housing, and I have no idea what was said.
Thanks for reading.
Pipedreams.
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