i'm stuck with horrible landlord!!

[Hoshi]

right now i really don't know what to do with myself. i've been living in my flat for almost a year and i hate it.

when i moved here i was literally desperate and it was the only thing i could afford, so i took it without much thought. but my landlord is horrible- he started bothering me all the time, knocking on my door almost everyday and leaves strings of messages and missed calls on my phone. he'd try to ask me out to dinner, invite me to one of his empty houses for drinks and always looked for me when i left and came home (he runs a shop which the flat is above, so he's there 9-6 every weekday and saturdays and can come to the front door whenever he wants.) i frequently told him i wasn't interested and wanted nothing to do with him, but he'd still carry on.

 

because it is a shared flat, only i and a neighbour who i don't know very well occupy 2 of 4 rooms. the landlord can come into the main house whenever he wants, and has spare sets of keys for all of the rooms- sometimes he comes in just to use the shower and one of the spare rooms, but when i tried avoiding him altogether he started coming to knock on my private room door. i have to listen for when he comes in the house like i'm constantly on guard, shut off the lights and stay quiet until he leaves. he shakes the doorhandle to see if it's locked, even jangling his keys really loudly like he's trying to scare me into thinking he'll open the door himself- which he's actually done a number of times when he thought i wasn't there.

 

when i told him i wanted to move out he pretty much stopped flirting openly, but he still calls me and comes into the house for no reason- i've also come home and noticed things turned off that were left on etc.

my lease was only for 6 months but i couldn't afford to go anywhere else, so i had to renew the contract or be homeless and that's why i'm still here now.

 

when we were in college my best friend and i always talked about getting our own place together- and a few months ago she told me she was thinking about moving. i jumped at the idea of getting a place with her- we talked about it and decided to start looking for places as soon as possible.

the problem is, i live in a central town, and she lives in a small outer village- a good hour away on the bus. she wanted to get a job here in the town- it took until just recently that she finally found some work, but now my lease is almost up again. it's so difficult to schedule times to meet up and organise things when she lives at such a distance, and things are moving so slowly i'm worried i just can't wait anymore. i really want to finally get our place together but i'll have to renew my contract again before we get it settled, and i just can't stay in this place any more.

 

i've been looking at cheap single flats as a last resort but i haven't told her. i don't think she realises just how badly i need to get out of here- i feel like i'd be abandoning her if i just turn around and tell her i'm moving by myself, since we were both so hopeful about living together.

i just don't know what to do!!

[scootncash]

Hi,

 

sounds bad really bad and seriously not safe. if I were in your shoes I would definitely tell your friend and make her understand just how really bad the situation is. She then might see the urgency and make it more accessible for the two of you to find a place.

 

Is there any way that you could stay with her and maybe put your large items in storage until you find a place or maybe you could stay with another friend.

 

I cant say for sure what this landlords intentions are but I will tell you coming from a family full of cops and my brother in law being a homocide detective that this situation is dangerous and you need to do what ever means necessary to get out of the situation as quickly and peacefully as you can. Maybe you could check out the local housing ordiance to see what tenant and landlord laws apply. In my state once the flat is rented the landlord isnt allowed to enter the premisis without the tenants permission.

 

I sure wish you luck and keep us updated.

 

Scootncash

[SpanksTheMonkey]

Well 1st off your landlord has no right to set a foot in the house hes renting out unless he lives there himself?

 

Is this some type of boarding room he lives in and then rents out rooms? Unless you agreed to a situation like that then no he has no right to step foot in the place.

 

And to open your personal bedroom door is just ridiculous and so very illegal you could really have this man on charges I believe.

 

What about you getting the place 1st and then your friend moving in when shes ready? That would solve both your probs no?

 

Until then I'm not sure what country your in but you NEED to contact your local government/council and ask them for the number to the tenants rights advisory board.

 

Or what ever group handles tenants rights in your country and have them contact your landlord and advise him he cannot terrorize his tenants in this manor and start standing up for yourself!!!

[era]

Hi Hoshi...

 

Just from reading your post I can tell you are a very kind, lovely person...and that may be part of the problem.

 

You could have put an end to this a looong time ago.

 

Tenants have rights...you didn't stand up for yourself because you probably felt that you had to put up with his ILLEGAL crap because afterall the place is low rent, and what could you expect afterall...maybe you weren't aware of Residential Tenancy Offices where you can go with any landlord disputes.

 

I know you probably don't want to burden your best friend - but please explain to her your desperate situation...I hope you two can work something out.

 

good luck..

[Hoshi]

hi guys, thanks for your replies.

 

i'd like to say it was as easy as just splitting the joint asap and shacking up with a friend, but i've already been in a situation where i was almost homeless and had to sleep on someone's sofa for weeks before i found this place. i don't think i could ever bring myself to do that again.. feeling like a burden was utterly crushing for me and i don't want to have to rely on people to bail me out again.

moving into a place before her would also be a problem as the rent on a private 2 bed flat would be a lot higher than i can afford on my own. she would still have to pay half to keep up with it even when she wasn't living there, and she has rent to pay on her existing place.. neither of us could pay for the whole place during that gap.

 

this place isn't really a boarding house, but more like a shared house where the main area, aka kitchen, bathrooms, are shared, but every tenant has their own room with seperate keys. like a dormitory, with only 4 rooms.

the landlord in fact does not live in the house, he has his own place. what bothers me is that, if one person rented the entire house, he would have no right to enter any part of the premises past the front door. but because different people live there at once the house has become like a common room, so he doesn't see a problem with coming and going as he pleases or even using the facilities. i used to just shrug this off but the more i think about it, the more it bothers me.

 

i haven't looked up on the tenancy rights for where i live but everyone i've told about this agrees that his behaviour is outright illegal. the problem is, he's a bit of a dodgy dealer which is probably why the place is so cheap. so if i confront him about it i'd be worried he could easily turf me out for no good reason, since he doesn't seem to do things by the rules. i mean it's privately rented so there's no agencies on his back to have things done properly.. he could really do whatever he wants and i'd have nothing to turn against him. his business is so informal i don't think any legal action could be taken against him should it go bad.. if that makes sense. so it's like a case of doing my best to stay in his good books until i leave. sigh.

 

anyway, my friend was over this weekend and we finally got to sit down and really blitz the property papers and make some online ads. i did mention that i had registered with a site to find single rooms but i didn't outright say 'i'm looking for one for myself'.. i don't know if she clocked it in her head or not but it still stands that we're looking for somewhere together. we shall have to see where it goes =)