Letting Agent advice please

[mrsflibble]

We had a letter at the start of this month stating the landlord wishes to raise our rent after the tenancy renewal date; and that we had until the end of august to contact the agent about it.

After much soul searching, property hunting and some failed trips to the council and local housing assoc (we're on the list with a priority grade which will give us 18 mths- 2 years for a house, so really not a bad place to be in council terms), We phoned the letting agent and let him know we can't really afford a £45 increase which the landlord was proposing, but would the landlord ne willing to go halvsies... a £22.50 increase. now bear in mind we're already up to our eyeballs in debt every month 'cos our basic outgoings far exceed jim's income; I'm still fairly sure I'm unable to work. any form of stress makes me into a ball of useless jelly and I don't work well with people or the public despite what my CV says.

nearly 3 weeks later and nothing. nada. and all emails are getting returned from DNS servers stating they're non existant, the agent's website has gone BUT their phone line is still working... all this is very worrying for a natural worryer!
their office is not an office either. it's a PO box in a place which rents "virtual office space" which is even more worrying. we have no way to contact the landlord directly and our only go-between is this agent. the same one for the past 4 years. crap at his job, but leaves us alone which is ok....

Is there anywhere I can go to talk to someone about this situation? and although I really don't want to do it, are there understanding employers out there who can put up with depressives who have kids and who medically can't drive? I'm at the end of my tether right now and stress is making the whole situation feel so much worse.

[pelmetman]

Why don't you go and have a word with Citizens Advice Bureau they are always very helpful.

I note from another thread you have that you have opened a Folksy Shop. It may be worth your while seeing if you are entitled to Tax Credits. Not totally sure how this works but if your husband is in low paid employment and you are working so many hours a week on your needlework you may be entitled?

Sorry can't be of any more help.

Sue

[Loobyloo]

I agree, citizens advice is probably the best way to go although they have been increasingly difficult to get hold of when you need them in recent years.

I can completely empathise with you Mrs F, letting agents are, in my experience, never available when you need them. (and that is the most polite thing I can say about them !!)

Good Luck with it all.

[trinder]

So sorry to read of your troubles. I just wish I knew of something practical to do, but I don't. All I can do is send a big hug and A CAKE

chris 's cake 001.jpg (16.43 KiB) Viewed 4168 times

My husband says my offerings look like something made on a game show. But they taste good. Oh and the good thing about being (can you believe someone thought this was a tactful description) "portly" is that you get a good squeeze. x

[that_sarah_girl]

if you've tried your best to contact the agency and landlord but can't get hold of them then there's not much else you can do...

carry on paying the same amount of rent you have been paying as from what you've said you haven't had a new contract through or a letter confirming that the rent IS going up, just a letter proposing what the landlord would like to do.
I know it might seem like a bit of a technicality, but from experience most landlords and agencies are unfair and can be a bit dodgy, so sometimes you have to play them at their own game.

Also, if you can't work have you found out whether you are entitled to Disability Living Allowance? If you are then your partner may also be entitled to some benefits as your carer. Although it will be incredibly hard to get these if you're not on them already with the recent changes, as my partner's doctor warned him when he was signed off again recently

[mrsflibble]

cake is good thanks.

not entitled to DLA, they basical;;ly told me to sod off and stop being a whiney moo. I didnt appeal. also not entitled to benefits or topups, on paper hubby earns "enough"

I rang my mum, cried for nearly an hour, dusted myself off and got on with life. I agree, ball's in their court now.

apologies for dodgy or quick typing, doing this one handed over a plate of beans on toast.

[Milims]

Have you checked with the fair rent officer that the rental value of the property is the same as t rent that is being charged? http://www.voa.gov.uk/corporate/RentOff ... rRent.html.

[mrsflibble]

not yet. they'll be the next place to go I guess. basically round here, yes £725 for a house is cheap, but this is a crumbling house with no maintenance done and a leeetle bit of a mould problem.

[Milims]

Then you also need to contact your local Environmental Health Dept to have the mould checked out. They may also be able to give you some info as to whether or not the rent is apropriate

[mrsflibble]

omg! they emailed jim's email address, not the joint one so I could have found out yesterday that the landlord is willing to go for a £25 increase so long as we pay it from september.... I'm willing to go with that.

[mrsflibble]

next time I get in a flap like this, could someone please slap me and tell me to check my husband's email account please? (and yes i have his full permission to do so, same as he has my permission to check mine.

[that_sarah_girl]

yay!! good to hear things have worked out ok

[noplasticbags]

Glad it's resolved itself. You say you can't get tax credits, but have you checked whether you are entitled to housing benefit or council tax benefit? Even if you can't get that, have you checked if you are entitled to free prescriptions (also glasses and dental)? There are different income levels taken into account for each.

In my job I deal with people who have screwed the system, and then there are people who should be getting assistance that just don't - the system is far too complicated

[Green Aura]

Back to the subject of DLA, Mrs F. In my, fairly limited, experience they decline everyone first time. I suggest you apply again, with help from the CAB and appeal if it is refused.

When I had a real job some of my clients applied and every single one of them was refused until they appealed - then they got it back-dated (admittedly not usually a good thing for my particular group of clients)

[mrsflibble]

Back to the subject of DLA, Mrs F. In my, fairly limited, experience they decline everyone first time. I suggest you apply again, with help from the CAB and appeal if it is refused.

I might actually, but this time instead of printing off the 50 or so pages at home I'll go to the job centre and get a copy or request that they post me one hahaha!!

housing benefit or council tax benefit?....have you checked if you are entitled to free prescriptions

In my job I deal with people who have screwed the system, and then there are people who should be getting assistance that just don't - the system is far too complicated

I am going to the CAB I think. I need to see a benefits advisor. CAB or job centre? which would be better?

we can't get housing benefit or CT benefit as husband's earnings are above the threshold, I do get free prescriptions due to hypothyridism and that saves us at least £185 a year with my thyroxine and antidepressants, not to mention if I get ill or whatnot. I don't get money off glasses or dental, which is why I take care of my teeth and only get new specs if I need them. I hate people who screw the system, it annoys me... but kinda only 'cos I'm secretly jealous lol!

here's a financial workup of the Oliver household.
after tax and deductions like pension, union etc we have about £22kpa IF he doesn't do overtime. that's about £1833 per month. out of that needs to come our rent, council tax, loan payment, water, sewerage, gas, electric, mobiles, home phone, contents insurance, car insurance, diesel, car maintenance...and we're on the cheapest deals for everything we can control; hence why I am impressed with my mobile, it has a colour screen! I know, there are phones which do internet and games etc, but mine is cheap so I love it. £15 a month and in another 12 months (18 mth contract) I get a new one.
Anyway, this is all around £1490 bottom line...so from the rest must come food, clothing, mine and soph's transport costs when jim's working (subsidised, but still an expense), and "other" which generally means the car is broken catastrophically and needs fixing, or like last month having to pay the £150 home insurance excess when butterfingers here dropped the laptop onto a concrete floor.

Supermarket is working out at about £500 per month; we live relatively frugally but there are some things I will not compromise on because they're a false economy. crap chickens being one thing! we used to have about a chicken a fortnight, now it's about one every 6 weeks ish; crap veg is another. the Market is cheaper, but their veg doesn't last. and I will only buy free range eggs. they last longer and taste better. I digress... and some things we can't compromise on like dairy free foods and specialist lactose free milk. We try to keep costs down, but they're just immense!

I am a firm believer that if there is *something* in the fridge, you don't need to go shopping. So today, I'll be going shopping as we're literally completely out of veg apart from onions. onion pie anyone?!

so...without counting mine and soph's transport when jim's working, mine and jim's clothing and incidental problems like last month's insurance claim, we're already spending more than we earn without jim doing masses of overtime. here's the catch. there's hardly any overtime available. normally school holidays is a boom-time for those wanting overtime pay but not this year it seems. nobody can afford holidays, so nobody is away! And we're still paying off debts like last month when the car needed £250 for parts. we need the car because it sitll works out cheaper than jim commuting by train, he's less stressed and it takes less time to get to and from work by car than it does by train. our car is as economical as it can be (well maintained, diesel, volvo etc) and is bloody well going to last us another 18 months until we've paid off the loan we had to take out to buy it.

So every month we top up his earnings with using the credit card and/or overdraft. both get paid off in full every month so although we're "perma-skint", we have an amazing credit rating. we're still playing catch-up from the car breaking and the need for a new fridge last year.

(I class soph's school uniform and her clothes etc as coming from the £82 child benefit and £40 child tax credits we get.)

Jim works hard. Very, Very hard. this week he's doing 9 nights on the trot because thankfully his friend let him know about some overtime before it went in the book; PinHead was going on holiday so he rang jim two weeks ago and said "I'm putting my hols in the book, want me to put your name down next to it?"... hells yes Mr Pin, thankyou very much.

I'll be ringing our phone company later and telling them we're going to leave for something cheaper to see what they can offer us ;) we're not, I just want to put the wind up them and get some money off hahahaha!

it annoys me that someone I know doesn't work and claims DLA for PTSD...has their rent paid, council tax paid, car paid for (apart from fuel) and then has just over £1000 per month for bills, food etc and claims he and his wife are skint...while sitting on his new sofa in front of their 46" telly with cable hookup and two games consoles AND has the audacity to tell me I'm better off?! but that's another story.

sorry this was long, but to make the point that we're skint I needed to do the financial workup hahahaha!