tenants rights
Its been a while since the last entry.
This year has been quite a whirlwind. In summer, we were evicted from our apartment by an aggressive and bullying landlord. The landlord is the owner of several major estate agencies and property companies in London. He is also something of a local legend in our neighborhood, deeply unliked by locals. Although nobody could actually say anything specific about him. For example, various local people attributed to him at least 7 different ethnicities.
Our eviction was completely unexpected, after assurances that we could gladly renew our one year lease. I was surprised to discover how few rights renters have in the UK. Even when rights don't work, I somehow thought an appeal to reason and cooperation might make the transition bearable. The result of this was verbal threats and bullying from our screaming and insulting landlord. Still, it was the first time he actually spoke to me!
In the end, we were kicked out on the street like dogs with no place to live on the premise that the 'new tenants' were moving in on the Saturday, and we would be sued and held liable for moving costs and hotel costs for the poor people made homeless if we failed to vacate. We vacated, and watched the flat remain empty for another three weeks....in fact, it was exactly the same three weeks that we asked for as an extension until our new accomodation became available. In an ordinary context, I would say that the landlord 'lied' about the impending move of the new tenants. But power makes for 'truth,' in as much as we could not afford to wait and see what actually would 'truly' happen.
So out we went.... onto the street.
Its interesting also that the flat was barely in tolerable condition. The old wooden floors would splinter, and getting stabbed by nails or inch-long sharp pieces of wood were daily occurances. Still, the landlord initially claimed cleaning fees from us after we left (that is, deducting them unilaterally from our 'deposit'), since the property was not professionally cleaned. After some protest, he added them back on. But later discovered a missing key to the bathroom door, the replacement cost of which was exactly the same amount. I hope his 'new tenants' don't mind wet walls, or the chemicals wafting up from the dry cleaners below, or the sickening smell of the pizza oil that clogged the outdoor pipes and repeatedly flooded the area outside the building.
The rights of property... and obligations of tenants.
This year has been quite a whirlwind. In summer, we were evicted from our apartment by an aggressive and bullying landlord. The landlord is the owner of several major estate agencies and property companies in London. He is also something of a local legend in our neighborhood, deeply unliked by locals. Although nobody could actually say anything specific about him. For example, various local people attributed to him at least 7 different ethnicities.
Our eviction was completely unexpected, after assurances that we could gladly renew our one year lease. I was surprised to discover how few rights renters have in the UK. Even when rights don't work, I somehow thought an appeal to reason and cooperation might make the transition bearable. The result of this was verbal threats and bullying from our screaming and insulting landlord. Still, it was the first time he actually spoke to me!
In the end, we were kicked out on the street like dogs with no place to live on the premise that the 'new tenants' were moving in on the Saturday, and we would be sued and held liable for moving costs and hotel costs for the poor people made homeless if we failed to vacate. We vacated, and watched the flat remain empty for another three weeks....in fact, it was exactly the same three weeks that we asked for as an extension until our new accomodation became available. In an ordinary context, I would say that the landlord 'lied' about the impending move of the new tenants. But power makes for 'truth,' in as much as we could not afford to wait and see what actually would 'truly' happen.
So out we went.... onto the street.
Its interesting also that the flat was barely in tolerable condition. The old wooden floors would splinter, and getting stabbed by nails or inch-long sharp pieces of wood were daily occurances. Still, the landlord initially claimed cleaning fees from us after we left (that is, deducting them unilaterally from our 'deposit'), since the property was not professionally cleaned. After some protest, he added them back on. But later discovered a missing key to the bathroom door, the replacement cost of which was exactly the same amount. I hope his 'new tenants' don't mind wet walls, or the chemicals wafting up from the dry cleaners below, or the sickening smell of the pizza oil that clogged the outdoor pipes and repeatedly flooded the area outside the building.
The rights of property... and obligations of tenants.
posted by Gregory Jackson at
3:05 AM
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