Landlord problems. Advice, please!!!!!?

Hello!





I'm starting to have problems with my landlord because he started to show he is a bad intention man.





I live in a flatshare in London with the landlord and three other girls. Recently he claim that somebody broke a tile of the kitchen floor. It is something insignificant, but I noticed that that tile was broken when I moved in. Of course that nobody admitted to have broken the tile because it was already broken.





The landlord asked every girl if they did but did not mentioned anything about paying or the repair cost of the broken tile, except me. I was the only one he mentioned the payment, he got a little bit agressive with when I told that I notice the tile was broken and started to say it was on the agreement and we have to paid for. Besides, the landlord mentioned that to fix the tile is something that he is not going right now and it will take months to repair that tile.





I read the agreement we both signed (the house contract) and is the print of the room add as it was on gumtree and doesn't mentioned anything about repairs.


At the end of November two girls are going to leave, and they told me that he hasn't mentioned anything about the repair costs.





Yesterday, I accidently heard a phone conversation and he was talking to someone, he mentioned that he wants to renew the kitchen floor, he mentioned that he wanted to retain the girls deposit, he started to say that we are violent girls, always breaking things and we leave everything dirty, that he an old man and cannot be after us all the time, that he was affraid of us hurting him, and he wanted to through me out (not 100% sure but I think he mentioned my name). He was even asked for emergengy numbers in case we try to do something bad to him. THIS IS NOT TRUE!!! No one had an agressive behaviour towards him, not of even any kind verbal insults or arguments. In fact, when we talk in the house he is nice to us, invites to have dinner with friends, etc...





The girls in the house are all foreign (estonia, spain and portugal) and we don't know if we have any rights in this situation and there is any institutions that can give us help. The tile is an obvious strategy to retain deposits. I'm a little bit scare of him at the moment, because he can make a fake accusation of me being agressive with him.





What should I do? In case he tries to retain deposits, do I have the right to demand a receipt or a budget of the repair? What if he denies to do so?





Sorry about the lenght, Can someone help?





Thanks in advanced|||He can accuse what he wants, without proof he can't do anything.



If he witholds your deposit, you may have to sue him. The citizens advice centre can help with this, but it is not difficult - you could get a book on the 'small claims process' from the Library or Amazon.



If he can not *prove* who broke the tile, then he can not take money from the people who did not break it.



However, before court, you may want to tell him that as he has 3 lodgers, his property is a "House In Multiple Occupation" (yes, I know it's a flat, but that's the legal term). A HMO has to meet certain legal safety requirements- and I bet the flat doesn't. For instance, is there a mains powered fire alarm? If you were to report him to the HMO officer at the council, he could be fined and average of 拢1000 for *every* breach of the rules. I can't remember the exact requirements, but lets guess at the wrong sort of fire alarm, no fire blanket, no fire doors. 拢3000 fine.



EDIT: Alta In this situation, the deposit does not need to be protected as the girls are not AST tenants.

Also, the landlords tax affairs do not affect the girls rights, and he may be claiming some exemption under HMRCs rent a room scheme. The point is, we don't *know* he is cheating on tax.|||Stand up to him! Your a strong independent lady!call someone who can do something about it and explain the situation|||http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice


Ring these, they are brilliant, you can go online for free.





www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/getadv鈥?br>

Put your post code here to find your local Citizens Advice Office, then will tell you where you can go for advice.





Or ring your local council and ask if they have a private housing officer.





There are so many thing that he has to do, like protecting your deposit, and also pauing tax on the earnings. Do this as soon as possible, landlord like this should be prosicuted.


let us know how you get on.