Tenant posing as landlord trying to get take me to small claims for rent arrears?

Question

I've lived in property for 3 yrs, sharing with others.

To cut a long story short, who we thought was always our landlord have now been exposed as the TENANT the estate agents rented the house to. He was illegally subletting the rooms in the house to us and making a profit.

For the past 4 mths he wasn't paying the rent on the house to the estate agents and it resulted in the estate agents discovering he was sub-letting and they promptly ended his tenancy agreement and took the property off him.

Here's where it gets complicated. At the time I was behind in my rent and I was paying him £240 a week to get back on top of my arrears.

When it came to light that he wasn't my landlord I stopped paying him and directed all payments to the estate agents. As far as they're concerned I've started on a clean slate and I've since signed a new legal binding tenancy agreement with them. THEY are my landlord and I don't owe them any outstanding rent.

When I moved in 3 yrs ago I had no tenancy agreement drawn up. I paid a 2 wk deposit and was given a post-it note written in Korean as a receipt!! Even if I was surely that wouldn't stand for anything as he was never legally my landlord, right?

The guy I (and the rest of my hsemates) viewed as our landlord eventually moved out (due to all that extra profit he was making no doubt) and bought a property elsewhere. He continued to take payments off us throughout this time.

Anyway, since the estate agents have taken the property off him. He's taken to ringing my mother at 5am askng for the money I "owed" him. My Mum has stopped taking his calls and he's (for now) stopped calling her.

This morning I received a letter via Special Delivery demanding payment of the 'arrears' by 13th Sept otherwise (as instructed by his solicitor) he'll be taking me to a small claims court.

Surely he can't do this!

He was never LEGALLY my landlord to begin with and was illegally subletting the property. I assume he's conveniently not mentioned this to his solicitor!!

What should I do??

He took my provisional license off me to keep until I'd paid my rent arrears at the time and made me sign a letter giving him permission to keep hold of it otherwise he was gonna 'evict' me. He still has my license. I'm not bothered about that as I can easily apply for a new one.

I just want some advice regarding this small claims issue. Surely I don't have to pay him another penny and the case would be thrown out!!

I pay my monthly rent to the estate agents - they can't even trace him as they don't have his forwarding address. If anyone's committed a crime, it's him surely?

Any legal advice would be much appreciated as its bank holiday weekend and lord knows when I'll be able to get an appt at the Citizens Advice Bureau.

Answer 1

   You agreed to rent this property from him.  That is a legally binding agreement.  You signed a letter giving him permission to hold your license until you have paid him the money you owe him; therefore, he has it in writing that you agree you owe him money.  The fact that he was subletting to you is irrelevant.  You agreed to rent from him.  You gave your word to pay this much money.  He can take this to small claims and will probably win.  Here's my question.  If you don't have his address, how are you supposed to get the money to him?  You'd have to know where to send it to pay him, right?

       The estate agents can take him to court over the money he collected for subletting illegally, but that is their battle.  It has absolutely nothing to do with your situation.  I'm willing to bet he doesn't pursue this if you don't pay him the money, but if he chooses to file a small claims case, you will probably lose.

Answer 2

Call the Police and report him. Then call a Lawyer and Sue him for ALL of the Monies that you paid him. He has Committed Fraud by collecting rent on property that he was Not Legally in a position to collect.

Answer 3

Yeah, I'm not entirely sure about the laws in England, but in the States if someone misrepresents himself, in most cases you're not bound by any contract you've signed with that person.  He also claims to be able to evict you, but he never really had that power, at least not as the term "evict" is defined. I guess he could kick you out, but then you would be able to sue him for any money you've given him. Also, since the apartment owners didn't allow subrenting, he didn't have a legal foot to stand on in renting something he didn't own in the first place. It would be like trying to rent a piece of sidewalk. The fact that he was renting it and had occupancy rights doesn't make any difference.

Whatever the case, I would go to court and make sure you keep all your paperwork in line, check stubs receipts etc. He may not even be entitled to what you've already given him, so consider counter-suit as well. Talk to a lawyer if he takes you to court for sure.

EDIT:

One more thing. He misrepresented himself. This constitutes fraud. This in itself negates any agreement you had with him. Further, its illegal and in the case of fraud, you could seek punitive damages if he hurt your reputation in any way.

Answer 4

You say your signed no tenancy agreement with him when you moved in! and he only gave you a post it note as a receipt! On top of that - he illegally "rented it to you and others, pocketing enough money to buy a piece of property elsewhere!!! WOW! this guy is a scammer! Now you get a letterf from a solicitor! Threatening to evict you! FROM WHAT!  No.1 he never owned to building you are living in! I would suggest you call the solicitor and ask him politely, to make sure HE is NOT going to be made a fool of, if him and this guy take you to court!! Tell him what this guy did, and has absolutely no legal right to demand any monies from you or anyone else in that building!!! On top of that! tell the solicitor if he can't straighten this guy out, YOU will be filing charges against them for harassment!! Don't forget the phone calls! Give the solicitor the name of the Estate agents, and let them handle this guy!!!  I am sure those people have solicitors of their own!

Answer 5

Okay, here we go. First of all he cannot enforce a non-existent tenancy agreement.  Secondly writing "as advised by his solicitor" is complete tripe - he's trying to imply that he has some sort of legal status to his claim, which he hasn't.  Thirdly, he has no right to retain your licence.

By all means go and see the CAB to properly set your mind at rest, but in the meantime ignore him.  Have a good weekend.

Answer 6

I'm not sure I'd say it depends on your location every places is different, but if you didn't sign anything like a lease saying how long you were able to live there before you either moved out or updated the first lease.. if it were me, I'd go to small claims court but better be sure you have of your documentations in order and show them to the judge or anyone that could help you out?

best of luck