Landlord seems to think I've paid...

Former Member

I saw my landlord two weeks ago and said "Oh I transferred my rent over to your account", which I had done and he said "Yes I know, thanks".

Anyway checked my account properly the other day and realised that I had accidently paid it to his old account and it had come back to me. Without realising it, I had accidently spent it (I know I know!) I do have a months rent set aside for this month... however.... my landlord thinks everything is tickity boo. If I'm late on rent he lets me know, asks when I can pay it and is really cool about it. But he honestly hasn't said anything.

The guy is actually minted and to some respects (and please don't curse me for saying this) I deserve a month off.

I recently discovered that during the work going on in my house I was entitled to half price rent. Add to this I now have a council summons because I can't afford to pay the council tax because I'm the only professional in the house and every person that comes to look at the spare room is either a student who can't read the damned advert properly or he refuses.

I don't want to cheat him out of the money and if he turned around tomorrow and asked for it I'd gladly pay but at the same time... he's a dodgy bloke who moved random Albanian builders into my house, promised us a million things, hasn't replaced the hoover and has done very many generally shitty landlord things. Should I just keep my mouth shut and hope I get away with it?

Former Member

StarCrossed wrote: »

Should I just keep my mouth shut and hope I get away with it?

Where there's money involved there's no getting away with it. He'll notice sooner or later, and will be less inclined to assist you if you actually need help with the rent.

Former Member

StarCrossed wrote: »

The guy is actually minted and to some respects (and please don't curse me for saying this) I deserve a month off.

What crap!
If you deserve a month off, speak to him about it, instead of just not putting the rent into his account.

I've had shitty neighbours - does that mean I'M entitled to a month off of my mortgage? I don't think so.

Contact him, fess up, and move on.
Otherwise it'll bite you in the ass later on.

Former Member

Or maybe, you know pay next months on time, after all if you didn't check your statments online or whatever it would be a good 6 weeks before the paper statement came through and showed it had been returned and then tell him. Kudos then to you for fessing up and you get a bit longer to get the money together.

Former Member

id just keep the money and if he notices, plead ignorance

Former Member

Its up to you but if you're going to play fast and loose with him, he might do the same to you, and he is in a position to make life a lot harder for you than you are for him.

Former Member

SuzyCreamcheese wrote: »

id just keep the money and if he notices, plead ignorance

Considering he has changed bank accounts it would be a good idea because that could be a great excuse.

Former Member

yea say fa and act oblivious, for sure!

Former Member

.

Former Member

girl with sharp teeth wrote: »

I think by the sound of it you need to draw yourself up a budget and reprioritise your expenditure. I only say that because the 2 absolutely most vitally important bills that should be paid before any others are your rent and the council tax, due to the consequences of non payment.

If you haven't done so, you need to contact the coucil urgently with a repayment plan to address the arrears you have built up. You should be getting a single persons discount of 25% off your bill already, so if you aren't then the council can recalculate your bill.

The summons to the magistrates court is an automatic process and unless you can prove you are not liable for the tax (which you are) then the magistrates will grant a liability order against you. This then means that the council can enforce payment against you. They could do this by instructing bailiffs; getting an attachment of earnings so that money is deducted directly from your pay; even in a few cases petitioning for bankruptcy.

The council can cancel the summons if you contact them and maintain repayments. There are normally around £50 of court costs which will be added to your outstanding debt but believe me, that is far preferable to the kind of charges bailiffs use.

Really, it's irrelevant that your landlord is "minted" - you don't know how much he needs the money, even if he does have a high income. High earners usually have high expenditure as well, so assuming that he doesn't need the money is not a good idea. If your landlord is a sound guy then he shouldn't mind you slowly repaying the arrears back over the months, but you are leaving yourself wide open to trouble if you don't sort this out.

If you need help or advice in budgeting, or if you have debt problems, then speak to one of the professional charities that are there to help you.

:yes: :yes: :yes:

Pearly

This is a tricky one, but it may be that even though it's great for your bank balance to have a month off, deep down you could just end up worrying about it all the time and this could be quite stressful, so you have to weigh up the pros and cons. How about you start to save some each month to put towards the amount you 'owe' so if he does spot it then at least you have it put aside just in case? Even though he may be minted, often people with more money are even more stringent with where their pennies go, so be prepared for him to come back to you on it!