Am I being harassed by my letting agent? I'd appreciate your opinion

Jamie_L

Am I being crazy or do I have a serious problem with my letting agent?

I've lived in my home for over 10 years, the entire time I've been in receipt of housing benefit, which has covered my full rent and due to my health difficulties the council has always paid direct to the landlord.

Last year the letting agent changed, I contacted housing benefits and was told that the new landlord needed to contact them to make the switch because I wasn't getting a new tenancy agreement and that the switch could take up to 8 weeks.

I passed this information onto the letting agent, 2 weeks later I received a phone call, telling me my rent hasn't been paid, I explained again what HB had said and they needed to contact them.

2 weeks later another phone call, "no rent's been paid", they had contacted HB but hadn't heard anything back and demanded I call them. Which I did, to be told HB had replied to the letting agent. When I called the LA back, they had a look in their inbox and low and behold there was the email. I was then instructed to "Call HB every 2 weeks, you;ve got to keep on at them, because if you don't it'd take forever. Call the or they'll forget!".

I learnt nothing about the inner working of housing benefit claims but plenty about their brand of management style. I didn't hear anything for a time but it was just the quiet before the storm.

Then late November last year the flood gates opened, I received a phone call from the letting agent saying I'm in arrears. I have had this before because my rent is paid in arrears in 4 week installments, making 13 payments a year instead of 12 monthly payments. I explained this to the agent and they said okay and we left it at that, till the next week.

This time an email saying I'm in arrears, I replied and explained again, thinking they have it over the phone and in writing, job done. Wrong. Over the next 3 weeks 4 emails and phone calls all saying the same "Your in arrears, PAY NOW". No matter how many times I explained more would still arrive, this arrived on the 6th of January.

 [We are writing to you as rent due on the 25/12/2021 has not been received.

Perhaps this is an oversight on your behalf, but any further delay could become a very serious matter which may threaten your Tenancy.

Please arrange an immediate payment of £85.36 to settle the account or contact us to explain the reason for the delay. May we remind you that, under the terms of your Tenancy Agreement, rental payments should be made by Standing Order. Please check that you have this arrangement in place with your bank to ensure that future rental payments are made correctly.]

And I've received 2 more of these emails on the 11th and 16th of February.

I was starting to think that the reason for the constant harassment was to pressure me to change my payment arrangements because it didn't fit in with their system but things have gotten even darker, on the 20th of January I was sent a Section 13 Rent increase notice and today a "routine property inspection" for the 3rd of March.

Like many my home is my security, having my rent paid direct has saved me many times, when I'm unable to cope with my illness this is my safety net, my rent is paid. And I refuse to change that for these people and don't feel I should, but my mind is now drifting into thinking maybe it's more, maybe they want me out.

Am I being discriminated against because I receive benefits?

In the past, when I've looked online at properties to rent, it would always be my new agent that would make a point of saying "No benefits" or now they have "would suit professional" instead.

If you've made it this far, thank you for reading and I am sorry for rambling, this stuff has been running round my head all night and I'm hoping this might help me sleep a little easier.

Please leave your opinion, I'm very interested in anything you have to say



 

 

Ross_Alumni

Hi @Jamie_L

Thanks for posting, sorry to hear of what you are going through, it must be quite frustrating and worrying for you, given the importance of your home in your life. 

Have the letting agency provided any reason as to why they have continued to send emails requesting the money? One thing that came to mind for me when reading is that maybe it was some sort of automated emailing system and wasn't being sent manually, if that makes sense. 

Either way, I can see why it would make you feel harassed, it's a shame what you have been put through. Have you considered contacting somewhere like Citizens Advice to get some professional advice for your situation?

Jamie_L

Ross_Scope said:

Hi @Jamie_L

Thanks for posting, sorry to hear of what you are going through, it must be quite frustrating and worrying for you, given the importance of your home in your life. 

Have the letting agency provided any reason as to why they have continued to send emails requesting the money? One thing that came to mind for me when reading is that maybe it was some sort of automated emailing system and wasn't being sent manually, if that makes sense. 

Either way, I can see why it would make you feel harassed, it's a shame what you have been put through. Have you considered contacting somewhere like Citizens Advice to get some professional advice for your situation?

Hey Ross_Scope, thanks for your post, it was very helpful

woodbine

@Jamie_L sorry they are messing you around, because many landlords don't except people on benefits as tenants it could be that the LA just isn't used to dealing with people who are. I think a discussion with CAB is sound advice from @Ross_Scope

Jamie_L

I would like to update my situation.

After reading Ross_Scope's comment, I decided to call the letting agent but wanted to speak to housing benefit first, so I knew all sides of the story. HB said my rent has been paid as usual, I was concerned that maybe the Section 13 rent increase may have frozen the payment but no everything was fine and they confirmed having all the paperwork they need for the increase as well. I did explain what had been happening and HB arranged for housing solutions to call me to follow up and see if they could help. 

I then called the letting agent, the person who had been named on the email wasn't available, so I explained what had been happening, how I've been receiving multiple emails about arrears even though my rent is paid direct and in full. The LA looked on their system and could see the email sent on 16th of February by the absentee, but then said there was a note on my file saying "HB paying 13 payment per year". I asked why I was still receiving the emails if I wasn't in arrears, I was told they couldn't speak for the person who isn't there.

I then asked if the emails are automated, I got a "erm.... can I put you on hold". After a couple of minutes they returned and said "Some of them are automated, yes. And that because of this I will continue to have them sent out because their system works on a monthly cycle and the only advice they would give is to just ignore them. Not at all helpful if there is a actual problem with my account and no mention of automated before I asked

Still a bit frustrated and feeling a little silly for getting so stressed by a automated email I received a phone call from housing solutions, we spoke about the conversation with the letting agent and they said that it's possible they are sending these emails could be used to prove a poor payment history by some less reputable landlords, but I shouldn't worry because no judge would evict me under these circumstances and they would need to take it to court to even try. Which is great...

Now I've had time to digest everything though, I'm not as satisfied as I was. The reason for this is there was no mention of automated emails before I asked and the "Some email's are automated" feels like very back covering phrase, maybe it's only benefit recipients that are automated? Also, when I was first contacted by the letting agency about the arrears it was by phone, then a one line email. It wasn't until 5-6 weeks and 6-7 reminders before the nastier emails quoted above started arriving.

So do they chase up people by phone/personal email and automated email? A little overkill? I guess they may have changed how they do things during the new year but the letting agency are expanding not cutting back. Now the question of do I give them the benefit of the doubt, in truth I don't think I can, I see it as being 3 different parts, the emails and calls in November/December, the nasty toned emails and rent increase in January, then more emails and property inspection in February. The actual rent increase starts in March, which is another opportunity for even more hassle. 

They can't evict me but they can put me under pressure and make things uncomfortable, the really sad fact is even if I decide it might be better to move I'm dependent on them for a reference.

I think my next move can only be as Ross_Scope, housing benefit and housing solutions have all suggested, so tomorrow I'll call citizens advice and see what they think and what possible course of action can be taken, fingers crossed

_witchcore

I'm with a housing association and this happens to me every few months when I get a rent statement. When I moved in I was working and I would receive their quarterly magazine, the back page being my statement ... in big green letters "thanks for paying your rent on time" followed by the balance. As I paid my rent on time I was automatically entered into a monthly draw to win £500. Now HB pays in arrears I get big red letters (visible to my postman through the cellophane around the magazine btw) "If you are having difficulties paying your rent..." and it reminds me I have not been entered into the draw, which I feel is a bit unfair towards benefit claimants. They did warn me when I cancelled my DD that the systems are automated and it will assume I'm in arrears all the time, but they did switch off the automated texts.

wendy41

Sorry to read about this. Nothing more worrying than rent arrears for whatever reason. Especially when you have a system that works. If using Gmail emails can be sent out at a time and date of when the person wants the email to go out. Also letters can be automated to be sent out when it goes over a certain date. I would phone them up and talk to your letting agent explain (again) and tell them to switch off any automated letters as this is causing unnecessary stress! 
Keep a notebook of who you talk to and the date you contacted them. This you can then refer back to if you need to speak to someone new over the phone. Keep dates of housing benefit paid or to be paid. It's quite easy for someone to confuse people over the phone, referring to dates and you don't have those dates in front of you written down; it distracts from the current conversation your having with the person on the phone, which then leads to worry. However, when you can repeat back to the person on the phone I phoned on this date and it was paid on that date....it lets them know you are 'being active' with things. Is frustrating as you can't account for how competent the person on the other end of the phone is. But as long as you have your correct information. They can't detract from that. !