Hi there,
My partner and I had noticed increasing tension in the flat we live in.
We live in the lower level of a two story flat, with the majority of flatmates living upstairs.
We would be seen upstairs maybe once a month at most, and keep to ourselves as much as possible.
The tensions seems to have come when one of us was suddenly unemployed and spending 7 days a week at home- something the head tenant seemed not to appreciate.
On two occasions, he made a comment about one of us having strong body odour. One time was following a 45 minute walk in the sun, which said tenant had only just walked in the door- one would think that reasonable.
The other occasion was when the tenant had just woken up and was having a cigarette in the shirt he had slept in the night before. Prior to any chance of having a shower (without forgoing the cigarette.)
Then suddenly, with no warning a meeting was called, "in five minutes". Less than two minutes later the head tenant said bluntly "You stink" and that the odour was "stronger than any other human" among other offensive remarks with no chance for a reply, then said "For that reason I am serving you notice. You have a choice. Either I give you three weeks notice now, or you can discuss it for a couple of days."
We chose the discuss for a few days option, to scout out flats etc, but the next day we had written notice on the fridge and in our bedroom.
Is this really enough of an excuse? With absolutely no warning or indication this action was going to happen?
The situation has deterioated to the point where when it was pointed out the head tenant had not taken into account the fact we paid rent in advance we actually owe him no rent at all, he refused to listen and asked to only communicate in written form. And left the room with "You seem to think you don't owe money, and that's great for you if it's true. But I don't agree."
We have since written out very clearly why we don't need to pay and provided dates and references to the agreement
My partner and I had noticed increasing tension in the flat we live in.
We live in the lower level of a two story flat, with the majority of flatmates living upstairs.
We would be seen upstairs maybe once a month at most, and keep to ourselves as much as possible.
The tensions seems to have come when one of us was suddenly unemployed and spending 7 days a week at home- something the head tenant seemed not to appreciate.
On two occasions, he made a comment about one of us having strong body odour. One time was following a 45 minute walk in the sun, which said tenant had only just walked in the door- one would think that reasonable.
The other occasion was when the tenant had just woken up and was having a cigarette in the shirt he had slept in the night before. Prior to any chance of having a shower (without forgoing the cigarette.)
Then suddenly, with no warning a meeting was called, "in five minutes". Less than two minutes later the head tenant said bluntly "You stink" and that the odour was "stronger than any other human" among other offensive remarks with no chance for a reply, then said "For that reason I am serving you notice. You have a choice. Either I give you three weeks notice now, or you can discuss it for a couple of days."
We chose the discuss for a few days option, to scout out flats etc, but the next day we had written notice on the fridge and in our bedroom.
Is this really enough of an excuse? With absolutely no warning or indication this action was going to happen?
The situation has deterioated to the point where when it was pointed out the head tenant had not taken into account the fact we paid rent in advance we actually owe him no rent at all, he refused to listen and asked to only communicate in written form. And left the room with "You seem to think you don't owe money, and that's great for you if it's true. But I don't agree."
We have since written out very clearly why we don't need to pay and provided dates and references to the agreement
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