Issue with past landlord who is a housing association
I cancelled my tenancy in March, two years ago, and then moved to another country. I did it over the phone with their representative to make sure it was done properly. I had all my utility direct debits also cancelled for march and had the apartment cleared for march.
I have all the emails from my utilities and a digital copy of my plane travel details as proof.
Yet a few months later I notice that all my money had been drained from my bank account, and the entity responsible for this being that housing association. So I made a costly manual call to them from what was now the other side of the world. Said I never cancelled, and so I went through exactly the same process to cancel again, annoyed saying "I know, ive already been on this page" when they'd tell me the next stage. This finally cancelled it, the second time.
They demanded I then pay the hefty sum for the months between March and August, via email.
We sent some emails back and forth, and eventually I just wanted to put this to rest, and told them:
"How am I meant to provide a record of the notice? That is produced and stored within your system, only.
I have a digital record of my broadband, electricity, gas and water direct debits having ended in February/March. I have the testimony of my father and brothers rushing to clear my apartment by March. I have a digital record of the details of my taxi that took me to the airport for March. I have a copy of the email containing my plane ticket, for March. I have a copy of my covid test required for air travel, the period in which I could use it for travel would put my travel date as the start of March. I should be able to pull up my order history from my frequent online distributors to show I made no orders to the property from March onward. March, March, March.
For your claim to bear even a semblance to reality, you would have to suppose that:
1. I was using the property without electricity, gas, internet, or water, for however many months you claim I continued to have the property for.
2. Or, that when cancelling all my direct debits for the reason of cancelling my tenancy, I forgot to cancel my tenancy. But then how would I have remembered to cancel my other utilities if I forgot that I was cancelling my tenancy, if the reason for cancelling these utilities was due to my tenancy ending? When they asked for my reason for ending the direct debits, what reason did I give them? “The reason is I forgot?”. No, the reason is I cancelled my tenancy in March.
3. Or, that every single one of the other services I used got the dates wrong, and actually midland heart was the sole service that is actually correct.
4. For the six months from March to August that I apparently still had the property registered under my name, no one thought it at all strange that there appeared to be no one using my apartment. Because I had previously spent a lot less time away from the apartment and got a call from you asking if I was still using the property as you received concerns from other service users that I had deserted the property. This time, however, despite being away for a longer period, and entirely away, no one thought to raise a concern, or if someone did you did not follow up with a call or email to me as you did before."
So, the idea that I hadnt cancelled my tenancy was no longer defensible. So, what does the housing association do? Stop responding to me. Holding on to several months worth of rent that I didn't sign up for. Whilst I'm in a different country. I'm not sure what to do.
I have all the emails from my utilities and a digital copy of my plane travel details as proof.
Yet a few months later I notice that all my money had been drained from my bank account, and the entity responsible for this being that housing association. So I made a costly manual call to them from what was now the other side of the world. Said I never cancelled, and so I went through exactly the same process to cancel again, annoyed saying "I know, ive already been on this page" when they'd tell me the next stage. This finally cancelled it, the second time.
They demanded I then pay the hefty sum for the months between March and August, via email.
We sent some emails back and forth, and eventually I just wanted to put this to rest, and told them:
"How am I meant to provide a record of the notice? That is produced and stored within your system, only.
I have a digital record of my broadband, electricity, gas and water direct debits having ended in February/March. I have the testimony of my father and brothers rushing to clear my apartment by March. I have a digital record of the details of my taxi that took me to the airport for March. I have a copy of the email containing my plane ticket, for March. I have a copy of my covid test required for air travel, the period in which I could use it for travel would put my travel date as the start of March. I should be able to pull up my order history from my frequent online distributors to show I made no orders to the property from March onward. March, March, March.
For your claim to bear even a semblance to reality, you would have to suppose that:
1. I was using the property without electricity, gas, internet, or water, for however many months you claim I continued to have the property for.
2. Or, that when cancelling all my direct debits for the reason of cancelling my tenancy, I forgot to cancel my tenancy. But then how would I have remembered to cancel my other utilities if I forgot that I was cancelling my tenancy, if the reason for cancelling these utilities was due to my tenancy ending? When they asked for my reason for ending the direct debits, what reason did I give them? “The reason is I forgot?”. No, the reason is I cancelled my tenancy in March.
3. Or, that every single one of the other services I used got the dates wrong, and actually midland heart was the sole service that is actually correct.
4. For the six months from March to August that I apparently still had the property registered under my name, no one thought it at all strange that there appeared to be no one using my apartment. Because I had previously spent a lot less time away from the apartment and got a call from you asking if I was still using the property as you received concerns from other service users that I had deserted the property. This time, however, despite being away for a longer period, and entirely away, no one thought to raise a concern, or if someone did you did not follow up with a call or email to me as you did before."
So, the idea that I hadnt cancelled my tenancy was no longer defensible. So, what does the housing association do? Stop responding to me. Holding on to several months worth of rent that I didn't sign up for. Whilst I'm in a different country. I'm not sure what to do.
31-35, M
