By James Simons-
Unrepentant Greenwich Council, whose recklessness contributed to the mental health condition of a landlady expressed their ignorance of a tenant in a letter they sent to the lady yesterday.
The letter was sent almost a year late, after The Council said the woman’s ”stage 2 complaint became lost in our casework system and has only recently come to light as an outstanding matter”.
The lady whose identity is being kept anonymous at her request, has suffered severe mental health issues after being attacked by a resident of hers , causing her a damaged eye socket in the process. She is currently under mental therapy and is under anti-depressants called Sertraline 100ml. The 45 year old had to take the man, 47 year old Christian Nwala to a civil court on more than one occasion after the man denied ever receiving an eviction notice.
He was eventually convicted of assault at Bexleyheath Magistrates Court and fined £1,000. He escaped jail because it was his first offence- a strange outcome for the serious damage he caused. The Eye Of Media.Com has seen a picture of the woman’s bashed up eye which she has pleaded with us not to publish in case she is recognised and ridiculed by jealous and vindictive individual.
This was on top of a criminal prosecution case executed by the police and the CPS for assault. In the midst of it all, the man who did not pay a penny in rent for 14 months, was calling the council to get the lady to conduct repairs at the property. He paid rent only for the first two months
The lady claimed the man, Christian Nwala, had damaged the property himself, but Greenwich Council used representatives from their health and safety to contact the woman to conduct repairs. The Eye Of Media.Com intervened after the woman expressed extreme distress of the situation. We contacted the council and told them that since the man had not paid any rent at all, he had no right to demand repairs for anything in the property.
The council would only have been justified in taking account of complaints made by other tenants. The defiant council attempted to argue the point, stating that the Housing Act imposed a duty on her to repair damaged goods at the property, but we insisted that such requests could not be at the behest of a resident who had never paid rent and who was being prosecuted for grievous bodily assault.
The member of their staff calling her regularly was warned by us to stop contacting the woman, otherwise we would track him down and expose his improper behaviour.
Today, the woman forwarded an email to us sent by the council. It read:
”Under the Housing Act 2004 when a tenancy is created as an assured shorthold tenancy, at the end of the initial term, this falls into a periodic tenancy and irrespective of whether rent is received or not, the terms of the tenancy remain in place. There are legal means to regain possession which a Landlord may apply under specifically Sections 8 and 21 of that Act.
”Section 8 specifically deals with the non-payment of rent. In either case, the due process must be followed for a landlord to gain possession of their property. If this process is not duly followed the tenancy remains in place and the Council has a duty to respond to complaints raised by tenants in private rented accommodation as previously advised”.
The council has shown a worrying level of misunderstanding the law in the above statement. When a resident of a property makes no effort at all to pay rent, they cannot expect to benefit from the same rights as a paying tenant or a tenant who has defaulted a few times because of financial issues.
The tenancy agreement assumes the so called tenant will respect the tenant landlord relationship at least as far as showing good faith goes. Greenwich Council were very insensitive in their dealings with the landlady who now suffers with a level of psychosis, post traumatic stress, and flashbacks.The landlady is now complaining to the Ombudsman and seeking compensation from North Greenwich Council for the damage to her mental health.