Tenancy review for 21 Christchurch Place in Peterlee West, Peterlee rented from Julie Stevenson

Landlord rating: 1

Terrible
After and during the illegal eviction harassment occurred day and night, the landlord or her partner never had the courage to discuss matters with us face to face, resorting to cowardly acts such as posting slanderous letters before running away, or emailing us around 12 am with taunts or texting around the same time for the same reason.

They fabricated a Police report citing that we were harassing them and lied about the frequency of contact,( I had to contact them as the rules of civil court encourage settlement before a case begins, my offers were ignored ) the fabricated Police report was done with a motive as they would then try and strike out the civil claim against them because I was prevented by the Police of sending them documents with reference to a civil case, they spent over 6k in legal costs ensuring that the redecoration which they asked for was never paid.

I tried throughout to settle and reason with them going as low as £1200 for a complete repaint of the property excluding the bedrooms, ( would have been done had they not evicted us) and the stripping and repainting of all glossed effects such as the railings in the hall, the frames around the doors etc alongside a whole other list of other fixes that they had no intention of sorting themselves. And had all been around for a great deal of time I had however also stated that they could go lower than that, I simply wanted paying for an enormous amount of work done to their property, I worked on their property every night after work and I really shouldn't have had to do that, I done so because I thought they were genuine and also out of pity as they were laying sob stories on me, they made me believe that they were struggling to get by, when in fact all they were doing is preying on my good nature

After being illegally evicted they seemingly fixed everything I complained about and re rented the house at £25 pounds a month less.

I think the landlords partner has a chip on his shoulder, as I done nothing to him but try and help them both and he has set out (as they both have) to cause as much distress as possible; to spend such a collosal amount to pervert the course of justice when he could have simply paid what he owed.

I think that the above proves that he has some issue there but he never had the guts to bring it to my attention he just decided to incriminate himself and spend a fortune to gain nothing.

If you are renting this property, I sincerely hope that they have learned their lesson and now adhere to the law, if not you are in quite real danger of being evicted if you find fault with the property, they will try and dishonestly gain your deposit, their usual trick is billing 50 quid to pull weeds out, even then they may do what they done to me which was wait 3 months for the grass to grow and try and charge 50 quid for cutting their own grass, they are extremely greedy and don't hesitate in lying to the Police or the Court and they show no signs of stopping.

If you do end up affected by either Stevenson or her partner James Gardener, report it to the Police as there is already a history reported to them of these two, if the Police don't do anything report it to the council private housing department, as they also have their history logged and can prosecute if they get bored and start evicting again.
They are also required by law to have them railings sorted, the gaps between them are too wide and a danger to children, the council has been out and told them this however they no doubt lied to the council saying they would fix it and just haven't bothered.
Like I say hopefully they have learned their lesson, but if not they are now well documented, hopefully the next tenants won't have to go what I went through or what the tenant before me also went through and I write this in the public interest as well as for the next tenant should they experience the same or worse, or to anyone thinking of renting from either one of these two, I know if I knew what I know now I would have given this rental a wide birth, aw just another point to note get everything in writing if they have you decorate as a favour or to help them and you don't have it in text, or writing you have already probably lost your bond these are the sort of tricks they play they are extremely greedy it amazes me how they haven't been locked up

Property rating: 1

3 bedrooms Garden was prone to flooding, severe mould issue landlords had no care at all in maintaining the property and illegally evicted us for complaining
They could have had the mould fixed for free it is a known problem with those houses due to cavity wall insulation being installed when it should not have been

Area rating: 7

Neighbourhood is fine however, if you do end up in a disagreement with them you can't really rely on the neighbours as they won't speak up, citing that it would be too much trouble, I suspect that the landlords set out to intimidate anyone who speaks up against them and because they are also cowards they will do this by playing games posting threatening letters before running away, or perhaps poisoning animals, as around the same time they were attending my new address or having their solicitor attend my address my dog suddenly became ill and died of kidney failure