Claim for Possession sorted - onto the next Chapter :)

dancingfairy

Doesn't a suspended order mean if your rent is ever late/not the right amount etc then they can set a date for eviction and can effectively fast track the process? You really need to avoid this at all costs as as far as I know you could be paying fine for 3 years or something and then have an issue and if they have a suspended possession order then they get to reposses?
I don't know whether they can go for a suspended possession order or not to be honest - have you got any paperwork stating your agreement to get your arrears up to date that you can use in court or was it agreed verbally?
df

Zingara

For arrears under £500 the judge wouldn't usually give a possession order - suspended, postponed or immediate (suspended possesion orders aren't being used any more at my local court - long, boring technical reason!). It would generally be an adjourned on condition order - basically meaning as long as you pay rent plus x off arrears then no further action will be taken. IF you breached the order then the landlord is free to refer back to court for a further hearing to get a possession order.

Unfortunately, court costs and fees are normally non-negotiable and are awarded against the tenant by the judge - there is nothing to stop you asking for them not to be charged to you. Certainly, if you can prove that you have maintained the agreement made in Nov and court proceedings have been issued since then I would definitely fight them.

It's unfortunate that you have emailed them confirming you can clear account by 9th if you would struggle to do this. If you can clear the account in full that's great, but you would have to ask the judge to adjourn the hearing to a future date to give you the time to clear it. That way you would not get a judgement against you - as long as you cleared it in that time (but may still incur costs that could be paid at a set amount). If you can't clear by the 9th but would have a reasonable chance of clearing within a month, ask for an adjournment for 4 weeks to give you the time to clear in full.

There isn't really any need to get a solicitor involved or CAB unless you really don't want to face this on your own. The hearings are usually in a smallish room with judge, your side and HA's side - never usually more than 2 people on their side. Nothing too stressful for you and the judge should be okay given that you have a low level of arrears. I'd put my neck on the line and say there is no way you will be evicted if everything is as you have said.

I would only consider a solicitor if you wish to challenge why it has been referred to court - if you are sure it shouldn't have been and you do incur court costs as a result of this then you can always look at making an official complaint against the HA to see if they have any discretion in refunding them. If you aren't happy with their response then escalate it until it gets to Ombudsman stage. This could all be hypothetical really though - until you know the outcome of the hearing, and what the judge says there is no point worrying about it!

Hope that helps,

Karen
x

Zingara

milliemonster wrote: »

I don't think the judge will ask you to pay it back in full in one go, you have done so well to clear as much as you have already so I really think when this goes to court the judge is just going to laugh at the HA and wonder what they are playing at

The judge will ask her to pay what she can reasonably afford to pay - if she offers to clear in full by a given date and the judge is sure she can do this then that will be what is expected.

Therefore you should only ever offer to pay what you can actually afford to pay and not be frightened into offering more. Once you have the order then if it is breached further action is a lot easier for the HA. Take with you a print of your income and expenditure showing any left over funds and the HA would generally ask for a percentage of that leftover money.

As for the judge laughing at the HA, I wouldn't expect this at all. The HA had a reason for referring this to court - on referal to court the arrears were showing £785 (taken from first post). That they are now less than £200 is a credit to how hard MissConfused has worked to get them to that level. As to whether it should have been referred in the first place, that is something the HA will have the answer to - with all due respect, we only have MissConfused's word for it that the payments were made each week, on time as per the arrangement. At that level of arrears it would only take a payment that was not showing on the account at the right time to trigger court action.

I'm sure it is very rare that a HA would withdraw a case once it has been referred to case whilst there are arrears outstanding as costs have already been incurred. Judges look at the overall picture - payment pattern before issue, arrears at issue and after issue being fully aware of how long it can take to get a case to a hearing - they don't look at the arrears on the date of the hearing and criticise the HA for taking action at a low level.

Karen

sammy115

Miss Confused - correct me if I am wrong but did you say that you get your child tax credits monthly. Can you not change this to weekly?

It may help in the short term...

good luck xx

Hollyberry

You mentioned considering legal advice. The link below is to a Government-funded advice service, which offers to phone you back with help about housing or other legal problems. They can also tell you what legal advice is open to you locally and whether you will be asked to pay. Some sources of advice are definitely free and have been mentioned earlier on this thread: Shelter, CABx etc.

http://www.communitylegaladvice.org.uk/

Hope you are able to find some help and peace of mind.

MissConfused_2

dancingfairy wrote: »

I don't know whether they can go for a suspended possession order or not to be honest - have you got any paperwork stating your agreement to get your arrears up to date that you can use in court or was it agreed verbally?
df

Hi . I have it all in an email from the HA. Where I have asked the question and she has agreed to accept £85 per week until its clear. Will an email hold up in court?

mum2one

MissConfused wrote: »

Firstly - Rumpleteaser, nope I didn't know I could get 30 minutes free, is that with any solictor do you know? I have got it in my diary to phone Hegarty on Friday (when they open), so that's good to know.

TotallyBroke - I will be fine on my own! I think I am just scared about it all to be honest. Not an ideal situation. I've had a permanent headache since I had the papers through. I'll be glad when it's all over. So, if they judge says I have to pay the rent plus £5 a week, I guess I don't offer to over pay?

Bumblebee - thats what I'm hoping also. That he/she will be slightly compassionate. I will be able to clear the arrears totally on the 9th Jan (I get paid weekly and am due 2 weeks on the 9th), so if I put that to him/her also, I'm hoping it'll be okay and it will be accepted?

The HA have said that they are going for a Suspended possession, I don't think they want the house back, just a guarantee they are going to get their money, which is fair enough I guess. Thanks

If its any help a "suspended posession" is we dont want the house from you yet, but if you dont buck up ur ideas we can go back to court and apply for a short hearing as you already have the paperwork on hold, the order may stand for 12 months, in that time you need to make sure your arrears are paid off, that your rent in paid on time and no further arrears are run up. At the end of the "suspended posession time", if you have doen everything right then the order will just disappear up in smoke.

(excuse the basic expression - its me).

Re solicitors, most solicitors offer a free half hour intial interview, but when you ring up and ask for the appointment make sure you ask for it to be a free half hr, if possible try and go for a larger firm of solicitors, ie they will have a specialist deptartment that deals with houseing issues and the advice will be more to your needs.

As for the court, the judge can only work on the papers that have been sent into them, (the ones where u owe the money) so be prepared to have spare copies of documents that shw u have paid, and a spare SoA, showing ur rent in par to the income and when you intend to pay your arrears off. Dont extend yourself yo something you cant afford, and do as other posterrs have mentioned, ask for the court fees to be put aside, on the line of I have pd x of y, if you add court fees), my arrears will be longer.

x

mum2one

MissConfused wrote: »

Hi . I have it all in an email from the HA. Where I have asked the question and she has agreed to accept £85 per week until its clear. Will an email hold up in court?

An email will hold up in court as it will have their email addy as well as yours.

I doubt that you would be able to get ur tax credits pd weekly as your working, and theway the tax office system works, I personally wouldnt recommend chop changing now while you need the money xx

MissConfused_2

Thanks guys, you have all been brilliant. Hollyberry - I will have a look at that link you posted, all phone calls might have to wait until monday though (everyone is shut!).
Everyone else - I have definately made all weekly payments on time (every Friday), don't really know how I can prove this though. I'll take bank statements into court I guess, although that will show a few days after won't it. Oh well.

Tax Credits - I get them every Wednesday, Salary every Friday and Child Benefit ever 4th Monday.

I'm not entirely sure why it went to court, I guess they had their reasons, but I decided to make the £85 weekly payment myself on about the 14th Nov, the letter I received from the HA was dated 25/26th Nov, so after...I guess due to my erratic previous payments, they felt they had no choice? Still, might adk for an adjornment and definately fight the costs. I can ill afford those on top of everything else going on.
xx

MissConfused_2

Ok guys, my new and revised SoA JUST for January,

Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1188 This is a January only figure. I get paid weekly, so 5 Fridays is 1188
Benefits................................ 275 This is Tax Credits and Child Benefit
Total monthly income.................... 1463[/b]
Monthly Expense Details
Rent.................................... 340.25 Again, this is 5 weeks rent at £68.05, arrears excluded
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0 - included in rent
Council tax............................. 65
Electricity............................. 25 this is on a prepay meter, I don't tend to monitor it, just put more on when it runs out.
Gas..................................... 0 This is quarterly, and not due until February
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 15 with BT, had the line 13 months now
Mobile phone............................ 10 PAYG
TV Licence.............................. 12 paid quarterly, not due till March
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 35 Sky I've had for 13 months, and BT Vision (don't think this is contracted? anyone?)
Internet Services....................... 19 BT - just entered into a new 18 month contract
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 I shop every saturday, 5 saturdays = £40 a week
Clothing................................ 20 estimate - i only really buy when dd grows or I need for work, so more of an as and when
Petrol/diesel........................... 40
Road tax................................ 10 I don't budget for this, just pay when due
Car Insurance........................... 35 Insurance and Breakdown, again don't budget, pay monthly
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20 pay when due
Contents insurance...................... 10
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 0 chance would be a fine thing!
Entertainment........................... 70 my gym membership and dvd rental

Total monthly expenses.................. 1006.25[/b]

Assets

Car(s).................................. 1000
Total Assets............................ 1000[/b]


Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
OU Court Fine..................96........40........0 I want to pay this off ASAP
Unsecured Debt.................10000.....0.........0
I will split these down as best I can:-
Sky - £67.42
Mango - £54.00
Littlewoods - £549.32 (Don't think this is mine though)
ICS - £351.99
Anglian Water - £213.72 (this is in dispute)
Thames - £4, 898.00 (I don't know what this is, I queried it, and they said a bank account with Barclays?!)
02 - £328.30
Carphone Warehouse - £918.65
Adams - £131 - had a letter from them saying settled, but still says in default on credit file
Fitness First - £480.40
Pay Day Now - £387.50
CCJ (Can't remember what for, its on credit file, but got no letters about it now) - £1,027.00
Next - £124.00
CCJ - £552 (Again, not sure what for?)
And another showing on credit report, but just as Debt Collector, no company name - £252.00

Total unsecured debts..........10096.....40........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,463
Expenses (including secured debts)...... 1,006.25
Available for debt repayments........... 456.75
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 40
Amount left after debt repayments....... 416.75
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,000
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,096
Net Assets.............................. -9,096

So there we go! Apparantly I should have lots of spare cash in January - although I have to clear the arrears and set up Pay Plan
xx