urgent advice needed please

timmy77

hello,first of all im a tennet ive been renting this property for about 4/5 years i got some what behind on rent,so my land lord/estate agents have issued a section 21 which ran out today.I was hoping to get the arrers sorted before the sec21 ran its course but i couldnt,Ive been trying to phone citizens advice for a couple of weeks but can never get through and it costs me 25p every time no one answers.I have no money or transport to get me to nearset town for there citizens advice.I know its a bit late in the day to ask about what will happen now??I just had land lord and estate agent at my door 30 mins ago.my landlord was very brash,after a short disscusion at the front door the land lord demanded i let him in and he barged in moaning at how i live(a couple of days dishes needed washing and need tidying up from the night before)and then said he was going to take my tv and lap top etc as part payment when he would be back on monday with a few heavies to evict me if i havent gone.Please need advice. Timmy

pyueck

timmy77 wrote: »

hello,first of all im a tennet ive been renting this property for about 4/5 years i got some what behind on rent,so my land lord/estate agents have issued a section 21 which ran out today.I was hoping to get the arrers sorted before the sec21 ran its course but i couldnt,Ive been trying to phone citizens advice for a couple of weeks but can never get through and it costs me 25p every time no one answers.I have no money or transport to get me to nearset town for there citizens advice.I know its a bit late in the day to ask about what will happen now??I just had land lord and estate agent at my door 30 mins ago.my landlord was very brash,after a short disscusion at the front door the land lord demanded i let him in and he barged in moaning at how i live(a couple of days dishes needed washing and need tidying up from the night before)and then said he was going to take my tv and lap top etc as part payment when he would be back on monday with a few heavies to evict me if i havent gone.Please need advice. Timmy

Your landlord is not within his rights to come into your property, even if the section 21 has expired. In order to do this he would have needed a posession order, which requires a court hearing and then a baliff's order. You cannot be forcibly evicted legally until this. It may be worth phoning the police about the landlord entering the property and threatening you to forcibly evict you on Monday as this would be an illegal eviction. Hopefully they will go to see the landlord and remind him that a section 21 does not allow an eviction.

To be honest you really need advice on this, Shelter is free to call from a landline, and I'm sure if you are in real hardship they would call you back.

With regard to taking your TV and laptop, this would be definate theft and a matter for the police if this occurred.

timmy77

Thanks that is what i thought,i will try shelter hopefully there are open normal hours unlike citizens advice!!I might not be able to do that until some time tommorow,i have no land line so its mobile.how long does it normally take from the sec 21 eviction date to the final court eviction? have I a week or two or longer to find somewhere to live. Timmy

Jowo_2

Shelter have excellent information on the notice and eviction procedures.

Your landlord must take you to court to seek a possession order - that, or your voluntary leaving of the property, is the next stage. If the landlord is granted the PO and you still haven't left at the date specified, your landlord then has to return to court to arrange bailiffs to enforce possession.

Contact your local council and speak to their private tenancy relations officer.

Contact the Police to tell them that you've been threatened and harassed. Don't answer the door to him again and change the lock if this gives you peace of mind.

Your landlord cannot confiscate your belongings as part payment for your arrears. Again, if he wishes to address your outstanding rent, he must do it via court through the proper legal procedures.

It is a criminal offence to illegally evict a tenant and the civil penalty (sum of compensation he could be ordered to pay by a judge) could be steep.

Jowo_2

timmy77 wrote: »

how long does it normally take from the sec 21 eviction date to the final court eviction? have I a week or two or longer to find somewhere to live. Timmy

depends on the local court turnaround time, depends how busy they are, it could be up to a month for the landlord to get the court case, then the judge will give the tenant some time in the property to organise themselves before the possession order is effective. a tenant can make a case to have extra time given to them so I think this can add on another 6 weeks to the lag to get it to court.

when did you sign your last tenancy agreement? are you still within the fixed term of the agreement or has it expired (do you have a periodic tenancy?).

pyueck

timmy77 wrote: »

Thanks that is what i thought,i will try shelter hopefully there are open normal hours unlike citizens advice!!I might not be able to do that until some time tommorow,i have no land line so its mobile.how long does it normally take from the sec 21 eviction date to the final court eviction? have I a week or two or longer to find somewhere to live. Timmy

Shelter's helpline is open till 8pm.

As the previous poster said a section 21 hearing can be anything from a couple of weeks from the landlord filing the court papers to a few months. The judge will also not order you to leave straight away, if you will be homeless as a result of the eviction it could be up to 42 days. If you have children this will strengthen this. You should also get in contact with the council housing officer as they will have obligations to find you accomodation if you are evicted as a result of a posession order.

When you contact shelter, talk them through how the section 21 was issued to you. There are many legal loopholes that may mean the section 21 is not valid, and then the landlord would need to give you another two months notice, or issue you with a section 8 (this is a blame eviction, that is more suited to non payment of rent). You should also be aware that a section 21 hearing will not allow the judge to award you for rent arrears, as it is a non-blame eviction, the landlord would need to bring a separate claim for this or issue you with a section 8.

To make you feel better, I would say it is very very unlikely that the landlord can evict you legally within 2 months.

timmy77

Jowo wrote: »

when did you sign your last tenancy agreement? are you still within the fixed term of the agreement or has it expired (do you have a periodic tenancy?).

to be honest im not sure 4/5 years ago it was a joint tenancy with my ex g/friend we both signed, when we split(@2years ago)I beleave it was put into my name only and i might have resigned it.if i remember right after the inital 12 months contract it just carried on,in fact at the top of the sec21-4-a it says assured shothold tenancy:notice requiring possession: periodic tenancy.Does the differant type of tenancy agrements make any differance?. Timmy

PasturesNew

pyueck wrote: »

You should also get in contact with the council housing officer as they will have obligations to find you accomodation if you are evicted as a result of a posession order.

Mostly, for single people, there is no help. There is theoretically, but the reality is different. Also, by being in arrears they would deem the OP made themselves homeless.

Jowo_2

pyueck wrote: »

When you contact shelter, talk them through how the section 21 was issued to you.

To be a bit more specific, if the landlord has correctly completed and served the S21, then the judge has absolutely no choice but to grant possession back to the landlord - there's no discretion.

However a large minority of S21s presented in court fail because the landlord has incorrectly completed and served the documents. For example, filled in wrong dates or can't demonstrate that they've given the document to the tenant. This means the majority of S21s succeed...

The reason why I have asked the date of the fixed term (if you currently have a contract) and the date you last signed an AST is to help determine the validity of it. For example, if the property is in England and Wales and a landlord should have protected the deposit in a Tenancy Deposit Scheme and has failed to do so, the S21 will be invalid.

pyueck wrote: »

To make you feel better, I would say it is very very unlikely that the landlord can evict you legally within 2 months.

Without scrutinising the contract, the S21 document and knowing the turnaround for possession cases in the local court, I don't see how you can give that assurance.

The landlord is clearly an idiot, though, and an intimidating one, too.

Jowo_2

timmy77 wrote: »

to be honest im not sure 4/5 years ago it was a joint tenancy with my ex g/friend we both signed, when we split(@2years ago)I beleave it was put into my name only and i might have resigned it.if i remember right after the inital 12 months contract it just carried on,in fact at the top of the sec21-4-a it says assured shothold tenancy:notice requiring possession:periodic tenancy

Do try to find it because if the property is in England/Wales and you signed the AST from 06 April 2007 onwards, the landlord should have put your deposit in a tenancy deposit scheme. If they did not when they should have, the S21 is invalid and you can take the landlord to court to seek x3 the sum of the deposit as compensation. Read through the following and find your AST and then advise the forum of the situation.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/tenancydeposit/index.htm

pyueck

Jowo wrote: »

To be a bit more specific, if the landlord has correctly completed and served the S21, then the judge has absolutely no choice but to grant possession back to the landlord - there's no discretion.

However a large minority of S21s presented in court fail because the landlord has incorrectly completed and served the documents. For example, filled in wrong dates or can't demonstrate that they've given the document to the tenant. This means the majority of S21s succeed...

The reason why I have asked the date of the fixed term (if you currently have a contract) and the date you last signed an AST is to help determine the validity of it. For example, if the property is in England and Wales and a landlord should have protected the deposit in a Tenancy Deposit Scheme and has failed to do so, the S21 will be invalid.



Without scrutinising the contract, the S21 document and knowing the turnaround for possession cases in the local court, I don't see how you can give that assurance.

The landlord is clearly an idiot, though, and an intimidating one, too.

I agree with everyhting you say. The only thing regards the time from now until a possible eviction. I have never heard of a landlord going from the end of a section 21 period to a forced eviction with a bailiff in less than two months. If you think about it will probably be at least the end of next week before the landlord decides to get a posession order, another few days for him to file the order, at least two weeks before the court date, the judge will give him a minimum of two weeks to move out, and then if he doesn't go it would take at least a week to get the bailiff order to evict the person, and then be at least two days before it actually happens. This is all the minimum, so at least two months can be assumed, I am not saying theoretically it couldn't be less, but I very very much doubt it.