landlord rights

mostlycheerful

Due to the threat of violence if you want the police to attend while you pick up your stuff then normally they would do so on request and it would be unusual and surprising if they refused. So if you want this but the first ones you ask refuse then it might be worth asking another lot.

Or would your flatmate be willing to take it out to a cab or a van if you ordered one? Or maybe offer him £20, if you’ve got it, to do so if he’s initially unwilling. Or could you send someone else round to get it?

"you still need to pay that money to your LL as you're bound by a contract".

That would seem unlikely seeing as the LL has broken the contract by illegally evicting you thereby depriving you of your use of the housing.

Re getting another place did the woman mention the following, or maybe you already know but in case you don’t :

“If you are in very urgent need, you can get an emergency payment. But you can only have one if you have sent us all the information we have asked for from you and your landlord.”

From tameside dot gov.uk/housingbenefit/rent

“Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are not payment of benefit.
DHPs are short-term emergency payments. You have no statutory right to receive a DHP as they are awarded at our discretion.

Who is eligible for a DHP?

Discretionary Housing Payments are available to claimants who:
are entitled to Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit (or both); and
appear to us to need some further financial assistance to meet housing costs.”

From bromley dot gov.uk

“Further help with housing costs

If your Housing Benefit does not cover all of your rent and you need more help, as long as you are entitled to some Housing Benefit (or Council Tax Benefit) you can ask the local authority for a discretionary housing payment. This is an extra payment (not Housing Benefit) which you can get if you need further financial assistance with your housing costs. It is up to the local authority whether to give you this help, so you should give them as much information as possible. If you want more information about discretionary housing payments, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau.”

From adviceguide dot org.uk

Hope this helps.

tbs624

Shelter 0808 800 4444

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Calls are free from UK landlines and main
mobile networks (Virgin, Orange, 3, T-mobile, Vodafone and O2).


Community Legal Advice 0845 345 4 345

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Calls cost 4p per min - they also have a call back service (link)


There is also a local Law Society in your town: they don't have a website but they will be in your local phone book. Ring them and ask them which local firms deal with LL&T/housing law, specifically illegal eviction & tenant harassment. Most solicitors will offer a free initial appointment, even for those who don't qualify for legal aid.


You may also want to find out who your local Councillor is: it is not acceptable for local HB advisers to fob you off when you have told them that your LL is harassing you. They should have a clear referral route.

Heelixx

tbs:~

I have got some wheels in motion from CLA who have confirmed me to be elegible for Legal Aid, they have put the case down as illegal eviction so far. I am currently waiting on a call back from the CLA Housing Specialist concerning the case.
I shall update this thread/post as the case progresses or changes.

I thought it only right that i should really be speaking with a solicitor about this case as CAB, ****** advice centre, HB etc have not refered me to speak with one to this date.

Heelixx

mostlycheerful:~

The problem I am facing about the removal of posessions is that I cannot afford storage & there are too many items to store at friends houses. I am currently trying to find out if the Council can put it into storage & at what costs could be charged for doing so. Will update about this as of when informations is available.

Your information provided about DHP's was very helpfull and will see if I can get the aid it is designed for. Thanks for the heads up

lynzpower

Your storage costs would be i expect a claimable expense in your case, Id expect as these cost incurred directly as a result of your illegal eviction. Ask your sol when you get one allocated.

IIRC big yellow charge the fees at the end ( ie when you are moving out) might be worth calling them to see

Take care x

mostlycheerful

Re storage perhaps look into renting a garage, that is if you’ve got a bit of money available. I heard of someone in Brighton renting garages for the amazingly cheap price of just £10/month (yes, per month, not per week) a few years ago. In London councils rent out garages for £40-70/month and although for their insurance purposes they’re mostly supposed to only be used to store a car or a boat some of them say that once you’ve got it it’s up to you what you do with it and they don’t often check if at all. Reasonably secure but, er, famous last words.

If you’re careful you could even probably get away with kipping in it as well for a while, if you want a break from staying on friends’ sofas until you get a new place – but, of course, you probably can’t open it from the inside so don’t get yourself locked in and then find that your mobile’s run out of battery or can’t get a signal as that could be curtains. Oops, what a way to go.

Perhaps for expensive electrical equipment could several friends take one or two or three items or boxes each for a while, just till you sort out your next place? Yeah bit of a pain having stuff scattered about everywhere and, of course, only use tried and tested reliable friends for this, not just any old new acquaintance.

Some people use a van to store lots of stuff but, of course, that’s not very secure and vans often get broken into and the whole van and contents stolen so probably only doable if you’ve also got somewhere secure to park it.

Perhaps scratch your name in several locations on all the electrical equipment and maybe also use a UV light pen as well so that at least there’s a chance of being able to definitively lay claim to it as yours if for some reason it does go astray.

Also, if you’ve got some very expensive stuff then it might be worth looking into installing miniature GPS trackers and or including one or two or three in with boxes of stuff and so if your stuff gets nicked then you’ll probably be able to get the coppers to go straight to where the thieves are and retrieve your stuff. An ignorant or slapdash thief may not even notice or recognise a tracker in with a box of other stuff. Some of the trackers also have an audio function so you can listen to what the thieves are saying and so, for instance, you can get an idea of when they’re around and when they’re leaving your stuff unattended and such like. A bit of an expense but mostly in the £20-100 price bracket so might be worth considering.

Yeah, I’m really sorry you’re having this experience, it’s totally unfair that it’s like this. But keep your pecker up and press on, you can get through this and in a while it’ll just be a bad memory and hopefully everything’ll be fine again.

lynzpower

Re storage perhaps look into renting a garage, that is if you’ve got a bit of money available. I heard of someone in Brighton renting garages for the amazingly cheap price of just £10/month (yes, per month, not per week) a few years ago. In London councils rent out garages for £40-70/month and although for their insurance purposes they’re mostly supposed to only be used to store a car or a boat some of them say that once you’ve got it it’s up to you what you do with it and they don’t often check if at all. Reasonably secure but, er, famous last words.

If you’re careful you could even probably get away with kipping in it as well for a while, if you want a break from staying on friends’ sofas until you get a new place – but, of course, you probably can’t open it from the inside so don’t get yourself locked in and then find that your mobile’s run out of battery or can’t get a signal as that could be curtains. Oops, what a way to go

No no no!

Dopnt you dare place your belongings at risk in a garage when legit storage is a claimable cost!
And no no no! Dont sleep in a garage! Book a reasonably nice hotel- again legit consequential expense!

( if you have the cash to spare in the st place though.... obviously)

mostlycheerful

oh, ok, sure, evidently you know more about this than I do. Yeah, as you say, if it's claimable costs then, yes, you don't have to do outlandish DIY stuff such as what I just suggested, yes, I stand corrected. Oops. Maybe I'm trying too hard and groping in the dark...

lynzpower

mostlycheerful wrote: »

oh, ok, sure, evidently you know more about this than I do. Yeah, as you say, if it's claimable costs then, yes, you don't have to do outlandish DIY stuff such as what I just suggested, yes, I stand corrected. Oops. Maybe I'm trying too hard and groping in the dark...

nah no probs I just these type of landlords need to understand the TRUE COST of their actions

mchale

lynzpower wrote: »

nah no probs I just these type of landlords need to understand the TRUE COST of their actions

And maybe tenants should agree to keep to their side of a agreement. it works both ways