rented house, n bailiffs

lyndsay1986 · 30 November 2010 at 6:56PM

we have had a similar problem.

We was paying landlord rent but he was not paying the mortgage .

We recieved a letter addressed to the occupier so i opened it and it was a letter from the mortgage company telling us that he had defaulted and there was a court date set to repossess the house .

i went to my local council straight away with that letter and they sent me to the homeless team .

I was then told to stay put for the time being as he could turn up in court and maybe come to an arrangement . Court case came and went another letter giving a date we had to be out by...he didnt even turn up to the court .

went straight back to council and she informed me that she couldn't do anything for me untill the day before the day we had t be out !
We had to stay in a b&b for a week or so think we would have been there longer but my parents got a loan for a deposit on a house for us . but they was so helpful and put our things into storage while we stayed in the b&b.

hope that helps
xx

lushy20 · 30 November 2010 at 9:46PM

princeofpounds wrote: »

Opening the mail is only illegal if you do it with an intention for it to be to someone's detriment. So don't worry about that.

But you don't really need to open it unless it is also addressed to the occupant. Return to sender.

As stated, bailiffs will not be interested if you explain that you are a tenant. You do not have to give them any further info. Keep a copy of your tenancy agreement as suggested near the door. They cannot break in, but just to be doubly safe you should never let them in to discuss matters (as they only gain powers of re-entry once let in in the first place). Ask them to move away from the door if they turn up so you can exit and close it behind you to discuss matters. If they do bother you any more than that, call the police, but you will probably find that very few actually turn up, and most bailiffs are relatively polite if you can demonstrate you are not the person they are looking for as they don't want to waste their own time.

If the house becomes the subject of repossession proceedings, the court will communicate with the occupant. These normally take a couple of months to come through and another month or two to be enforced, so you should be fine - just don't sign another fixed-term contract.

oh yes, and make sure your deposit is protected! If not, use it to pay your last month's rent rather than trying to claim it back from a bankrupt as you will not get it back.

if the deposit is not protected you can take it to a small claims court. it is illegal for the landlord not to protect your bond. you can claim 3X the amount you paid.