Urgent - Notice of Eviction advice please

andyg_prs

Thanks - I did call them and get advice on Friday....good karma maybe, they are one of the charities I have been supporting for over 10 years....however I'm yet to find something definitive in law I can put in front of the magistrate. I just don't understand if the law is so clear on this how they have been able to serve the eviction notice without the 2 month notice period - or do you have to apply for it?

princeofpounds

You indeed have to ask for it. The court wouldn't even necessarily know a tenant existed.

franklee

andyg_prs wrote: »

Still looking to equip myself with printed material to take to hearing - probably Weds / Thurs next week - any ideas?

Did you look at the guidelines I mentioned in post #2?
Direct link:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/mortgagerepossessionguidance
Do look you will see the new act in there also.
Print it off and take it with you? It looks long at first glance but much of it is just forms, the guidance and act are about half the 45 pages.

theartfullodger

andyg_prs wrote: »

Thanks - I did call them and get advice on Friday....good karma maybe, they are one of the charities I have been supporting for over 10 years....however I'm yet to find something definitive in law I can put in front of the magistrate. I just don't understand if the law is so clear on this how they have been able to serve the eviction notice without the 2 month notice period - or do you have to apply for it?

See..
https://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/pdf/1729687.pdf


Mortgage Repossessions (Protection of Tenants etc) Act 2010

full text at..

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/19/contents

Section 1,4 etc...

(4)The court may, on the application of the tenant (“the applicant”), stay or suspend execution of the order for a period not exceeding two months if—
(a)the court did not exercise its powers under subsection (2) when making the order or, if it did, the applicant was not the tenant when it exercised those powers,
(b)the applicant has asked the mortgagee to give an undertaking in writing not to enforce the order for two months beginning with the date the undertaking is given, and
(c)the mortgagee has not given such an undertaking.

Hope it works out...

It is (just) possible lender & court were unaware of your situation when the order was first given. I'd take that (polite..) line & crave the court to grant 2 months in your circumstances (small kids, ailing grannie, sick partner, whatever you can add..). Make sure you have ALL the relevant paperwork (Tenancy etc) and copies for you, judge & the evil-lender's-solicitor. Making things easier by being polite, clear, helpful & organised for the court may help your case.

If you can find the lender's solicitor before the hearing and discuss with him (if you feel competent..) and explain things & try & get him on your side??

Cheers & Good luck!!

Artful

neverdespairgirl

jamie11 wrote: »

It sounds as if the lenders have already foreclosed on the mortgage and are relying on a S8 ground 2.

OP can you investigate that aspect, if they have foreclosed then your rent should not be going to the landlord.

Try to speak directly to the lender's legal department.

Repossession, repossession, repossession. This isn't America.

clutton_2

i am so sorry you are in this position.... i would take a doctors letter re your disabled child - this may sway the judge in the county court so that he can then give you the maximum time the law allows him to

i would take bank statements with you also to prove rent paid every month; i would take the tenancy agreement with you; i would take a friend "A McKenzies friend" for moral support.

I would also go to the council immediately on Monday and tell them you are likely to be made homeless very soon - take the same paperwork as above to the council to prove that you have not made yourself "voluntarily homeless" by not paying the rent. They will tell you to come back, but your claim will have been lodged.....

dcems

Your local council will be encouraging you to do what you have done already-complete a N244 form with copy of tenancy agreement and payments made.

a client of mine was in the same position. when she went to the hearing her landlord was also there having paid the arrears and also put his own defense form into the court. the judge cancelled the warrant based on the landlord's defence. He told my client that he could give her 2 months in the property but he would expect her to take over her landlords mortgage payments whilst she resided in there. As with anything, nothing is guaranteed. i hope your landlord is also going to any hearing set-its not enough for him to just pay off any arrears.
If it doesnt go in your favour then please return to your local council for hosuing assistance as you have priority need with the children

good luck

andyg_prs

Thanks everyone - I'll take time to digest this all in the morning.... I have tried speaking with the Lender's Solictor - I have a feeling they may just not turn up... My Landlord hasn't cleared all of the arrears as far as I know so I see little point in him attending Court with us. I may take the medical info about my Son's chromosomal disorder to Court with me, not sure if there is time to get anything more from the doctor - but I can give the name of his (special) school - which probably explains it enough.

Cheers guys

andyg_prs

Hi, sorry for the delay, I'll try and summarise as there is so much detail.

Went to court 6 July, a contract solicitor had been appointed on behalf of the original solicitors (TLT) probably as not much notice had been given to get someone to court. The contract solicitor said he'd spoken with the judge and his client was prepared to give 2 months' notice from that day. I said I thought it had to run from the rent period (26th July) - he said not.

In court the judge asked for a recap. Then the solicitor and the judge had a discussion about whether the 1988 (?) or 2010 housing acts were relevant and appeared to be looking up details online - not very confidence inspiring. I explained that I thought that my tenancy was binding on the lender...and so once possession passed to them they were effectively my landlords. The solicitor seemed to be talking about other things so I repeated this a few times and the solicitor got irritated. To his credit when the judge started talking about non-approved tenancies the solictor said that TLT agreed the tenancy was approved.

The long and short is that the judge asked if the lender had given us 2 months' notice under section 21 of the housing act. I said no and he said that the eviction order should be stayed until that order was served and then an order for possession could only be applied for if we didn't comply. The notice had to be served from the rent period (so the solicitor was wrong) so we had until at least 26 September to find somewhere as our next rent was due 26 July.

The solicitor also said at some point in June the possession order had crystallised, and that the landlord no longer owned the house and we should pay the lender direct to which we agreed.

My partner and I looked for a new house to rent, didn't find one and went away on our holiday as planned 11-18th. We fully expected to find the section 21 waiting for us on our return - but no.

Today we went to see a house on our estate. It's not as nice as ours and it's more expensive....we need to decide today if we want to secure it to rent.

So, I went on a merry chase of trying to contact TLT, the Lender and the landlord etc to understand the current situation.

After lots of to and fro (there were loads of calls where TLT wouldn't speak to us, call the Lender, the Lender wouldn't speak to us - I said to the Lender can you call TLT and give them permission to speak to us etc etc etc)...we found out the following which doesn't quite add up...

The Lender says they don't have possession and that we shouldn't pay them but the landlord. The Lender said that TLT still hadn't received the report from the contract solicitor and therefore couldn't comment on the 'crystallisation of possession' or the statement that we should pay them rather than the landlord!

If I was that slack I wouldn't have a job by the way!

The Lender said they had appointed Touchstone as a receiver under the law of property act 1925 and that we could talk with them.

I called Touchstone and they said they hadn't been appointed but had been asked to recommend whether or not they are appointed receiver. That could take 4 weeks. I'm not sure what happens if they recommend not being appointed or why they would do that?

It seems if they are appointed then they might recommend we continue as tenants or they might recommend selling the property.

I can't really afford to move just now and am wondering on whether I should just stay put for the moment and see what happens.

I've also phoned the landlord saying I've been instructed to pay the lender direct (which I thought was accurate at the time) but he hasn't called back.

The law / process seems very unclear and it feels like everyone but us is being very disorganised and unprofessional.

Can't decide what to do next, it might be a case of 'damned if you do damned if you don't'.

If we elect to move we incur quite a lot of cost, loads of hassle and end up in a place that isn't as good as now.

If we stay put, we might end up having to move in 3 months (or less if someone has said something inaccurate and we do get a section 21 before the 26th July), and we might end up with an even more expensive / less appropriate property.

What a pain!

Sorry for going on...but any ideas / comments on the info above would be gratefully received.

Thanks,
Andy

BitterAndTwisted

You haven't received a S21 Notice yet, so I'd be inclined to sit tight and look for another suitable property at your leisure rather than rushing to take this current one. I'd also be inclined to not pay anyone any rent on the 26th (but to tuck it away somewhere safe) until you are clear about to whom you should be paying it.