Tenant on Housing Benefit

Hump

No one is going to arrest you if you go round - 99% of Police (a broad but sadly true generalisation) think it's a civil matter and most were born well after the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. If you change the locks then the council (who bring virtually all prosecutions under the PfEA 77) will only be bothered if you don't re-admit her if she tries to argue that she is still living there. Your defence is that you had a reasonably held belief that she had gone i.e. no bed/ bedding, no food in kitchen, no TV, no clothes. If she 'lawyers up' and tries a civil s27 (Housing Act 1988) claim then you have lots of 'mitigation' which would likely reduce any financial penalty (the judge would likely off set the arrears) and it would only get to court again if you refused to 're-admit' her immediately.

Few councils will bring PfEA 77 prosecutions - few tenants bring s27 claims if they already have somewhere else to go (they will likely struggle to get a legal costs funding certificate because they're not homeless if they already have another house sorted) - OK so this last bit is my opinion. I do, however, agree with other posts - I wouldn't reckon on the Police or the Housing Dept doing anything to help or assist your cause.

BitterAndTwisted

You're not getting paranoid about her, you are very sensibly being extremely wary. For all you know she could be one of those "professional tenants" who has form. Lots of form. And consequently very used to running rings around agents and landlords from years of experience.

BitterAndTwisted

Hump wrote: »

No one is going to arrest you if you go round - 99% of Police (a broad but sadly true generalisation) think it's a civil matter and most were born well after the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. If you change the locks then the council (who bring virtually all prosecutions under the PfEA 77) will only be bothered if you don't re-admit her if she tries to argue that she is still living there. Your defence is that you had a reasonably held belief that she had gone i.e. no bed/ bedding, no food in kitchen, no TV, no clothes. If she 'lawyers up' and tries a civil s27 (Housing Act 1988) claim then you have lots of 'mitigation' which would likely reduce any financial penalty (the judge would likely off set the arrears) and it would only get to court again if you refused to 're-admit' her immediately.

Few councils will bring PfEA 77 prosecutions - few tenants bring s27 claims if they already have somewhere else to go (they will likely struggle to get a legal costs funding certificate because they're not homeless if they already have another house sorted) - OK so this last bit is my opinion. I do, however, agree with other posts - I wouldn't reckon on the Police or the Housing Dept doing anything to help or assist your cause.

NO! Too risky. People like this tenant can often be very well-versed in any of the laws and regulations which they are used to breaking with impunity. Housing Law Advice Centres and whatnot are not thin on the ground if you have need of them and know where to look. Five minutes with Google at the library could probably turn up enough info

clutton_2

ask the local council council tax office if she still has a liability for council tax at your property. They HAVE to tell you that, because if she doesn't, ie if she has moved out, then you will have the liability and the council cannot refuse to tell you if you have a liability or not. Make a note of the person you spoke to and confirm this conversation in writing afterwards.

If she is no longer liable, and is, therefore, liable elsewhere, then if it were me, and if the house truly were empty, i would assume that she has surrendered the tenancy. I would get a witness statement from a neighbour to say they saw h er moving out, i would take dated photographs of the empty property, and then take a risk, change the locks, put a Notice inside the window saying that anyone who requires legal access to the property should call this number.....

You do not have to have anything in writing to prove a tenancy has surrendered, but you should amass as much evidence as possible, just in case the tenant takes you to court.. photos witness statements, police incident numbers, phone calls to the council etc etc But it is soooo unlikely this will happen. Tenants who are professionally abusers, use the court system to stay in a property to prevent eviction, and to drag it out as long as is humanly possible. Once they appear to have left it is much harder for a tenant to prove their case.. especially if there is no furniture or possessions inside when you take possession. Do take someone with you as a witness.

then get on and clean it up and re let it... leave your revenge for another day... you will find that the anger you feel now will dissipate and you can move on and leave this behind you.

B&T - tenants who owe rent are not likely to come back to reclaim occupation... as their debt continues to rack up and a judge would not take kindly to this untenant-like behaviour.

Hump

Risky - yes, but you would do the following:

1. Tenancy Relations Officer calls up to ask whether you are the landlord of such and such a property, establishes that you have changed the lock - you say you had a reasonably held belief that the tenant had gone and that you will immediately give the 'tenant' the new key - outcome - no prosecution (PfEA 77).
2. Solicitor sends a pre-court letter accusing you of depriving their client of their home - you respond immediately by fax/e-mail saying that you had a reasonably held belief that the tenant had gone and that you will immediately give the 'tenant' the new key - outcome - little chance of a case if publicly funded - still risk of a court case (s27 Housing Act 1988) if privately funded.

skintsue

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

NO! Too risky. People like this tenant can often be very well-versed in any of the laws and regulations which they are used to breaking with impunity.

This what I suspected. She probably thought I'd be a soft touch with being totally inexperienced and her the single mum with all those kids.

She probably didn't expect me to find out so soon about the Identity Theft and stuff being ordered from the catalogue in my name quite so quickly.
She may have got a LCD HD mega sized TV out of it, but she has left with a Criminal Record on file, which is why I wonder how she got anyone else to take her on.
UNLESS the current LA is using the fact that she is in one of their managed houses already to persuade the new LL that they don't need to go to the expence of a new reference, and that's how they are getting away with it.

Hump

Goes without saying that my 2 posts above only have merit if you have a reasonably held belief that she's gone i.e. her stuff is gone and all that remains is rubbish (broken furniture/ bin liners of trash etc)

clutton_2

Sue - focus on your own business right now, forget about what she is doing, concentrate on getting some income back for your own family.. she, and the letting agent, can wait.....

skintsue

My problem at the moment is that with 2 months rent missing and, by the sound of it, a lot of cleaning, if not replacing to do I'm a bit strapped for cash to get the house in a condition to make it attractive to rent or sell.
I might be hitting e-bay to sell stuff I can do without, find some bargain replacement stuff to put in, and hammer FREECYCLE for as much as I can get that's being given away.

I will not look as this a problem, but a way of finding out what I am capable of doing in the face of adversity.

How pompous and pseudo-pyschobabblish does that sound?

BitterAndTwisted

She might slip through your fingers Sue but if the rozzers are interested in that identity theft stuff her goose may finally be cooked. I do hope so. Still, that will only end up with no rent for you and her kids in care.

I like all this "reasonably held belief" stuff that Humpy is talking about. Sounds quite fair and reasonable on the face of it, doesn't it?