how long to get court possession order?

rock_queen

deposit was dealt with correctly and in a scheme before this all happened

BitterAndTwisted

Then your Section 21 Notice will succeed when you go to court to enforce it.

In the meantime I would get in touch with the Local Authority's Benefits Section and see if you can find out whether they have successfully claimed Local Housing Allowance and see if you can have it paid over to you from now on, regardless of how soon they are to leave, and follow that up with a call to their Homelessness Section and tell them that your tenants are in serious rent-arrears and are about to be evicted for that reason. That could scupper their plans for being offered LA housing, they don't take kindly to people bringing about their own impending "voluntary homelessness" by not paying their rent.

tbs624

rock_queen wrote: »

your right bitter and twisted they have only paid one months worth of rent (aug) the whole time aside from the advance at the beginning (Jul). From sept to nov they were pretty much AWOL, not answering calls, letters etc except for mid Nov when they complained the boiler wasn't working properly. It was then that they started with the excuses as to why they hadn't paid, changed jobs etc not been paid yet the excuses were endless. asked if we could change the date they paid etc. They already had arrears mounting up by then. when no rent showed up by end of nov we started the process. they haven't been answering calls or returning them or acknowledging letters (except when notice was given) until the agent went round the house the day after they should've been out and found them still there.

Several posters have already mentioned that service of a Notice from you does not mean that the T has to simply move out by x date - the date is one *after* which you will be able to apply to the court for a possession order.

Did your LA give the Ts a formal Rent Statement at any point?

Your LA sounds pretty poor. Anyone can set themselves up in business as an LA - no quals, training or qualifications required. Once you have regained possession of your property you may want to trawl through the agreement you have with this LA and find a different one if you intend to relet.

tbs624

Note that if a LL obtains direct payment of LHA (as B&T suggests) and the T is subsequently found to have made a fraudulent claim then the LHA office will seek to reclaim the money direct from the LL.

GDB2222

Is that still teh case for direct payment?

rock_queen

so i can now apply to the court, but how long to get a court date? I read somewhere it could be anything upwards of 3 months to get possession.

The tenants have been sent rent statements.

I'm not planning on reletting after this.

G_M

rock_queen wrote: »

so i can now apply to the court, but how long to get a court date? I read somewhere it could be anything upwards of 3 months to get possession.


I'm not planning on reletting after this.

As has been said before, it depends how busy the courts are in your area.

Bear in mind that being granted a possession order does not mean the tenants will move out - esp if their application to be re-housed by the LA has been unsuccessful.

You then have to apply for bailiffs. Again, the time delay for this depends on local circumstances.

Yes, 2 - 3 months...

BitterAndTwisted

Another two to three months of possibly rent-free accommodation. Probably in order to save up their one month's rent in advance and one month's rent as deposit for the next landlord they are going to swindle. I would be asking for sight of the letting-agent's records, most especially their references. If you are to try and enforce payment of the rent-arrears you are going to need to find out where they work and where they have moved to in order to serve them with the summons. A nasty CCJ on their credit-record for non-court enforced payment will totally scupper any plans they may have to find a landlord in future. Plus, of course, a whole host of other most unfavourable impediments.