What is classed as financial hardship for S21 eviction?

1981trouble

I am anticipating filing the court forms following a S21 form next week. Tenant so far has tried to play every card they can to get out of moving out/causing delays but somehow we have managed to cover every aspect they have argued so far (not receiving it, rent arrears etc).

We are issuing S21 based on end of AST (and are moving back in ourselves) - there are rent arrears but thats a separate issue, priority is regaining posession.

So, we do the N5b court forms and I then need to go for accelerated possession after this - from the plethora of information everywhere I believe the tenant could then claim financial hardship and delay it up to 42 days on top of the usual court times taken to process everything.

However, I cannot find any examples of what would be classed as hardship (they are on hb and benefits). Has anyone seen/heard of any anywhere to give me an idea of whether they will be able to?

If there any scope for me to challenge their arguments (they made a written offer in January of increased rent to clear arrears but never stuck to it and also made a verbal offer of an extra £50 a week once S21 was issued so they believe they have £50 a week spare, although they never paid it!) and is there any scope to claim hardship/distress ourselves - we have school places we need to arrange for september etc which could be affected by the named home address? I want to keep the claim and form as simple as possible but I don't want them to appeal and us not get the chance to challenge their appeal if that makes sense. Also will the judge ignore aspects of the tenants appeal if it is not relevant to the claim such as rent arrears?

Thanks in advance

pmlindyloo

Sorry, I do not know anything about tenants claiming financial hardship when going through the eviction notice.

Have you tried googling it from the aspect of the tenant?

Sorry, only thing I can think of.

You could give Shelter a call.

Anyway, am 'bumping' this up in case anyone can help.

The posts soon disappear off the first page so you might want to keep 'bumping it up'.

N79

1981trouble wrote: »

I am anticipating filing the court forms following a S21 form next week. Tenant so far has tried to play every card they can to get out of moving out/causing delays but somehow we have managed to cover every aspect they have argued so far (not receiving it, rent arrears etc).

We are issuing S21 based on end of AST (and are moving back in ourselves) - there are rent arrears but thats a separate issue, priority is regaining posession.

So make sure you keep the forms clear and don't refer to the extraneous material (rent arrears, your plans etc). This is a simple no fault (ie no need for reasons or emotions) claim.

1981trouble wrote: »

So, we do the N5b court forms and I then need to go for accelerated possession after this - from the plethora of information everywhere I believe the tenant could then claim financial hardship and delay it up to 42 days on top of the usual court times taken to process everything.

However, I cannot find any examples of what would be classed as hardship (they are on hb and benefits). Has anyone seen/heard of any anywhere to give me an idea of whether they will be able to?

Normal possession order is 14 days. Any half believable sob story will extend this to 28 days. Longer extensions require a good and evidenced reason - eg a property ready for occupation on day 34 or real hardship such as the need to adapt the new property for a disabled child. The key point is that up to 28 days the threshold is low. Above it is high.

1981trouble wrote: »

If there any scope for me to challenge their arguments

There is, but don't do it. Anyone can get a 28 day order so the difference between the "norm" and the maximum is only a couple of weeks. If you challenge their arguments then the case will drop of the accelerated possession track (a purely paperwork based system) and there will be a hearing. Courts are busy so it could take months to get a date. By arguing over a few days extra you could delay your claim for months.

1981trouble wrote: »

(they made a written offer in January of increased rent to clear arrears but never stuck to it and also made a verbal offer of an extra £50 a week once S21 was issued so they believe they have £50 a week spare, although they never paid it!) and is there any scope to claim hardship/distress ourselves - we have school places we need to arrange for september etc which could be affected by the named home address? I want to keep the claim and form as simple as possible but I don't want them to appeal and us not get the chance to challenge their appeal if that makes sense. Also will the judge ignore aspects of the tenants appeal if it is not relevant to the claim such as rent arrears?

This is all irrelevant. See my above comment about sticking to the point - judges hate wading through pages of pointless waffle - it just delays things.

Make sure you include a copy of the tenancy agreement signed by the Ts, your Section 21 notice, proof of service and proof that the Ts' deposit is protect with your claim

1981trouble

Thanks, so it's just a hope that the judge isn't soft and restricts them to 28 days max.

This also answers my next thoughts - where the form asks if the tenant appeals do I want a hearing, the answer is still no then. My concern here is that the tenant will mention arrears and muddy the waters but I guess if the claimant isn't mentioning arrears then the judge will ignore the tenants reference to that.

Am off now to cross everything that they actually move out and this is all not required!

franklee

Do you mean exceptional hardship? That's not necessarily about money but it does, at the discretion of the judge, take the tenant's situation into account. Examples here:

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?35706-Exceptional-Hardship-defence-in-Section-21-court-proceedings

And here:

http://www.housingrepossessions.co.uk/defending-rent-possession-case.html

"Some possible examples of exceptional hardship may be a tenant who has a sick or disabled child, or one who has just had an operation or given birth. There is no strict legal definition of the term so it is always worth arguing this before a judge."