Really Struggling - Advice Welcome (quite Urgent)

Adb30

Hey all,

I'm new on here but I have viewed this forum many a time for other issues and had really good advice, however I can't seem to find any posts detailing something similar to my situation so if anyone on here can offer any advice that'd be greatly welcome.

So, here's the story.

Last year I was a student in Leicester studying Physics, I was ill during my resits and unfortunately failed them because of that, I was given a year out for exceptional circumstances (they won't let you progress through to the subsequent year without passing the previous year) and made a Student without residence which meant I took my exams a couple of weeks ago. However having previously signed a contract under the thoughts I would be studying here and getting student finance I opted to stay as we could find no one to replace me in the house at such short notice (and I didn't fancy leaving my friends in the dirt with regards to rent). It's a group contract so thus we pay the full amount (just under £5000 between 6 of us) due quarterly.

Since September I worked up until February in a temporary full time vancancy, that along with a small bit of savings meant I could pay my rent for the first two "semesters", also known as quarterly payments. The last, which was due in April I haven't been as fortunate with. Thought they're lenient up until mid May with it being student acommodation and loans don't come through until 6th May time.

My family aren't well off by any means and don't have the finances to help me out, and it was only in April I realized I was elegible for housing benefit too (I knew it existed, but I wasn't 100% sure on who was entitled. I remember thinking it was over 25's only, I'm 22) I have since applied for that and I'm now just waiting on my first payment of £450 next week. I did try getting it backdated to February when I left my job, but for whatever reason that was denied (I have since written to them asking for their reasons, yet no response).

My Landlord (well, a man from the Letting Agency I guess) came around just short of 2 weeks ago demanding the rent. I had already explained to them when asking for a letter that it might be a bit late depending on when the Housing Benefit came through, and he was already threatening with court procedures there and then on my doorstep.

Saturday morning I received the letter from Housing Benefit saying the first payment would arrive on the 17th but they were closed so I couldn't talk to them about it and today my Landlord came again. This time he got me and 3 of my housemates who were in to all come down and talk in the hallway and told me if I didn't have the money by 4pm tomorrow he would be taking us all to court (one of our other housemates hadn't paid either, but he stayed at home after easter and just forgot, he's transferring his rent over tomorrow morning). Currently I'm incredibly worried but the second time he came round today was at about 4.30 so I've had very little time to do anything or have any chance of getting any money together what so ever. The entire group will be taken to court if I can't do it, and I feel awful for not being able to pay my share of the rent even though I've been trying.

Any advice on what to do in this situation would be gratefully received.

tbs624

To pursue you all to court for eviction over unpaid rent, the LL would use S8 of the Housing Act 1988- Ground 8 ( which is a mandatory ground) and possibly G10 and 11 ( which are discretionaries)

There has to have been a specific amount of rent unpaid/in arrears both at the time of the LLs application to court and at the time of any court hearing.

See this:

Ground 8
Both at the date of the service of the notice under section 8 of this Act relating to the proceedings for possession and at the date of the hearing—

(a)if rent is payable weekly or fortnightly, at least [F9eight weeks’] rent is unpaid;
(b)if rent is payable monthly, at least [F10two months’] rent is unpaid;
(c)if rent is payable quarterly, at least one quarter’s rent is more than three months in arrears; and
(d)if rent is payable yearly, at least three months’ rent is more than three months in arrears;

and for the purpose of this ground “rent” means rent lawfully due from the tenant.

Does your tenancy agreement stipulate that the rent is paid "quarterly" or are you paying x3 amounts tied in with student loan receipt?

If all the other occupants are fully paid up, you should be under the level at which the LL can try to go for repossession.

Can you write a letter to the LL, formally requesting a Rent Statement and confirming the date on which your LHA/HB is due to be paid to you and that you will immediately pay what you owe? Keep a copy of all letters.

Did you give consent for the LHA/GB officer to discuss your benefit claim with the LL? You don't have to but it can help if a LL thinks you are giving him/her the runaround.

Have you told the LHA/HB officer that your tenancy is at risk? If not, do so in writing.

With most LLs what gets to them is when Ts do not keep them informed. If you know that you can't pay the rent on time/in full then as a T you should discuss it with the LL at the earliest possible opportunity.

One of the others simply "forgetting" to pay his rent and leaving it to the LL to chase you all up is a sign of immaturity IMO

Something that you don't mention is Council Tax - you'll be aware that as a FT student you can obtain an exemption but as your Uni registration is effectively suspended for this academic year this is likely to mean that you will trigger a CT liability. Check out CT benefits if you haven't already. If Ts are responsible for paying the CT and there is one non-student then the bill would be the fulll amount but with a single occupancy discount, as the others would remain exempt ( provided they completed the appropriate forms)

Is the property a licensed HMO ( House in Multiple Occupation)?

Edit : welcome as a newbie poster btw

Fiddlestick

Tell them they will get it on the 17th and it's out of your hands.

Harsh, but it would take them less time to wait until then than it would to get legal proceedings properly under way.

tbs624

Fiddlestick there are ways of doing things - being that abrupt is likely to pi** off a LL who is entitled to expect his/her rent to be paid on time and in full.

Adb30

tbs624 wrote: »

To pursue you all to court for eviction over unpaid rent, the LL would use S8 of the Housing Act - ground 8 ( which is a mandatory ground) and possibly G10 and 11 ( which are discretionaries)

There has to have been a specific amount of rent unpaid/in arrears both at the time of the LLs apllication to court and at the time of any hearing.

See this:

Ground 8
Both at the date of the service of the notice under section 8 of this Act relating to the proceedings for possession and at the date of the hearing—

(a)if rent is payable weekly or fortnightly, at least [F9eight weeks’] rent is unpaid;
(b)if rent is payable monthly, at least [F10two months’] rent is unpaid;
(c)if rent is payable quarterly, at least one quarter’s rent is more than three months in arrears; and
(d)if rent is payable yearly, at least three months’ rent is more than three months in arrears;

and for the purpose of this ground “rent” means rent lawfully due from the tenant.

Does your tenancy agreement stipulate that the rent is paid "quarterly" or are you paying x3 amounts tied in with student loan receipt?

If all the other occupants are paid up, you should be under the level at which the LL can try to go for repossession.

Can you write a letter to the LL, formally requesting a rent statement and confirming the date on which your LHA/HB is due to be paid to you and that you will immediately pay what you owe?

Did you give consent for the LHA/GB officer to discuss your benefit claim with the LL? You don't have to but it can help if a LL thinks you are giving him/her the runaround.

Have you told the LHA/HB officer that your tenancy is at risk? If not, do so in writing.

With most LLs what gets to them is when Ts do not keep them informed. If youkow that you can't pay the rent on time/in full then as a T you should discuss it with the LL at the earliest possible opportunity.
One of the others "forgetting" to pay his rent and leaving it to the LL to chase you all up is a sign of immaturity IMO

Something that you don't mention is Council Tax - you'll be aware that as a FT student you can obtain an exemption but as your Uni registration is effectively suspended for this academic year this is likely to mean that you will trigger a CT liability. Check out CT benefits if you haven't already.

Is the property a licensed HMO ( House in Multiple Occupation)?

Thank you very much for your response. I shall go through the questions from top to bottom.

We are paying the rent Quarterly as stated in the tenancy agreement for the full year (half rent over months of July and August).

As the letting agency is around the corner I am sure I could go round and officially ask them for the contents. However they're not going for eviction, they're trying to get us all with CCJ's. I should have made that clearer in the original post for which I apologize. As the tenancy on this house finishes at end of July eviction would be needless, though we are hoping to stay with the letting agency for next year (and have already signed a tenancy agreement for a new property with them, though they're threatening now also that I won't be allowed to move in there even though I'll be a student again and guaranteed money)

When the LA came round earlier I told him I had proof in the kitchen of when the HB would be paid, though he said it doesn't matter to him any more as it's already too late.

My HB officer has consent to talk to the LA, however with them coming round so late on in the day trying to ring then was too late tonight.

I informed the LA at the soonest possible date I could that I would be late which was when I arrived back here mid April. I had thought my Grandparents/Mum may have been able to help me out (sub me the money until I could pay them back) but unfortunately this wasn't the case. With the immaturity thing I would agree, but he hasn't technically been living with us all year but he has been paying. We reminded him early May that he needed to transfer it across, and every other time he had done instantly. I just think it was a slip of the mind.

I paid my CT up until February and then I fell behind, I'm now paying £25 a month on the money owed and with the HB claim I had a certain amount (can't remember the exact number) paid into my council tax account.

We did check the licensing on HMO I believe. There was a problem in March where the Landlords bank was close to reposessing the house. With this when we dug a little deeper we thought it might not be properly licensed. I'm 75% certain we got confirmation from our Letting Agency that it was properly licensed, but no one else is awake currently that I can ask (as you can guess, I'm stressing a lot and sleep won't come right now).

Once again, many thanks for your response.

tbs624

Adb30 wrote: »

We are paying the rent Quarterly as stated in the tenancy agreement for the full year (half rent over months of July and August).

As the letting agency is around the corner I am sure I could go round and officially ask them for the contents.

Sorry not clear here - are you saying that you haven't got a copy of the tenancy agreement?

Adb30 wrote: »

However they're not going for eviction, they're trying to get us all with CCJ's. I should have made that clearer in the original post for which I apologize

No probs - when people are stressed its not always easy to get everything relevant out in the initial post.

If they haven't even applied to the court yet, by the time they get a date your benefits payment will have been made and you should all be up to date. Even if it did reach court, you would only end up with a CCJ if you had been ordered to pay £xxx by y date and failed to do so.

Don't let the LAs scare you witless - anyone can set themselves up in business as an LA, with no training, qualifications or specific expertise. If visits/phone calls from them edge into harassment then make use of the local Council's private sector Tenancy Relations Officer who can liaise on your behalf..

When the LA came round earlier I told him I had proof in the kitchen of when the HB would be paid, though he said it doesn't matter to him any more as it's already too late.

My HB officer has consent to talk to the LA, however with them coming round so late on in the day trying to ring then was too late tonight.

Take a letter in too the LAs office tomorrow ( get the name of whoever you hand it to at the LA) Keep it polite. In th eletter ask for the rent statement for the full tenancy and confirm that you offered to show them the letter from the LHA/HB officer: state the date they have said that they will pay you and confirm again that you will pay the unpaid rent up to date.

We did check the licensing on HMO I believe. There was a problem in March where the Landlords bank was close to reposessing the house. With this when we dug a little deeper we thought it might not be properly licensed. I'm 75% certain we got confirmation from our Letting Agency that it was properly licensed, but no one else is awake currently that I can ask (as you can guess, I'm stressing a lot and sleep won't come right now).

If the bank was close to repossession of the property you can understand why the LL will be getting pushy about the overdue rent - all LLs need to have a contingency fund but some fail to manage to keep one going.

On the HMO issue don't simply take an LA's word on anything. Check at the Council - its quite straightforward to do so. The reason I asked was because if the property should have been licensed and isn't, Ts can apply to have their rent repaid.

If you paid a tenancy deposit, has it been scheme registered and have you been given the scheme's prescribed information? If you are not sure check at each of the 3 schemes - TDS, mydeposits and DPS.

Adb30

Thanks again. I have a tenancy agreement on me, sorry for that. English isn't my strong suit, as mentioned I work with numbers a lot more than words!

I'm unsure on how the CCJ works, I understand what it is but not on how the court works it. Apparently we would be getting court fee's tied on top of the rent that's due? Also he mentioned that if it goes to court he's not allowed to accept payment off me from that date as it's the courts job to do that. (So as he would send the paperwork off tomorrow, he won't be able to accept any payment from that date)

Thank you for the advice with the Renting Liasions officer, I believe it's been touching on harassment. My housemates and I did feel rather intimidated with him coming in. What happens is the LA have paid the LL already, so that won't be a reason they're pushy about it. It's money out their pocket I believe, and I can understand why they're frustrated too.

We heard that from someone when we had the problem with repossession earlier (fearing we might not have a house to live in we checked a lot) so I will go about checking that out too. Would I have been able to receive HB if the house was not though? Not sure if they would check that or not.

It's a mydeposits scheme as we have the paperwork for it.

tbs624

Adb30 wrote: »

I'm unsure on how the CCJ works, I understand what it is but not on how the court works it. Apparently we would be getting court fee's tied on top of the rent that's due? Also he mentioned that if it goes to court he's not allowed to accept payment off me from that date as it's the courts job to do that. (So as he would send the paperwork off tomorrow, he won't be able to accept any payment from that date)

If you can pay up what you owe prior to a hearing you pay the claimant direct, but obviously you must get a full receipt or be able to show a bank transfer. A hearing can be cancelled up to 7 days before the hearing date and fees are reimbursed IIRC.

What happens is the LA have paid the LL already, so that won't be a reason they're pushy about it. It's money out their pocket I believe, and I can understand why they're frustrated too.

Your LA seems to be muddying the waters - your contract is with the LL and it would be the LL who takes the issue to court.

tbs624

You may find it useful to have a look over on some of the other boards too - the Debt Free Wannabe one in particular

Adb30

Maybe I'm getting confused. The Landlord is the owner of the house correct and LA the company who deal with the paperwork etc? I don't believe I've ever met our LL.

And thanks for the advice about the CCJ, that's a little weight off my shoulders as I should be able to get it soon. How long does it take for it all to be processed and taken to court usually? Or is there no real time frame for it?

princeofpounds

Hi ADB. The advice you have been getting from the others is sound.

Yes, the landlord is almost always the owner of the property and is the person you are named as having a contract with (that is not the same thing as the person who signed the contract, their agent can do it on their behalf).

The agent is merely his representative and whilst he may act for the landlord, you do not have any direct contractual relationship with them.

It is very unlikely that the agent has indeed paid the landlord ahead of receiving rent from you, unless they operate some kind of rent guarantee scheme to attract landlords. This is probably more bluster, but it doesn't really matter because this is not your problem. Making sure you pay the rent ASAP is all you need to worry about.

As stated above, a CCJ is avoidable if you pay either before the court date or within a very short time of the judgment being received. So if you get your resources together within a week you are not going to get a CCJ and will probably not have to pay court fees either given that it will likely take much longer than that to get a hearing. At a guess, I'd suggest something like 4-6 weeks would be more normal for a hearing, but it can be very variable. You will receive a letter from the court telling you when a hearing has been booked.

How has the agent been getting in? They should not be letting themselves in without permission if you all rent the entire house. If you all rent rooms individually (and it doens't sound like it) then they can enter the common parts. If this bothers you, you can change the lock barrel (return the original on departing) to ensure your security.