Council housing eviction

DinkyLink_2

Yeah, it sounded fishy to me too.

I've told him to get his backside down the council on monday and then go give his work a rollicking for putting wrong info on the form. There's only 5 people in the company, it can't be that hard!

Thanks all for your advice!

CKhalvashi

Councils will help at all opportunity to keep a tenant in their property in most circumstances. If this is the case, it will be notice of arrears.

Otherwise, see above.

CK

t0rt0ise

The one month he's been given isn't an eviction date. It's a notice that in one month they will apply to the court to get an eviction order. They can't just decide on their own that the person must go, they have to go to court first. If the person pays some rent regularly, even if not all of the arrears but something off it, the judge will not usually award the eviction order.

Norman_Castle

If he is on a introductory tenancy eviction is much easier.
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/renting_and_leasehold/council_tenancies/introductory_council_tenancies

Council eviction of introductory tenants

Introductory tenants can be evicted much more easily than secure tenants. The council doesn't have to prove a legal reason in court but they have to follow the correct procedure. The most common reasons they might try to evict you include:

• if you have caused nuisance to neighbours
• if you haven't paid the rent or you have paid it late on a regular basis
• if you move out of your home and rent it to someone else.

The council has to give you at least four weeks' written notice that they are going to ask the court to evict you and explain the reasons why. The notice must tell you that you have a right to request a review of their decision.
Get advice immediately if you receive this notice. You must ask the council to review their decision within 14 days of receiving the notice - if you do nothing there's a serious risk that you will lose your home. An adviser may be able to help you convince the council that you shouldn't be evicted and can check whether there is any way you can to put things right, such as claiming benefits or settling a neighbour dispute. If the case goes to court, the judge will have no choice but to evict you as long as the council has followed the correct procedure.

Delree

Your friend is fortunate they're only acting now, £1000 is a lot of money to only just be taking action.

Agree with the others, your friend has done an emu and stuck his head in the sand and hoped it would all blow over.

His landlord has a right to their rent and your friend has an obligation to pay it. It's not his landlord's fault he's sick and his work messed up his HB application (a highly doubtful claim again btw).

People do seem to think that the role of social landlords is to house people for free and pay for their mistakes.

BitterAndTwisted

It's Council's duty to their rate-payers and their other tenants to ensure rents are collected.

Your friend needs to appeal the decision to withhold their Housing Benefit. They should be able to use their payslip to confirm that they're only receiving SSP and not their full wage while off sick.


In my experience the Housing folks at the Council will bend over backwards to help and advise their tenants before going through the eviction procedure. It sounds to me like this correspondence is a shot across the bows and a final warning, not that they are certain to apply to the court for possession.

First thing on Monday morning, they should be outside their Council's offices with all their paperwork in hand.


Note: if the Council are intent on going to court your friend will need to have two month's owing when the official notice is issued AND two month's owing at the time of the court hearing. To stave off possession it may be possible to pay down even a minimal amount to get the arrears down to less than two months, maybe using an overdraft, bank loan or a loan from friends or family. Courts don't often award possession in cases where there's doubt about the reason for the arrears. Willful non-payers who choose not to pay when they could are the most likely targets, not those who are ill and temporarily on a limited income

Delree

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Note: if the Council are intent on going to court your friend will need to have two month's owing when the official notice is issued AND two month's owing at the time of the court hearing. To stave off possession it may be possible to pay down even a minimal amount to get the arrears down to less than two months, maybe using an overdraft, bank loan or a loan from friends or family. Courts don't often award possession in cases where there's doubt about the reason for the arrears. Willful non-payers who choose not to pay when they could are the most likely targets, not those who are ill and temporarily on a limited income

This information is wrong. I work in this field and we serve notices well before 8 weeks owing and the court hearing will go ahead even if you're £1 in arrears by the time you get there.

Don't be turning up to court disputing the arrears either (like the above advice recommends) arrears are arrears it's black and white, open and shut. You can plead benefit trouble (which will probably get you somewhere if true) but don't dispute the amount outstanding.

To recap, don't get yourself into debt getting a loan to get the arrears below two months and think you're safe. You won't be, the action will still continue if the court date has been applied for.

To further recap, circumstances do play a part in judges decisions for sure but the bottom line is that rent must be paid and there is a system to help if you need it. If you don't use the system correctly (or ignore it) then that is not (although you're making it) your landlord's problem or fault.

It's a tough world sometimes and you have to be savvy.

BitterAndTwisted

The action could continue with £1 of arrears but would it be successful? I suspect not.

If you read my post which you quoted more carefully, you will see that I did not suggest the OP's friend dispute the arrears. Rent owing and arrears are a matter of fact, the cause of them not. My feeling is that a person who appears to be fully entitled to HB and hasn't been awarded it yet is unlikely to be thrown out on the streets in a couple of weeks.

Delree

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

The action could continue with £1 of arrears but would it be successful? I suspect not.

If you read my post which you quoted more carefully, you will see that I did not suggest the OP's friend dispute the arrears. Rent owing and arrears are a matter of fact, the cause of them not. My feeling is that a person who appears to be fully entitled to HB and hasn't been awarded it yet is unlikely to be thrown out on the streets in a couple of weeks.

If it was a case of benefits pending then the judge will either adjourn or award a suspended possession order.

I'd be surprised if the landlord was looking to evict on a first court date, in my experience we always look for suspended order with those who engage.

And no, £1 wouldn't get you evicted but it is possible for an order to still be made.

tim123456789

Delree wrote: »

Your friend is fortunate they're only acting now, £1000 is a lot of money to only just be taking action.

You need to owe 2 months rent before they can aply for an eviction order due to unpaid rent

There aren't many properties for which 2 months rent would be less than 1000 pounds

tim