Taken to Court for “unauthorized occupation”… but I don’t even live there ?! Help !

karakus

Thanks everyone for the feedback, I'll lay everything down on Friday night and post it.

I'll get in touch with a council specialist too and explain.

Between CAB and Shelter who shall I contact? Considering I can't take too much time off work, I have to choose one

[Deleted User]

Phone Shelter, they are the housing experts.

However, the advice you have been given by HereBeDragons is very pertinent to your situation. It does sound like the situation probably wasn't explained to you properly or you buried your head in the sand a bit and trusted the original tenant, stepfather etc too much considering the family were wholeheartedly committing fraud.

Be prepared to take proof of earnings in case the damages (all or part) are awarded against you and try to make an arrangement to pay over time. You should be allowed to do this.

I also don't believe that the fact that you have been paying rent to the original tenant will reduce the damages the council are claiming. You have to be prepared that the fact that you were sending all communication from the council to the stepfather, implies that you knew full well what was going on, so that won't help you I'm afraid. The situation you are now in, was the risk of this deal you made with the family.

specialboy

Sounds like a load of bull cr4p to me.

NYM

This thread has moved on quite a bit since I last read it ! :eek:

1. Well done for admitting the 'true' circumstances.

2. Contact Shelter.

3. Do NOT contact the Stepfather/Mother/Linda

CKhalvashi

karakus wrote: »

thanks but... even if I am not a tenant in this case?

No, I didn't agree to pay council rent, but they are reframing it as "damages for use and occupation"... but surely I have to agree to them in the first place I reckon?? they can't just impose them?

the landlady had an agreed tenancy with the council which she broke... I have nothing like that

Legally, you're renting a property from what you thought was a landlord. It would be up to the council to prove that you knew this was an illegal sublet.

With regards council tax, I'd say that probably £5-600 would be owed for this time; more than £2000 seems very excessive.

It it legal, in certain circumstances, to rent a social property out at no profit for a year, however this requires written consent from the landlord (council or housing association). It doesn't look like this is relevant in this situation, so unless OP asks otherwise, I won't go further into it.

Apart from the Council Tax, I can't see where OP has (provably) committed a criminal offence, from the facts we have.

Annie1960

Guest101 wrote: »

He has paid. He paid Linda.

Here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html - you can vent there if you like.

Then the council won't pursue the OP, will they?

Clearly this is not the case.

getmore4less

I was thinking overnight(after the midday confession) the time line was wrong.

You don't get a court summons without previous paperwork.

Turn out that was the case(and covered by others).
There seem to be 2 key dates

1. When was the repair man letter, that seems to be the one that let the cat out of the bag and trigger the investigation.

2. Dec seems to be the date liability may have started occupants were notified.

Where is the other occupier named on the papers?

Looks to me like you should have

Moved out in Dec to avoid any liability
or
started paying the council(does that create a tenancy?) and let them kick you out in time.

Edit: I see the other housemate left in Feb from one of the posts.

getmore4less

CKhalvashi wrote: »

Legally, you're renting a property from what you thought was a landlord. It would be up to the council to prove that you knew this was an illegal sublet.

did they not do that in Dec?

Guest101

Annie1960 wrote: »

Then the council won't pursue the OP, will they?

Clearly this is not the case.

Thats now how councils work.

It would be silly to think councils dont make mistakes

Guest101

getmore4less wrote: »

I was thinking overnight(after the midday confession) the time line was wrong.

You don't get a court summons without previous paperwork.

Turn out that was the case(and covered by others).
There seem to be 2 key dates

1. When was the repair man letter, that seems to be the one that let the cat out of the bag and trigger the investigation.

2. Dec seems to be the date liability may have started occupants were notified.

Where is the other occupier named on the papers?

Looks to me like you should have

Moved out in Dec to avoid any liability
or
started paying the council(does that create a tenancy?) and let them kick you out in time.

Not a tenancy created. It's 'damages' the council seeks.

Its convoluted, but basically the council will argue that by 'squatting' in the property, they were required to pay out extra for someone on a waiting list / in emergency housing/ etc.

In court you either have to prove a loss, or a genuine pre estimate. The council have estimated the loss to be £145 per week.

- Worth noting that council regularly submit council tax claim to courts in bundles. Paying just once for the whole lot. But charge each person on the list the pre-estimate.

yes if they did just one claim, it would cost them the full amount, but they dont. It's a bit of extra money into the coffers. - So in the OPs case this claim for damages could be rubbish as well.