HA Possession Claim Withdrawn

[Deleted User]

A friend owed rent arrears on a HA property. Arrears were paid off but the HA claimed they had already submitted a possession claim to the county court hours before he contacted the HA to clear the rent arrears and charged an extra £250 to the rent account for this. The court papers duly arrived dated the same date as the arrears had been paid, logged onto the court's website and the claim is marked as withdrawn.

We are just wondering if the £250 is refundable or not? Also can he ask the HA for this £250 back seeing as they submitted the claim on the same day as the arrears were paid, which seems a bit of a coincidence.

The claim states that a "notice seeking possession" was served, no notice was served, just a couple of letters about the arrears.

[Deleted User]

Bumpty bump

theartfullodger

'phone Shelter, 0808 800 4444: They are open weekends: Expect a wait, they are busy.
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/how_we_can_help/housing_advice_helpline

It is always wise for a tenant to be on good terms with their landlord & vv. Soe.g. "demanding" fees back may not be the best approach.

What sort of tenancy do they have? There are several sorts with a HA...
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/social_housing/housing_association_tenancies
- depending on what sort they have stronger or weaker rights to remain etc..

Did they get ANY paperwork from the court?? If not, probably just a threat..

thesaint

What date did the letter from the HA state the arrears needed to be paid off before possession proceedings commence?

What date did the arrears get paid off??

[Deleted User]

The tenancy is a AST first year tenancy. They did not send a notice of possession just a letter about the arrears. The court papers arrived after they had been paid.

Cheeky_Monkey

If the HA had to pay the £250 at the time they submitted their possession claim to the Court then I doubt very much that your friend would be able to get it back.

Even if it's an admin fee for the work they had to do in order to file their claim I think the same would apply.

I doubt HAs go to this trouble unless the tenant has not paid their rent for quite a long time in which case they only have themselves to blame so will just have to suck it up!

thesaint

Deleted_User wrote: »

The tenancy is a AST first year tenancy. They did not send a notice of possession just a letter about the arrears. The court papers arrived after they had been paid.

Ask your friend to ask the HA to provide evidence that he was warned about these costs beforehand.
I personally believe he was made aware, either at the time, or when he took on the tenancy.

Also, ask for proof that the notice was served. They would have submitted them to the court, of which he should have received a copy of as well, although, it could be "self certified" by the HA.

[Deleted User]

He did get papers from the court which were dated the same date as he made payment to the HA over the phone to clear the rent arrears.

When he called the HA to make the payment, The housing officer said that she had just submitted the application for the possession to court that same morning and so charged him an extra £250 because of that. (What a coincidence).

He did not receive a notice of seeking possession through the post. He has only received one letter about the arrears and a hand delivered card about the arrears. No letter with a final date to pay up before seeking possession through the court.

Even the court papers say that a notice of seeking possession was issued which is untrue.

Cheeky_Monkey

At the end of the day, it was your friend's responsibility to pay their rent on time so has no-one else to blame but themselves that this has happened.

As I said, HAs don't rush off to the Courts after only one missed rental payment so it's probably several months in arrears.

Your friend should therefore think themselves lucky that they have just got to pay the £250 and not find themselves evicted.

Let's just hope they learn from this just how important it is to pay your rent!

££sc££

Deleted_User wrote: »

When he called the HA to make the payment, The housing officer said that she had just submitted the application for the possession to court that same morning and so charged him an extra £250 because of that. (What a coincidence).

You seem to be suggesting otherwise. Do you really think a housing officer is going to go through the hassle of applying to court when the balance has been cleared just so they can charge the tenant £250, all of which they would have to pay to the court service when they did their possession claim online? The HA would have got £0 out of it, it would have just taken time they no doubt don't have to spare. All the officer would have wanted is a £0 balance account. I second every word cheeky monkey says. However, if your friend really had no idea about the arrears and that the HA were going to apply to court, and the implications of this, I'd get your friend to make a complaint to the HA that the officer didn't follow the pre action protocol. ..... see here..... https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/protocol/pre-action-protocol-for-possession-claims-by-social-landlords if the HA agree this wasn't followed they could offer your friend compensation to the tune of the court fees.

jjlandlord

The question is what entitles the landlord to charge these fees to the tenant.
Having sent a letter warning of that does not make the tenant liable.

It does not seem that the court ordered the tenant to pay so that leaves the tenancy agreement, which may include a clause regarding legal costs.
Even if it does, I am nit sure that it would apply however it might be drafted.