HA Possession Claim Withdrawn

[Deleted User]

££sc££ wrote: »

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.

He knew about the arrears but he was waiting for some money to come through to be able to clear the arrears. He has his finances sorted now so shouldn't be in arrears again.

He had not known it had gone to court until the morning he phoned up the HA to clear the arrears by debit card.

jjlandlord wrote: »

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.

By time the court papers arrived, the arrears had been paid off and the account balance was £0 therefore the court did not order him to pay.

Lioness_Twinkletoes

Possession claims cost £250. (Taken from the Small Claims website)

Non-money claims
To issue a claim for something other than money, including possession, the
following fees will be payable based on where you start your claim:
• High Court £480
• County Court £280
• Possession Claims Online (PCOL) £250

(PCOL can only be used for possessions concerning rent or mortgage arrears)

This has to be paid at the time the claim is lodged (online). It is therefore payable by the tenant. I totally concur with ££sc££ - to imply that the HA went through the hassle of referring a case to court to spite the tenant is utterly ridiculous.

I work in income and I can assure you all I want is the money owed to be paid or an agreement to be made and stuck to. I don't need the hassle of referring to court.

jjlandlord

Lioness_Twinkletoes wrote: »

This has to be paid at the time the claim is lodged (online). It is therefore payable by the tenant.

Obviously not: it is payable by the claimant (the landlord).
Then the question is whether he can recover it from the other party (the tenant), as discussed in my previous post.

Lioness_Twinkletoes

jjlandlord wrote: »

Obviously not: it is payable by the claimant (the landlord).
Then the question is whether he can recover it from the other party (the tenant), as discussed in my previous post.

And the answer to that question is yes.

[Deleted User]

So he can claim the £250 back from the HA?

He can't even submit a counter sue on PCOL as the HA have withdrawn the case.

jjlandlord

Lioness_Twinkletoes wrote: »

And the answer to that question is yes.

While he may be able to recover it, the money is not owed by default. As explained.

Instead of just withdrawing the claim, they should have asked the court to still award costs, which they didn't apparently.
As said, that leaves the terms of the lease. However, I have my doubts that a clause could be effective in such case. That's a question for a lawyer based on the exact wording of the lease.