Pay or go to court?

45012168

Hi
I'm in £720 rent arrears. (Please refer to previous thread if u want to know why I'm in arrears)
My LL text this morning saying

"No rent paid so far you have till tomorrow once you pay it in please text you need to pay the full £720.
If this not paid then we will apply to the courts for eviction and the court cost and my solicitors cost with the rent due and the interest will be claimed and if you don't pay you will have a County court judgment ."

Our notice to quit expires on the 8th this month, which is next week. So I'm guessing he will apply to court then.
I've asked him on several occasions to accept a payment plan however he is adamant he wants the full amount, which I can't do!

Should I send him £300 anyway to his account to show that I was willing and have contributed towards the outstanding amount? Will this help me in court as I've not refused to pay him? I just can't pay the full amount. Could I still get a CCJ? And what interest/solicitor fee is he on about? I'm gonna pay his rent but why do I have to pay all the extra. I'm not refusing to pay or telling him to take it to court!

Also, he had served a s.21 and he is now saying if I clear the arrears in full then I can stay. I thought he wanted his property back aswell! So why didn't he just serve a s.8!

I'm not sure what to do. im also thinking I don't want to pay any extra costs. If I had to could I ask to make monthly payments to get them recovered. Or do I have to pay the full amount (rent + costs) within 28 days before I get a CCJ?

Also he doesn't need to apply for a CCJ does he, he just wants to be a a**hole!

AdrianC

These are the other threads you refer to...
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5516706
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5503419

There are two things he can apply to the court for.
* He can apply for possession of the property - if you don't leave when the tenancy expires on the 8th - which will result in your eviction. Whether he gave you notice using s21 or s8 doesn't really make any difference, assuming the notice was correctly served
* He can apply for the money you owe him - which will result in a CCJ if you don't pay.

He is under no obligation to accept a payment plan. He is under no obligation to let the tenancy continue if you clear your debt. Whether you can afford to pay your debt or not is, to be honest, not really his problem.

You say you aren't refusing to pay him, so can we presume you have already paid...? No? Then you are refusing to pay him. Whatever reasons you may or may not have for not paying don't affect the fundamental fact that you haven't paid...

He is unlikely to apply for the money you owe him until he knows exactly how much the total will be - so he can collect the entirety of your debt in one go - and that includes costs arising from your eviction, and the interest due on the money that's been outstanding, calculated from when it first became due.
https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/work-out-interest

You have to pay the costs and the interest because they arise solely from you failing to pay your rent, and from your failing to leave the property at the end of the tenancy.

[Deleted User]

I am sorry, you won't just have to pay court costs for a CCJ, you will also have to pay £390 court costs if he decides to evict you.

I don't know but the council may also have problems with providing emergency housing if you have rent arrears.., make a statement of all the extra costs you incurred and calculate how much it adds up to to give to them if the LL does go ahead with eviction proceedings.

You might be able to get help from the council to pay the arrears through https://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/housing_benefit_and_local_housing_allowance/changes_to_housing_benefit/discretionary_housing_payments but you have to be in receipt of Housing benefit.

I'd try to pay as much as I could off on the arrears as soon as I could.

I'm sorry I can't be of more help.

mije1983

45012168 wrote: »

Also he doesn't need to apply for a CCJ does he, he just wants to be a a**hole!

No he doesn't need to. And if you pay the rent he won't. But he wants the money he is entitled to and you aren't forthcoming in paying it despite his requests.

I haven't read your other threads in depth, but what happened to the rent you withheld? Have you not still got that money somewhere?

[Deleted User]

I think the OP is saying in other threads (indirectly) that due to the increased costs incurred while the boiler wasn't working, they can't/shouldn't have to pay the rent arrears. I have to be honest, I'm not sure this was handled properly by the OP - like insisting the LL gets heaters rather than buying them herself, using lots of blankets (done this myself) rather than heaters.., moving out to a place 20 miles from kids schools? I've even had to do baths with kettles and water heated on stove.., complete pain but you do what you have to.

Kynthia

If tge landlord applies to the court for you to pay your debt, wins (which is likely as you acknowledge the debt, but then you don't pay the full amount in the time given you will get a CCJ. Why would someone be in tge wrong fir going to court to get money owed them as you only get a CCJ if you don't pay it.

Marvel1

What happened to the witheld rent money?

45012168

AdrianC wrote: »

These are the other threads you refer to...
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5516706
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5503419

There are two things he can apply to the court for.
* He can apply for possession of the property - if you don't leave when the tenancy expires on the 8th - which will result in your eviction. Whether he gave you notice using s21 or s8 doesn't really make any difference, assuming the notice was correctly served
* He can apply for the money you owe him - which will result in a CCJ if you don't pay.

He is under no obligation to accept a payment plan. He is under no obligation to let the tenancy continue if you clear your debt. Whether you can afford to pay your debt or not is, to be honest, not really his problem.

You say you aren't refusing to pay him, so can we presume you have already paid...? No? Then you are refusing to pay him. Whatever reasons you may or may not have for not paying don't affect the fundamental fact that you haven't paid...

He is unlikely to apply for the money you owe him until he knows exactly how much the total will be - so he can collect the entirety of your debt in one go - and that includes costs arising from your eviction, and the interest due on the money that's been outstanding, calculated from when it first became due.
https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/work-out-interest

You have to pay the costs and the interest because they arise solely from you failing to pay your rent, and from your failing to leave the property at the end of the tenancy.

Thank you for the links. I will have a read.

I understand the legal side of things. The reason why I have not given the rent is because I have asked the LL on numerous occasions to arrange a meeting with me so we can discuss the extra costs which occurred when we had no heating/hot water for 5 months. I have been advised by CAB, a benefit officer, McGrath & Co and Shelter to sue for losses. I would rather sort this with the LL and get him to come to an agreement about reducing the rent and then pay him the remainder. He is refusing to do this so I said I would give him £360 tomorrow and another £360 next week when the notice expires. He refused this aswell.
i understand he can refuse a payment plan but what about my losses?
What about the fact I have been paying so much to run an ineffective boiler for the last 5 years. Whenever I required hot water tje central heating would come on aswell. There are no controls to switch off the radiators individually so even throughout summer I would be dealing with this problem and paying X amount. He never sorted this problem out until the boiler packed up in April this year and the council enforced action.

45012168

mije1983 wrote: »

No he doesn't need to. And if you pay the rent he won't. But he wants the money he is entitled to and you aren't forthcoming in paying it despite his requests.

I haven't read your other threads in depth, but what happened to the rent you withheld? Have you not still got that money somewhere?

I'm not sure how much u pay for electric but I paid almost £700 for 4 months. That's a lot more than what I've ever paid before at any time. So that's where some of it went.
Giving the money is NOT the problem. My toilet is out of use for nearly two weeks now and he blatantly refused to get it fixed and said I have to get it fixed myself because we broke it. Why the hell would anyone break the toilet. I have 3 little kids living with me.

45012168

deannatrois wrote: »

I think the OP is saying in other threads (indirectly) that due to the increased costs incurred while the boiler wasn't working, they can't/shouldn't have to pay the rent arrears. I have to be honest, I'm not sure this was handled properly by the OP - like insisting the LL gets heaters rather than buying them herself, using lots of blankets (done this myself) rather than heaters.., moving out to a place 20 miles from kids schools? I've even had to do baths with kettles and water heated on stove.., complete pain but you do what you have to.

It says on my tenancy agreement that it is the LL responsibility to ensure there is proper heating/sanitation etc so how is that my problem if I haven't had heating for 5 months. They should have provided a secondary source of heating but we did ourself. So he should compensate for that aswell as the inconvenience he caused me an my family.

45012168

cjdavies wrote: »

What happened to the witheld rent money?

I have most of it but spent some on the bills etc