Pay or go to court?

Pixie5740

45012168 wrote: »

So why is he telling me to pay the rent and I can stay. They said the same thing to the council when they rang the landlady in front of me at my homeless interview

I'm not a mind reader but one possible explanation is that he just wants his money as painlessly as possible and then rid of you because he doesn't like the cut of your jib.

marksoton

45012168 wrote: »

So why is he telling me to pay the rent and I can stay. They said the same thing to the council when they rang the landlady in front of me at my homeless interview

:wall::wall::wall:

That is all.

G_M

All of this has been explained to you multipke times. You now have several optons:

1) pay the full amount and see if he acts on the S21. If he does, you will have to leave (after he gets a court order). If he doesn't, you can stay

2) pay half and and see if that satisfies him. He may forget the S21, wait for the other half and let you stay. Or he may start court action for the other half of the arrears and/or possession. He may use the S21, and/or a S8

3) do nothing. Wait for the S21 and/or S8 court action. Make a counter-claim for the damages you feel you are owed (eg for the faulty boiler). I suspect your counter-claim will fail, though it may succeed, but even so you are likely to be evicted and have to pay at least some of the arrears (depending on the counter-claim

Note that any court action by the landlord involves court costs, which he can claim back from you if he wins. Interest on the rent arrears can also be charged. It is unlikely a solicitor's costs can be charged to you though.

As pointed out in other threads, the repairing issues should have been dealt with by you properly, NOT by witholding rent.

45012168

Okay the LL has just agreed that I can pay him £360 today and another £360 within a week. Which I have agreed to.

Now do I just sit back and wait to see if he still evicts me. How long does it take once the possession order has been applied through courts

45012168

G_M wrote: »

All of this has been explained to you multipke times. You now have several optons:

1) pay the full amount and see if he acts on the S21. If he does, you will have to leave (after he gets a court order). If he doesn't, you can stay

2) pay half and and see if that satisfies him. He may forget the S21, wait for the other half and let you stay. Or he may start court action for the other half of the arrears and/or possession. He may use the S21, and/or a S8

3) do nothing. Wait for the S21 and/or S8 court action. Make a counter-claim for the damages you feel you are owed (eg for the faulty boiler). I suspect your counter-claim will fail, though it may succeed, but even so you are likely to be evicted and have to pay at least some of the arrears (depending on the counter-claim

Note that any court action by the landlord involves court costs, which he can claim back from you if he wins. Interest on the rent arrears can also be charged. It is unlikely a solicitor's costs can be charged to you though.

As pointed out in other threads, the repairing issues should have been dealt with by you properly, NOT by witholding rent.

Well I've agreed to pay the rent .
I'm still gonna pursue the compensation claim so that may still be enough for him to evict me. If not il just look for alternative accommodation some how

AdrianC

You forget one detail - he doesn't need any reason to issue an s21. None at all. "Because I want to" is good enough. The only valid defences against an s21 that you may have are if you're being illegally discriminated against (which you aren't), or if his paperwork is wrong.

This is where he has a big advantage over using an s8 - which would require you to be two months behind on rent.

Lioness_Twinkletoes

If I'm honest, I'd still evict once you'd paid the rent that is owed.

[Deleted User]

How long it takes to get a possession order depends on the area and how long one has to wait for a court date. Normally you will be sent a claim form (once the LL has applied for a possession order) which will give you two weeks to make a defence. However there is little defence against a possession order. Even if you did have one, it will only delay things. And you could have to pay extra court costs if a second court date is required.

Then a possession order will be issued giving you two weeks notice to move out. Unless you can give reasons for needing longer .., up to 42 days. http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/eviction/court_action_for_eviction/possession_hearings. The judge will normally put into the court order that you need to pay the costs of £280 within 28 days. You can claim poverty but I'm not sure what's acceptable for that, ask the CAB.

Then once that date has passed the LL will go back and ask for a bailiffs warrant. Again how long that takes will depend on whether bailiffs have waiting lists. Again you will be sent paperwork by the bailiffs telling you when they will call round to evict you, once again giving you two weeks notice. This will cost you £110.

The LL will pay these court costs initially but you will have to repay him. I arranged for the money to be taken out of my deposit.

I'm afraid the council will insist you go through this process before they will provide emergency accommodation. They will often make an offer to pay your first month's rent and deposit on another private rental via a loan, or sometimes they do a bond arrangement with a LL. It will only be the same amount as LHA though.

I'm afraid unless you can get the LL to do repairs more quickly, or the council do, there's little you can do. Try and look up what the problem is with the toilet (i.e. won't it flush?) and see if its a repair you can do. I used to do my own repairs a lot of the time, as I had a similiar type of LL. Shouldn't have had to but it was that or things didn't get done.

Unless you get evicted or the place is uninhabitable, the council won't rehouse you. I know its not an easy situation to be in.

jimbog

I don't feel that you are in as strong position as you think you are

shardi2209

If you are evicted due to rent arrears the council may not help you at all as you would have made yourself intentionally homeless so they may not have a duty to house you.