Bailiffs

ognum

I have an appointment with the County Court Bailiffs next week for the eviction of a tenant.

The tenant wants to be rehoused by the council so will not move until this has occurred.

Does anyone have any experience of this from either side, tenant or LL?

csgohan4

Watching the Can't pay we take away series, the council won't rehouse them until they are homeless, i.e they have the letter from the bailiffs to say they have been evicted.


So I'm afraid you have to wait until they have been evicted by the bailiffs.

ognum

csgohan4 wrote: »

Watching the Can't pay we take away series, the council won't rehouse them until they are homeless, i.e they have the letter from the bailiffs to say they have been evicted.


So I'm afraid you have to wait until they have been evicted by the bailiffs.

I fully understand this, I am not trying to jump the system I am just interested on how the process works on the day.

I have confirmed I will attend (a legal requirement ) the appointment at the property to meet the bailiffs.

What actually happens though?

Kynthia

I think you should tell the local police station the time/date/address in advance just so they are aware there could be a breach of the peace and tell them if there has been animosity or cooperation so that they know. I think tge bailiffs also advise you pay for a locksmith to meet you there incase you need to gain entry or change tge locks after to prevent re - entry by the tenant. If tge tenant doesn't let them in I'm not sure the bailiff will break - in and do you want to try and force entry? You don't want to have to pay for the bailiffs to come back another day either so the cost of a locksmith who's happy to attend an eviction might be worth it.

eddddy

In the type of situation you describe, the 'more civilised' approach would be to tell the tenant the date and time the bailiffs will be arriving - so that they are packed up and ready to move out.

(Although I guess if you had a difficult tenant, who might barricade the door etc, the element of surprise might be useful.)

Presumably, it is a 'non-fault' eviction - i.e. not because of rent arrears etc.

Councils tend to regard people who are evicted for rent arrears which they should be able to afford (or some other fault on their part) as intentionally homeless.

Similarly, if the tenant asked you to evict them (in order to get rehoused), the council would class them as intentionally homeless.

Miss_Samantha

eddddy wrote: »

In the type of situation you describe, the 'more civilised' approach would be to tell the tenant the date and time the bailiffs will be arriving - so that they are packed up and ready to move out.

Bailiffs will notify the tenant in advance.

ognum

eddddy wrote: »

In the type of situation you describe, the 'more civilised' approach would be to tell the tenant the date and time the bailiffs will be arriving - so that they are packed up and ready to move out.

(Although I guess if you had a difficult tenant, who might barricade the door etc, the element of surprise might be useful.)

Presumably, it is a 'non-fault' eviction - i.e. not because of rent arrears etc.

Councils tend to regard people who are evicted for rent arrears (or some other fault on their part) as intentionally homeless.

Similarly, if the tenant asked you to evict them (in order to get rehoused), the council would class them as intentionally homeless.

The tenant will have been informed of the date and time by the bailiffs.

I served an S21 as I am going to sell the property, the tenant decided to go to the council to request council housing (I understand this is her right) they advised waiting for court order and eviction. I have been to court gained a possesion order and now have a bailiffs appointment.

However during this process the tenant has ceased to communicate with me or my letting agent so I have no idea of her thoughts on the matter. There are no rent arrears.

I have no idea how she will react on the day or even if she will be there. I will not visit or go close to the flat before the bailiffs appointment for fear of a harassment accusation.

I am interested to know how the situation has been dealt with by the bailiffs by others, I have of course seen TV programmes but do not know if what you see is standard or glorified for TV.

silvercar

Whatever the reason for eviction, the tenant should go to the council who should provide emergency housing while they assess the case. If the tenant is classed as intentionally homeless the council can then deal with their removal from the temporary accommodation.

Personally I would try to keep a low profile to avoid inflaming the situation. let the bailiffs do their job and get the locksmith in.

[Deleted User]

I was evicted.

I was sent a notice by the bailiffs telling me exactly when they would turn up (including the time).

My council wouldn't do anything at all until I had physically been evicted except 28 days before eviction, open a homeless person's case. They definitely made a bad situation worse with false and wrong information, or just ignoring me.

My LL knew the situation. The bailiff turning up was just a formality, he didn't give me any paperwork, the paperwork informing me I was to be evicted on x day at y time was enough for the council. So the LL and the bailiff turned up, had a quick look at the empty house, the LL and I discussed what I was leaving (I'd replaced the built in oven with a better one). I gave him the keys. He did allow me to go back and collect a couple of things while the decorators were in the house. I did have some bad feelings towards the LL, but kept it as civilised as I could because it wouldn't have done any good making a fuss. In return, I think the LL did the same.

Then I waited until my appointment time (hours later) to see the council. The council handed me keys for emergency accommodation (although even the day before, they wouldn't discuss what was to happen).

The actual day was very 'easy' considering I was to be evicted.., no high emotions or anything, I was all packed up and furniture in storage. Obviously I was scared to death so that doesn't mean it wasn't stressful.

The council handled it as badly as possible though, I have to say. I was just handed keys and given forms to sign without any explanation. Not even 'here are the keys to your emergency accommodation', I didn't know what to say or what questions to ask! I could have been selling my soul (felt a bit like it lol). Obviously you are not at your best in situations like this, even though prepared. And not everyone is prepared. I WAS lucky to be given emergency accommodation but couldn't be certain until the meeting that I would be or what it would be. The emergency accommodation had been empty a month (it came with cockroaches and it had already been fumigated but not totally successfully) so I could have been better informed if the council wished to do this.

But that is my experience with one council. Your tenant's experience could be totally different. Obviously its never going to be a 'good' day for the tenant. They may be a zombie like I was. I also didn't have much contact with the LL before the day of eviction (he asked to send in decorators while I was trying to pack up the house which didn't get a good reception from me). I had to do the removal of goods as cheaply as possible (free basically) so didn't know what was going to happen when exactly as I was reliant on other people. I wouldn't do it that way again if I could avoid it.

Guest101

csgohan4 wrote: »

Watching the Can't pay we take away series, the council won't rehouse them until they are homeless, i.e they have the letter from the bailiffs to say they have been evicted.


So I'm afraid you have to wait until they have been evicted by the bailiffs.

CPWTIA is High Court enforcement, but broadly this is true.


It's called gatekeeping and if both parties are sensible the tenant can be ready to go on the day, bags and cars packed and it's just another legal mechanism.

Guest101

Kynthia wrote: »

I think you should tell the local police station the time/date/address in advance just so they are aware there could be a breach of the peace and tell them if there has been animosity or cooperation so that they know. I think tge bailiffs also advise you pay for a locksmith to meet you there incase you need to gain entry or change tge locks after to prevent re - entry by the tenant. If tge tenant doesn't let them in I'm not sure the bailiff will break - in and do you want to try and force entry? You don't want to have to pay for the bailiffs to come back another day either so the cost of a locksmith who's happy to attend an eviction might be worth it.

??!! the tenant wants to be evicted...