rent arears eviction pending

ihatemoney_2

I am in serious rent arears and I have fallen behind on agreements made with the council in regards to re-payments. Due to failed banking payments I have missed amonths worth or payments and they are now evicting me on those grounds. HELP! What can I do to prevent this - if anything. They are demanding full repayment to incur any hope of keeping my home for me and my son, but with no promises. What rights do I have ?

Any advise appreciated

clutton_2

""What rights do I have?" - none i'm afraid - if you have not paid rent and are evicted then you will be classified as having made yourself voluntarily homeless and the council will not have to re-house you. you need to find freinds or a families floor space urgently, as the council will send in the bailiffs and turf you and your furniture out onto the street. i suggest you go to Shelter to see if they can help you delay the process.

can you claim any housing benefit if you are struggling for money ?

coal9011

I feel sorry for you and your son, but although Housing law has changed in recent years ( making it quite hard for anyone with a tenancy agreement to be evicted) you have broken the "golden rule" of Housing law by not paying your rent.

"Not paying rent" is one of the very few grounds (mandatory) that a judge "must" give possession of the property to the landlord. The only thing you can do, after they get their possession order (about 4/6 weeks) is to delay the inevitable by not moving on the possession date which means your landlords will have to apply to the court for a baillif's order which may give you another 10/14 days.

It is vital in any housing problem or dispute that you continue to pay your rent, or you will find yourself out on the streets.

Contact "Shelter", they may be able to help you find new accommodation.

You must owe 8 weeks rent or more before you can be evicted!

clutton_2

"You must owe 8 weeks rent or more before you can be evicted!"

rent due on first of the month
rent not paid on 1st sept - one months rent in arrears
rent not paid on 1st oct - two months in arrears -

a landlord can then take a tenant to court 32 days after rent became due and was not paid

hearts

The 2 most important things in life. Food and Shelter. ALWAYS pay your rent before any other outlays.

Just thought I mention it for future reference.
Good luck.

silvercar

Sort these "failed bank payments" out. I'm not really sure what you mean by this, no cleared funds or banking error? Anyway, hopefully this will clear your arrears. If it does not, then make sure you are less than 2 months in arrears when you get to court. A judge could then use discretion and not grant repossession; if you are 2 months in arrears, a judge will more than likely grant repossession.

TBH if the council are evicting you, I don't know where else you can turn for housing, which is why it is so important for you to sort these arrears out as a matter of urgency.

Zingara

My advice depends on what has happened so far with regards to your rent account,

What are the level of your arrears? Have you already been taken to court and have since broken the court order? If you have been taken to court what court order was granted and how far are you behind it? What *exactly* have you received regarding an eviction? There is usually a right to appeal depending on what has happened previously.

Without knowing the exact details there isn't much I can help you with - there are so many different routes to take there is no point me telling you one thing as it may not be relevant.

Seek help with Shelter or CAB.

Karen

astonsmummy

I suggest phoning shelter asap, they are open every day until midnight 0808 800 4444

Alleycat

Hi, just a few questions initially.

How much are your current rent arrears and how many weeks worth is that?
Do you know if the council have applied for accelerated possession or just a straight section 21?
At what stage are the council on with eviction i.e. have they applied to court for possession yet?

The only way you can even try and prevent the eviction is if you start making sure you are paying your rent and some off the arrears. Even if it has got to court stage you can still prevent or at least get a suspension but you have to show that you are willing and able to keep up with repayments. If you can post more details it may be easier to tell how likely it will be that you can prevent the eviction.

Edit: Went to make tea half way through my post and some of the questions had been asked while I was gone!

coal9011

clutton wrote: »

"You must owe 8 weeks rent or more before you can be evicted!"

rent due on first of the month
rent not paid on 1st sept - one months rent in arrears
rent not paid on 1st oct - two months in arrears -

a landlord can then take a tenant to court 32 days after rent became due and was not paid

Yes clutton.............. but if the tenant has managed to make a payment of rent BEFORE the date of the possession hearing (reducing the arrears to less then 8 weeks), then the judge is not "bound" to order possession and the LL may well fail with his claim!

wherediditallgo

The court will take into account their circumstances, & any previous issues regarding the rent account. It's vital that the tenant attends the court hearing, & makes a statement to the court about how the arrears occurred, what they've tried to do so far to resolve them & what they are prepared to do in future to get on top of the situation so that it doesn't occur again. For instance, they may have been paying their rent on time for years but had a bereavement & things got on top of them. A court isn't likely to grant eviction in that situation when the person was until then up to date, no matter how much the council might want them to. But the tenant has to be there to state their case, otherwise the eviction order is highly likely to be granted.

Just because the council takes someone to court to evict them does not automatically mean the eviction order will be granted. The council has a duty of care to the OP's son, & it would not be in the court's or the council's interest for the son to be without a home when the situation could be resolved by making a court order covering the payments and an agreement being made about what will happen if the payments go into default again.

It's also very important that the OP gets proper housing advice from organisations like Shelter. I've heard that Shelter are sometimes able to attend hearings with you, which would definitely help them put across their situation. But whether they go with them or not, they need to know their housing rights, especially if the case does go against them.