Agency Threatening Me - Section 8

G_M

1) You have a contract. It is periodic - month by month.

2) you owe rent each month and, it seems, have not paid it.

3) the legal obligation is not on the landlord (or his agent) o 'take' your money - the obligation is on you to pay it.

4) you are in rent arrears.

5) you can be evicted (relatively fast and easily) via a S8 Notice

6) you can be sued for the rent arrears

7) if you are sued successfully, and still don't pay
a) you;lk get a CCJ recorded against you
b) bailiffs could come get your car, TV, whatever to pay the arrears (+ court fees, + bailiff fees.......)

The best solution is either to pay the arreas owed, or negotiate and agree a payment schedule, if the LL will agree

For full info on what happened when your 3 month contract expired, read:

* Ending/renewing an AST: what happens when a fixed term ends? How can a LL or tenant end a tenancy? What is a periodic tenancy?

Guest101

bob_bank_spanker wrote: »

That is in the perfect world of the internet.


In the real world, every client I have who has gotten into difficulty has prioritised school fees over rent/mortgage. It's not correct, but it is what it is.

People who pay school fees are rarely part of the 'real world'

AdrianC

00ec25 wrote: »

you miss the point. What you say is of course valid, but if you are redundant, have no pay-off, have negligible savings, and yet still have to eat, you will find that most people do not prioritise the rent

...then they look surprised and try to find somebody else to blame, when they get an s8 notice and realise the local authority have no duty to re-house them if they're the author of their own position.

Like the OP.

saajan_12

dranzer01 wrote: »

Hi,

Long story short -

i was in a SHORT TERM CONTRACT for 3 months from NOVEMBER 16 - FEBRUARY 17- ok, that means it's a fixed term for 3 months, then automatically rolls into a monthly periodic tenancy if you don't move out or sign another agreement.

(Those months have been paid for, thats all done) - good

I was made redundant from my then company -s sorry to hear that - so i informed the agency 'my circumstances have changed, can i do a rolling monthly thing, as that would be easier for me, rather signing a new contract for another 3 months/6 months/12 months etc -
- so you want a rolling monthly contract.. no new agreements needed, this will happen automatically, you just keep paying the same rent monthly.

Agency said yeah ok we can do that (THEY DIDNT RE-SEND ME A NEW CONTRACT ON THIS BASIS) - so its effectively, word of mouth/via trust/good will - you are still in a tenancy. You and the Landlord have the same obligations per the original contract e.g repairs, paying rent.

from around early march till recently, they realised that they hadnt collected around 2/3 months worth of rent from me, - why hadn't you paid this? I understand your job issues, but the LL is still owed the rent under the rolling monthly tenancy. so they sent me a text first saying 'weve realised you havent paid 3 months worth of rent.... when would i be able to clear this' -

of course back then i was panicking and i said i can probably up my payment to you guys a month here and there to clear it - Up what payment? I thought you didn't have a job and weren't paying rent?


Only now have i realised that effectively from the end of february, i have not been IN CONTRACT with this agency, so therefore they cannot request or demand money from me 'im effectively a squatter?'- you HAVE been 'in contract'. It's a monthly rolling tenancy with the same terms as the original contract you signed. You are a tenant, and must pay rent. The LL/agency can absolutely demand rent.

They are now saying legal this legal that, small claims court this, CCJ that....- yes, legally you are in arrears and
the agency can recover the money by filing in small claims court,
who would issue a CCJ against you for the rent outstanding plus court costs.


now can someone with experience in this tell me if i have a leg to stand on? which cases/torts/clauses i can quote to these guys?- Legally you have no leg to stand on, you are in a tenancy and owe the rent.

(To confirm, they did not send me a new contract to sign when my old contract expired in february 2017)- irrelevant.

My friend also told me that monthly contracts DO NOT EXIST? - of course they do exist. I suspect they meant that there is no need to physically sign a new paper contract as you are already bound by the original contract, except on a monthly basis with no end date until either party serves notice.

If all this is the case, then the agency is just going by good will/trust that i pay the rent every month....?No,
they are going by the original contract and resulting periodic tenancy.


Any help would be much appreciated!!

You are in a rolling periodic monthly tenancy, with terms as per the original contract you signed. You must pay rent and pay back the arrears. Try to negotiate a payment plan for the arrears or risk being evicted (after you get a Section 8 notice and posession order) and being sued for the arrears + court costs.

trevormax

I feel for your situation and I'm not going to repeat what has already been said several times by some very knowledgeable people.

What I will say is if you are still unemployed (or on low income), and you haven't already made a claim, youneed to get housing benefits a.s.a.p. You may be able to backdate this for a month.

Depending on your circumstances, it may not cover the entirire rent but any money helps. Phone your council (or whoever administers housing benefit in your area) today and register a claim. You will possibly need to go to an officer to fill in a form and provide various bit sof evidence but at least it is on their system that you have started the claim.

FBaby

unbelievable! So you've enjoyed the property for free for 3 months and somehow want to try to find a loophole to justify not paying it? Are you for real?

Thankfully, the law is against people like you who think they can get away with their due. Your poor landlord, it's people like you that turn LL suspicious of everyone.

Being made redundant is not an excuse. It happens to many people. In this instance, they rely on their partner's income, or they go and claim HB and find the difference to pay their rent and if they can't afford it any longer, give notice and find somewhere cheaper. The least decent people do is inform their landlord of the situation and work something out with them until the situation can be remedied and all arrears are paid back in an agreed timescale.

ripplyuk

Guest101 wrote: »

People who pay school fees are rarely part of the 'real world'

00ec25 wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Naturally that does come first. Little Johnny would never recover from reverting to state education, for then he would never learn to read or write. Little Jane on the other hand does not count, all she need do is marry well. :cool:

I imagine they were referring to regular school fees, not a privileged, public school education. I went to a normal grammar school and fees had to be paid each term. I can understand some parents would feel they should prioritise those fees.

Guest101

ripplyuk wrote: »

I imagine they were referring to regular school fees, not a privileged, public school education. I went to a normal grammar school and fees had to be paid each term. I can understand some parents would feel they should prioritise those fees.

And the choice was those modest fees or the hundreds in rent (thousands over the course of a term)? I don't think so.