Family Getting Evicted in 2 Weeks :(

PasturesNew

You will be evicted. They are hard and fast on this type of illegal subletting. Yes, it's very unfair to you, but they have to be seen to be taking swift action because your landlady (and therefore you) have prohibited others from living in the house "legally" by waiting on the list and earning their "entitlement" to that home. You have unknowingly "jumped the queue" to a house - and the local authority have been having to pay a much higher rent to a private landlord or hotel to house somebody that could've lived there.

Your landlady will probably also be chased for these additional costs they have incurred.

Best bet ... go to the local papers with your story. Name and shame your "landlady" ... she will end up in court and will never be able to have another HA home ever again.

Get the story out there for "help find us a new home fast!" .... and hope that a willing landlord will come to your rescue. Try to get people's sympathy behind you and for a private landlord to come forward.

iammumtoone

BorisThomson wrote: »

Assuming it's the first time the LL has done this, the most she will get is a fine (and a criminal record).

Is that it? is there anything the OP can do to go after her privately?

Did you pay a deposit OP? How can the OP get this back? Can they go after the landlady for three times its value? (that is the least they deserve)

The above needs sorting after you have found a new home, that is the priority but once you are settled I would be seeing what I could do against the person (legally) who put you in this situation.

TimMadden

@Cakeguts The plot thickens... the letting agency we went through turned out to be her sons/x-husbands. We get truly conned and there is nothing we can do about it. They denied all and any involvement.

Thanks for your responses

HampshireH

TimMadden wrote: »

Regarding help for housing... we were told we would be re-housed by them before it would even reach eviction. What we got was an eviction notice telling us our council may be able to help with homelessness, which I wouldn't really regard as helping to home us, just generic advice!

Thanks.

Unfortunately that is all they can do. They should never have offered to house you. This would be most unusual. You have no right to be housed by the HA unless your local council deems you to have a right as I explained in my first post.

All they can do is offer you generic advice as you a) aren't their tenant and b) they are a HA not a housing advice service.

The Council are who you need to go to or as mentioned Shelter.

Either way you will need to move out by the eviction date or your family will go through the heartbreak of a forced bailiff eviction

TimMadden

@iammumtoo I spent one whole day ringing around solicitors to take my case. One agreed to see me and said there is no case as I have suffered no loss. I was paying rent which I would have otherwise been paying whether it was legit or not. The only ones with a case is the HA. I did get my deposit back from the LA, nothing more.

HampshireH

TimMadden wrote: »

@Cakeguts The plot thickens... the letting agency we went through turned out to be her sons/x-husbands. We get truly conned and there is nothing we can do about it. They denied all and any involvement.

Thanks for your responses

You would have their details on all correspondence, emails, letters, property offers, bank statement etc if they acted as an agent. This is your evidence if you wish to pursue them

TimMadden

@HampshireH Yes. I have all this correspondence. I can prove we went through them to find/let this house. I cannot prove, however, that they had any knowledge that the LL doesn't own the house.

HampshireH

TimMadden wrote: »

@HampshireH Yes. I have all this correspondence. I can prove we went through them to find/let this house. I cannot prove, however, that they had any knowledge that the LL doesn't own the house.

They should do their own checks really. However this is something you need to deal with after you find a new home as it shouldn't be your priority. Concentrate on rehoming. Chase those who caused the problems afterwards once you have a new (legal) roof over your head

iammumtoone

HampshireH wrote: »

They should do their own checks really. However this is something you need to deal with after you find a new home as it shouldn't be your priority. Concentrate on rehoming. Chase those who caused the problems afterwards once you have a new (legal) roof over your head

I hope you go after the agents OP AFTER you have found a new home as this wont get you to stay where your are currently but will hopefully make you feel a bit better that you didn't let them "get away with it"

Cakeguts

TimMadden wrote: »

@HampshireH We went to see a solicitors to seek advice when this all first kicked off. They said that when a letter is received to contact them again and they will help us to appeal which would prolong the process of eviction and give us more time to find a new property. My other half has spoke to them today. They said they cannot help us anymore as they had a consultation with our LL without knowing. Now they can no longer take our case- when we had a consultation with the solicitors we explained the whole situation, however, this case is between us and the HA no longer us and the LL? Sorry for the unclarity. I had no time to make any calls today as I was at work and my O/H isn't the most informative. So I am unclear myself, which is why I turned to here for help. I will be making calls tomorrow to find answers for sure.

Regarding help for housing... we were told we would be re-housed by them before it would even reach eviction. What we got was an eviction notice telling us our council may be able to help with homelessness, which I wouldn't really regard as helping to home us, just generic advice!

Thanks.

Although you explained the situation to the solicitors they may not have realised that you were living in a Housing Association property that you were not entitled to occupy. If it had been a sublet of a privately owned house then the eviction process would have been different. The problem with where you are living is that your "landlady" was not legally allowed to sublet a Housing Association property.

You have no case with the Housing Association. The Housing Association does not have any contract with you. The first person who spoke to you about this gave you the wrong advice. This wrong advice doesn't mean that you have a contract with the Housing Association for rehousing.

The Housing Association has given you around 2 months to find somewhere else to live. In that time you could have gone to the council to ask for advice.

The point is that this is now very urgent. On the date that you have been given the bailiffs are going to turn up at the house and evict you. They will change the locks and you will be homeless unless you get something else as soon as possible. This isn't a case of you being able to stay on while you look for a property in your chosen area you have got to get something soon. The sooner the better.

Tomorrow rather than trying to force the Housing Association to give you housing that they probably haven't got you need to be getting onto letting agents to find somewhere to live.