Eviction / council housing advice for a tenant

nnb

Hi I am looking for advice for my friend, hopefully I have included all the relevant info and some of you may be able to help

In early summer I think it was, her landlord tried asking her to leave via text message - I told her she shouldn't react until it's done properly (ie a letter). She eventually got this a couple of months later!

Unfortunately she had lost her job and had also never paid a deposit for her current property and so had no spare cash to be able to afford to move. My suggestion was to take it to eviction and get the council to help rehome her. The council agreed she would need to go through the eviction process in order for them to help her, but they confirmed they would be able to find her somewhere at the end of it and help her financially. That was late summer.

Since then, she hadn't heard anything from the courts, however her landlord had tried entering the property unannounced a couple of weeks ago, not realising she was in and scarpered when they realised she was.

This week, she has had a letter from the court saying she has ONE WEEK to move. The letter is titled 'notice of eviction' - is this her final notice and she must obey?

The other problem is she has now gone back to the council saying she's had this, and they're now backtracking and saying she has to find her own property and then they will CONSIDER giving her housing benefit. Over the summer, they had made it sound like they would help her find somewhere and benefit was guaranteed.

She has not been able to work and the money situation still stands. Obviously with no job/proof of earnings, landlords will only really rent to her if she can back herself up with a deposit and a few months in advance - which she can't. Plus many will avoid her if they get a whiff of housing benefit coming into play. The council have really mucked her about!

Can anyone please advise me more on the whole eviction process, and any advice I can pass onto her regarding her options on finding somewhere to live?

Thank you in advance x

Comms69

The court does not send a notice of eviction.


Bailiffs might though.


She doesn't have to leave until bailiffs arrive.


Does your friend have children?

nnb

Comms69 wrote: »

The court does not send a notice of eviction.

Bailiffs might though.

She doesn't have to leave until bailiffs arrive.

Does your friend have children?

The letter goes on to say it is a possession warrant. The address on the top right suggests it has come from the court, and the footer on the letter suggests it came from the court. There is no mention that it is sent by bailiffs. The letter does however state that she must leave by a certain day and time as the letter gives a county court bailiff authority to evict her.

Does it sound normal that this is the only letter she has had? I know she's had a number of months to prepare but making her wait months then giving her a week sounds a bit unreasonable (considering you get 2-8 weeks from landlords/agents). Even if the council help, I don't think they would even have a turnaround that quick on helping anyone!

She has adult children who do not live there, so she can't use kids as any leverage sadly!

Comms69

nnb wrote: »

The letter goes on to say it is a possession warrant. The address on the top right suggests it has come from the court, and the footer on the letter suggests it came from the court. There is no mention that it is sent by bailiffs. The letter does however state that she must leave by a certain day and time as the letter gives a county court bailiff authority to evict her.

Does it sound normal that this is the only letter she has had? I know she's had a number of months to prepare but making her wait months then giving her a week sounds a bit unreasonable (considering you get 2-8 weeks from landlords/agents). Even if the council help, I don't think they would even have a turnaround that quick on helping anyone!

She has adult children who do not live there, so she can't use kids as any leverage sadly!

Must be like a covering letter or something the courts are sending. The LL is awarded a possession order, which is provided on the standard template.


Along the lines of: It is ordered that possession be granted to X, or property addressed at ____ on the date of.


No she should have had a claim form, with date of hearing etc. (not that she has a defence in all likelihood)


LLs and LAs don't give any notice of eviction, ever. They give notice of intent to go to court. That's step 1. Step 2, they apply to the courts (and she gets the pack through the post) this is step 3 now - possession granted. The courts give 1-2 weeks at most - on the basis she's already had atleast 2 months.


The council help people ON THE DAY. Today your friend is not homeless, but there will be dozens who are. They take priority.


I'm not sure why you think they would help her though? Is there more to this? - IE does she have special (documented ) needs?


if not, then she doesn't require council intervention.

nnb

Comms69 wrote: »

LLs and LAs don't give any notice of eviction, ever. They give notice of intent to go to court. That's step 1. Step 2, they apply to the courts (and she gets the pack through the post) this is step 3 now - possession granted. The courts give 1-2 weeks at most - on the basis she's already had atleast 2 months.

The council help people ON THE DAY. Today your friend is not homeless, but there will be dozens who are. They take priority.

I'm not sure why you think they would help her though? Is there more to this? - IE does she have special (documented ) needs?

Thanks for your reply. I have quoted the bits to respond to

By LL/LA notice I meant notice to move out, sorry I should have worded it better.

The council had said they would help, now they say she has to do it herself and then they'll think about it. There was never a mention of them only helping on the day - thank you for telling me this We appreciate she is not a main priority, however when she visited them they did say she qualified - I do not know the ins and outs other than that she lost her job and has no money saved. I assume there must be other factors but I am not one to pry into too much detail!

Not trying to be difficult, just trying to get advice to help my mate as she has been given the runaround by the council and has been left with a week to move out and nowhere to go! Just hoped someone may be able to help clarify the eviction process for us and her next steps is all

kelpie35

By the sounds of things she has misunderstood what she was told by the council.

The council will only help those who have disabilities or people with children these days and even then they will probably be put up in either bed and breakfast places or homeless accommodation where they would have to share facilities.

Cheeky_Monkey

Comms69 wrote: »

I'm not sure why you think they would help her though? Is there more to this? - IE does she have special (documented ) needs?


if not, then she doesn't require council intervention.

^^^^^ Totally agree.

She has had months to find alternative accommodation but hasn't done so.

She might end up having to live with one of her kids as she is unlikely to get any social housing.

Comms69

nnb wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. I have quoted the bits to respond to

By LL/LA notice I meant notice to move out, sorry I should have worded it better. - You're mistaken. LL and LAs don't give notice to move out (or if they do it's meaningless) they give notice of intention to go to court.

The council had said they would help, now they say she has to do it herself and then they'll think about it. There was never a mention of them only helping on the day - thank you for telling me this We appreciate she is not a main priority, however when she visited them they did say she qualified - I do not know the ins and outs other than that she lost her job and has no money saved. I assume there must be other factors but I am not one to pry into too much detail! - the other factors are crucial, being unemployed / skint doesn't entitle one to a council house, and if any help is available it will be limited to temporary emergency accommodation (a b&b for a few weeks)

Not trying to be difficult, just trying to get advice to help my mate as she has been given the runaround by the council and has been left with a week to move out and nowhere to go! Just hoped someone may be able to help clarify the eviction process for us and her next steps is all

The next step is bailiffs being appointed and then taking possession, I'd say with-in the month. Realistically she needs to be ready to move somewhere asap

Fosterdog

Could she move in with one of her adult children?

pmlindyloo

It is always difficult to advise when it is about a 'friend' and you have not seen all the paperwork.

There are possession proceedings that need to be followed.

See here:

http://england.shelter.org.uk/legal/security_of_tenure/possession_proceedings

Until you know exactly what stage your friend is at then it is difficult to advise.

Does she have rent arrears? What was the first notice from the landlord issued - a Section 21 or something else?

I suggest that she gathers all her paperwork and either speak/book an appointment with CAB or give Shelter a ring.

As regards the council then your friend may have misunderstood what the council has said. Single working age people with no vulnerability or disability have virtually no chance of getting council accommodation.

However, there may be help for a deposit/moving costs from the council and the possibility of housing benefit and a Discretionary Housing Payment.

it all depends on your friend's circumstances.

However, in all likelihood she will have to move out sooner or later so she needs to find some temporary accommodation with friends/family. She should also get some advice re: benefits.

G_M

As this case involves your 'friend' (allegedly), it is always tricky.

* it is likely you do not have the whole story
* it is likely you have not told us all of the story that you do know

So we have a part only, of one side, of the situation.

1) I suspect your friend received a S21 Notice at some point (2 months ago?)
2) Even more likely, I suspect the friend received a S8 Notice citing ground 8 rent arrears
3) I suspect when the council said they would re-house, they had not been told all the facts. In particular, they may have been told simply that the friend was being evicted, not that there were rent arrears
4) if the possession order from the court was based on a S8 Notice for rent arrears, as seems likely, then the council will categorise the tenant as "intentionally homeless". In that case, they would not re-house.