Order to attend court for questioning

sourcrates

It appears the landlord has been filling your heads with rubbish here hoping you will fall for it.

This all boils down to simple figures as Dennis confirms above, your rent, council tax, and other essential payments ALWAYS come first, if when you have budgeted for everything you spend money on, there is a surplus left over, then that is what you offer the court.

The court will ask for a copy of your budget, so make sure it covers your needs comfortably, that is what the court will use to make its decision on what you should pay.

Ignore what the landlord says to you, focus on the things that count.

elsien

Claimant is talking complete cobblers. Don't discuss anything else with him about what you can pay, what you are in arrears with etc, all you're doing is giving him an opening to try to scare you even more.
All you need to say is "see you in court." In fact, I wouldn't be having any further communication with him at all. Let the court decide.

colukev

Thank you sourcrates.

With everything we spend, we are looking at £500 in the minus. We can rejig a little to bring down to possibly £300-350.

He is wasting everyones time by taking us to court when we have made an offer to him. It made us worry that he must be right or else he wouldn't risk turning down our £200 knowing that the court would rule we cannot pay him anything at all.

scd3scd4

Stop communicating with him!

sourcrates

It could well be beneficial to you to get some free debt advice on your whole situation, do you have other debts, or is it the high rent that is the problem ?

colukev

We do have other debts, but confident in 6 months we can get into a position where we are covering our costs and making payments to clear the debts.

This has been the plan for a while, however with this court case impending it has just sent us into meltdown as we have been so worried.

We will take the advice of you guys and not speak with him anymore. only a few weeks until the hearing. Just want to get it done and dusted so we can stop worrying and move forward.

National_Debtline

scd3scd4 wrote: »

Stop communicating with him!

This. A thousand times over.


Dennis
@natdebtline

John-K_3

colukev wrote: »

We have not, purely because we cannot actually afford this. If they could accept our £200 per month offer, then we would find a way to pay somehow, but dropping another bill.

This bit does not really make sense. You say that you cannot afford it but that you will find a way to pay. That means that you cannot afford it.

You are going to have to cut other expenses so that you can afford it, earn more money, or move to somewhere cheaper.

theoretica

colukev wrote: »

Thank you sourcrates.

With everything we spend, we are looking at £500 in the minus. We can rejig a little to bring down to possibly £300-350.

He is wasting everyones time by taking us to court when we have made an offer to him. It made us worry that he must be right or else he wouldn't risk turning down our £200 knowing that the court would rule we cannot pay him anything at all.

So even if you moved to a property several hundred cheaper you still wouldn't be able to afford anything to him. So there is no benefit to the court to make you do this. Further, the court will not make children homeless.

He seems to have got you tangled up to his benefit. What you need to do is stop communicating and letting him worry you and prepare show the court truthfully exactly what you can afford (which sounds like a token 5p). And don't feel bound by the £200 offer you were pressured to make. See you in court, in fact!

poppasmurf_bewdley

I too have a law degree. Problem is, it's in British Election Law! Not much help in financial situations.

As others have said, you should only offer what you can realistically afford.

And it doesn't matter if the Landlord is aggressive or not. He won't bully the court.

It's very evident to me that he has tried to fill your head with a load of nonsense, much of which you have believed.

I have never known a court order someone to pay a monthly payment they cannot afford. Be honest with the court, and it will play fair with you.

On a completely different matter. I do find it a nonsense that with two young children, you are living in a four bedroomed house with a study, which you patently cannot afford. You do need to downsize if you are to regain any financial stability.