Witness statement

Mojito1

newsgroupmonkey_ said:

Mojito1 said:

lincroft1710 said:

Forced to live elsewhere because you were evicted doesn't equate to the property being unavailable.


For how long did you live in the property and for how many months are you in arrears? The landlord has no obligation to pay any removal costs.


The type of compensation you are seeking is not quantifiable and therefore Small Claims procedure cannot be used. Instituting such a claim will be costly and you probably won't get anything anyway and you are already in financial hardship.

Oh I do believe the landlord did have an obligation to pay my removal costs, as the property & tenancy was not as was agreed

I'm really sorry, it really doesn't work like that. You can't claim for costs that are not agreed.

The landlord is suing you because you agreed to pay X amount per month. You can argue that you didn't get what you were paying for, so you should only owe Y amount per month. You can't say "I know I owe you X, but I'm not paying it. And in addition, I want Z off you". Oh I think I can.

A landlord can serve you an S21 for any reason. It could be because he just didn't like you. As long as he didn't evict you because of protected characteristics (i.e. because of your colour, sex, disabilities etc.). And yes, under the current law, revenge evictions are legal. It was clearly a revenge eviction. Some people see a vulnerable single female as an easy target. Yes I do believe it was also discrimination. Before I moved in the letting agent said the landlord wasn't going to allow pets and didn't like cats, but would make an exception. Sharp pins / needles were left scattered around the carpets which I believe were left deliberately to cause harm to my pets. 

If you were out of work, I take it you were claiming benefits? Yes, currently only income is universal credit. 

I'll let Slithery respond because I feel like I'm being really mean and I'm trying not to be - I'm trying to get you to accept that you're not going to get what you want from this. As has been mentioned above, you can only claim what's quantifiable and expected from a Landlord. Mental health, stress and so on does not unfortunately have a price, so you need to take a different court avenue which involves expensive lawyers. As I said before, I cannot afford to pay lawyers. 

I would also heavily recommend giving Shelter a call. They're used to stuff like this, but please please please, listen to what they say. I have, they told me to get legal advice. 

.........

Slithery

Mojito1 said:

It was clearly a revenge eviction.

Maybe, but that isn't illegal. The LL can serve a S21 without any reason if they wish. The only time a revenge eviction is illegal in the UK is if you already followed the procedure outlined in the Shelter link above. You've already told us that this didn't happen so it is completely irrelevant to your case.

Mojito1

lincroft1710 said:

Forced to live elsewhere because you were evicted doesn't equate to the property being unavailable.


For how long did you live in the property and for how many months are you in arrears? The landlord has no obligation to pay any removal costs.


The type of compensation you are seeking is not quantifiable and therefore Small Claims procedure cannot be used. Instituting such a claim will be costly and you probably won't get anything anyway and you are already in financial hardship.

I was stuck there sadly for about 12 months before being able to move out. I paid 5 months rent, so 7 months arrears, although the landlord seems to have calculated wrong and is claiming about 9 months arrears. 

If small claims procedure can't be used, will the court automatically allocate to a different track? I really do have nothing to lose. If the amounts I claim are too much for the small claims, then the judge can always amend the amounts as they see fit? 

turnitround

Mojito1 said:

turnitround said:

I really dont think you are taking any notice of the help you are being given. No one is going to tell you that you have a chance of success with this and it would not be helpful for them to do so even though its seems to be what you want to hear. Sympathise with the landlord all you like. I have a right to quiet enjoyment of my home and decent living conditions for a property I was paying a lot of my hard earned money to rent.

You say you paid over 5000 when you should have paid none but that is not the case. Of course you should have paid rent and you should also have followed the procedure to get the landlord to do repairs. Unless you did this your case would be thrown out anyway. I wasn't aware of this procedure and doubt any judge in their right mind would throw a case out solely because I didn't follow a specific procedure. Under the circumstances, my priority at the time was my health and trying to move out.

Likewise the financial losses. You may be able to prove harassment etc but these are not financial losses. Yes it is a financial loss if it prevents somebody being able to earn a living in order to pay their rent. 

Please listen to what people are telling you because to continue down the path you are going is only going to give you more stress and could end up with significant costs which you will have to bear. Yes this is extremely stressful. Having bailiffs terrorising me at my new home and seizing my belongings would be even more stressful.  

You cannot win this, please dont make things worse for yourself. Are you a private landlord?

.........

I am most certainly not a private landlord. 

Would it help if I said 'Go ahead, you will make a fortune taking this to small claims court'. 

As it stands you seem to have made up your mind to continue with this despite all the advice you have been given telling you that you do not have a case.

I don't think you understand either the ins and outs of renting or the court system and neither do you appear to take advice when it is given to you but I wish you well and hope it does not cause you more stress than you are already under.

Ive just noticed that in your last post you say you have 'nothing to lose' but you are in danger of ending up with costs you cannot afford to pay.

However you dont seem to want to take advice so at your own risk be it.

Mojito1

Slithery said:

Mojito1 said:

It was clearly a revenge eviction.

Maybe, but that isn't illegal. The LL can serve a S21 without any reason if they wish. The only time a revenge eviction is illegal in the UK is if you already followed the procedure outlined in the Shelter link above. You've already told us that this didn't happen so it is completely irrelevant to your case.

Yes it is illegal. And was served after I complained about disrepairs. I believe I did enough, its unrealistic to expect me to have done everything perfectly to stand any chance of success. There is no point keep telling me what I should have done. A bit late now isn't it. That isn't going to help at all

Mojito1

turnitround said:

Mojito1 said:

turnitround said:

I really dont think you are taking any notice of the help you are being given. No one is going to tell you that you have a chance of success with this and it would not be helpful for them to do so even though its seems to be what you want to hear. Sympathise with the landlord all you like. I have a right to quiet enjoyment of my home and decent living conditions for a property I was paying a lot of my hard earned money to rent.

You say you paid over 5000 when you should have paid none but that is not the case. Of course you should have paid rent and you should also have followed the procedure to get the landlord to do repairs. Unless you did this your case would be thrown out anyway. I wasn't aware of this procedure and doubt any judge in their right mind would throw a case out solely because I didn't follow a specific procedure. Under the circumstances, my priority at the time was my health and trying to move out.

Likewise the financial losses. You may be able to prove harassment etc but these are not financial losses. Yes it is a financial loss if it prevents somebody being able to earn a living in order to pay their rent. 

Please listen to what people are telling you because to continue down the path you are going is only going to give you more stress and could end up with significant costs which you will have to bear. Yes this is extremely stressful. Having bailiffs terrorising me at my new home and seizing my belongings would be even more stressful.  

You cannot win this, please dont make things worse for yourself. Are you a private landlord?

.........

I am most certainly not a private landlord. 

Would it help if I said 'Go ahead, you will make a fortune taking this to small claims court'. 

As it stands you seem to have made up your mind to continue with this despite all the advice you have been given telling you that you do not have a case.

I don't think you understand either the ins and outs of renting or the court system and neither do you appear to take advice when it is given to you but I wish you well and hope it does not cause you more stress than you are already under.

Ive just noticed that in your last post you say you have 'nothing to lose' but you are in danger of ending up with costs you cannot afford to pay.

However you dont seem to want to take advice so at your own risk be it.

What do you suggest I do? Let the bailiffs in to take my furniture as well? Do you think that would be stressful for me? I understand a lot more about renting than the landlord does. Sounds like victim blaming to me and no, i'm not going to take advice that is clearly not in my best interests

Slithery

Mojito1 said:

Yes it is illegal.

It really isn't. If you are correct you'll be able to provide a link to the legislation, yes?
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/revenge_eviction_if_you_ask_for_repairs

Anyhow, I'm out of this thread now. If I stay any longer I'll probably end up saying something I'll regret.

Good luck if you do decide to continue with this case, you'll need it.

Mojito1

The landlord was trying to illegally evict me from day 1 of the tenancy, through repeated and relentless harassment, trying to force me to leave. 

Fingers crossed then that I get a nice judge. 

No I am not going to provide links for you. I am asking for help with the most recent court order, as I don't want to make any mistakes. I was late filing before, and would really appreciate helpful advice asap, otherwise I won't stand any chance of success.

Mojito1

Does anyone know if this next hearing is solely a hearing to decide if I am allowed to appeal the judgment?

Could anyone advise what the possible outcomes will be of this hearing?

Do I need to file all evidence relating to the claim now, such as photos of condition and a seperate witness statement about the disrepairs / harassment etc, in addition to witness statement regarding medical evidence? Or would that be at another hearing?

Do I need to file my defence and counterclaim again - I am not even sure if it was served to the claimant - Should I send claimant a copy?

If I want to make any amendments to defence and counterclaim, do I have to make an application for permission, or could I just file amended one?

Would it help my case at all if I contacted the claimant directly at all at this stage? If so, what should I write to landlord?

deannagone

For various reasons this thread has moved away from the original question.  The original case has already been made and judgement was found against you.  I am sorry for this.  But now you have to 'fight clever' and make arguments in your favour that will help you.

Do you have a mental health condition in addition to the physical health problems?  Whatever conditions you have, mental or physical, try and find someone who can help with this in mind.  We don't know what conditions you have been diagnosed with so try and find charities that help people with these conditions, they will be able to advise better than we can.  

Try and deal with facts, the allegations you feel very strongly about may not help prove why you weren't able to attend the original court hearing and why you didn't comply with the judgement.  I suspect it may be too late to make a counter claim.  

You might beneficially give a brief history, with evidence (police calls, requests of repairs) of how the tenancy increased your mental health difficulties.  If you have no supporting evidence, however, this might not help.  Please bear this in mind.  Don't include pages and pages of complaints, it needs to be a brief, unemotional, to the point list.

It will probably be most helpful to explain what conditions you have, why these made it impossible to attend court and also explain your financial circumstances to explain why you couldn't keep to the judgement.  For example, you can only claim you shouldn't have paid rent if the property was made uninhabitable due to a lack of action/repair etc.  Having to clean a toilet is unpleasant, but doesn't make the property uninhabitable.   I have to clean disgusting toilets quite a lot as my son has some physical problems.  Its something very unpleasant that makes me heave (one of my 'things' that I have a particular horror of doing) but its part of living somewhere.  I also lived in a homeless hostel with unmentional stuff up the walls, and was pregnant, fairly unwell with other conditions.  Put rubber gloves on, bleach, started scrubbing so my then toddler had a decent toilet to use.  Not pleasant, but had to be done (the hostel had a cleaner but one thing they didn't do was clean).  Its impossible to prove at this point that the LL put sharp things in the carpet to hurt your pet.  

But explaining that conditions a, b and c, meant you couldn't deal with what was happening, and your benefits were stopped/reduced/your income was limited prevented you from paying what the court asked for could well be more beneficial for you.  You have to deal with what is, for the court. 

But discuss the two options - arguing that the court judgement shouldn't have been made in the first place, against the viability of explaining why you couldn't attend court or pay the judgement.  Try and open your mind to the fact that this judgement has been made and you might need to argue differently to how you feel you should. It could be that the best thing you can do now, is reduce the payments the court expected you to make.  

You can also discuss this with the court clerk.  Although their advice isn't always to be relied upon, it will give you a starting point.  Go back to the CAB, discuss whether the above paragraph has any relevance to you.  Get what you can out of this.  The legal system is by no means perfect, particularly when dealing with vulnerabilities.  Don't waste your time with losing arguments, deal with what is possible.  See if the CAB, if you can't get any other help, will help you phrase your reply to the court if you decide to change the approach to the case. You could end up paying a minimal amount, per week.