Accelerated posession order (i am tenant)

amu21

Hello all

my husband met an accident 2years ago which made him made ridden and loosing his job,i have 2 very young kids 3years and 2 years (older one is autistic and very hard to manage) i am not working as well we were taking UC and managing somehow we had been taking of debt as well and cherry on top this house got sold 3 months ago LL gave us section21 in January 
We tried to move in some other property but without job we couldn't get any
Just today I have received claim form copy,defence form,and it states it is accelerated posession form
I was tooo depress because of what has been going on from 2 years and now this,how much time do i have now left in this home? WhT would be the next step? We were in little arrears but made them clear this month
Will we receive any court date now? 
Please any advices are welcome thanks

MaryNB

You need to challenge it within 14 days of receiving it. Once you do that a judge will decide if a court hearing is required. Make it clear you are in a difficult position.
Accelerated possession orders

Unfortunately an S21 notice is a no fault notice. Doesn't matter if your rent is up to date or not. 

Have you checked that the S21 is valid? Do you have a valid EPC, right to rent booklet, info on your protected deposit, GSC (if you have a gas supply) etc? 
How to check a section 21 notice is valid

I'm really sorry to hear you're going through such a difficult time!

theartfullodger

An S21 notice , even if valid (many are not) does not end tenancy nor compel tenant to leave.  Wait and see if landlord starts court action - likely to take some 6 months 

Are you on local council housing register?  If not please apply now!

Sorry to read your story.

'phone Shelter 0808 800 44440 for more advice from the experts.

Sadly Thatcher's 1988 Housing act granted landlords right to evict tenants for no reason at all.  Remember at the elections.

Good luck.

amu21

Yes he gave us everything on time so assuming its valid,if my husband had a job things would have been different
Do we really need to challenge? What id we dont challenge? I mean what are we challenging for? 
And 6 months from having an accelarated posession order?

Ellie_Phant_619

In these circumstances you will almost ceratinly need to turn to the council for housing support - id go there immediately, with the paperwork

amu21

We tried to contact them once we had s21 but they didn't do anything i will contact them today again with this in hand

theartfullodger

If you just leave because of the s21 (when you legally don;t have to) then you could be judged to have made yourselves "intentionally homeless" and be entitled to less advice and less/no rehousing by the council.

I repeat:  Are you on local council housing register?  If not please apply now!

Go see the local council, explain your position and see what they suggest.  

Please, for your sakes and the sakes of your children.  Good luck!

deannagone

A few years ago I was going through the same process, I have two autistic children.  

I am afraid Housing will often try to gatekeep and tell people applying for help with housing things that will put them off making the application, due to a lack of social housing.  So you need to ignore the negative comments that may be made (you don't qualify for help with housing etc).  You should, as long as you aren't two months in arrears at the time of applying (the amount of arrears may vary), and because you have an autistic child, and just children in themselves, this will make you a priority.  Don't panic if housing do try to imply you won't qualify for housing.., go to Shelter or find a local housing advice agency (Porchlight do a lot where I live) and check with them if the council does this.

You also need to think of what emergency accommodation will be like.  Quite often this consists of single room accommodation, may mean shared facilities and could mean being placed in cheaper accommodation out of the area.  I made a case that single room accommodation with no bedrooms etc would present safety risks to my children because of their inability to assess and deal with social situations.  My older son definitely needed a room of his own (problems sleeping, anxiety etc, inability to cope with noise).  If you have worked with your son's school or other services to get support with care of your son, that is reason to ask for a local placement. 

I was actually placed in a maisonette rather than a hostel as emergency accommodation. 

It will help if you make sure you have a folder containing all your son's diagnostic information and any assessments made so you can provide these to the council. Contact any professional (medical/social services/school) who has been involved in your son's care and ask for their support (letter confirming the difficulties and how they apply to housing need).   You might also consider asking for children's social services support.  

However remember that as already said on here, a S21 is just the first step in the eviction process that allows the LL to apply to a court for a Possession Order and then a Bailiffs Warrant of Eviction.  These all take time (again how long the process takes will vary depending on number of cases waiting in your area).  If you leave the property at the end of the s21 notice period, the council will regard you as making yourself voluntarily homeless.  I'm afraid council's often don't do much until the notice has been served and court papers served to you.  I didn't know if I was going to be moved to emergency accommodation until several hours after the bailiff had been round (they came round in the morning, inspite of the council having all the papers giving the court dates, I wasn't given an appt until that afternoon - I was a zombie by the time of the appt.  But most council's won't be as lacksadaisical as that, I hope. 

Its a tough process.., at times I was OTT stressed etc but I have been in secure council housing for over four years now.  

But you do need to be proactive and persistent. I know its hard when you are tired and stressed, as many of the people on here will witness after my frantic and long threads a few years ago lol.., but you can get through it.  

I wish you all the best.

macman

Have you actually checked that the S21 is even valid? If it's not, then the LL must regularise the tenancy and start again. 'He gave us everything on time' is not sufficient. So I suggest that you go through the checklist on the link above item by item. A single error or omission means that the LL's request for a possession order will be rejected by the court.

amu21

Thanks deannnagone for sucha great advice 

Have you got any idea how long would we need to live in emergency accommodation?
Yes we were definitely in arrears at the time of applying council home that could be the reason of out rejected application 

amu21

Theartfullodger

Thanks for you input,we are not on the register of council we once put applicantion but that was refused as we were in arrears at that time,we will apply again today i really hope they ll put us on register now