Am I liable for court costs if I left before possession order

squizz11

I rented a house and paid a year up front,   landlord didn't anticipate interest rate rises and served s21 after 5 months.   I left approx 2 months after the s21 was up.   the market was awful and 4 bed houses don't come up very often sometimes only 1 every few weeks.    
I recieved a order for possession today even though I left on the 28th October, claiming costs.   its already cost me a 30% increase in rent,  which was another £4000 for the year, £2000 to move and now this.

Am I still liable.

TBagpuss

Very probably, yes. It's likely that most of the costs were incirred before you left , certainly any court and legal costs to issue proceedings. 

What did you do to notify the landlord and the court that you were moving out / had moved out? 

saajan_12

squizz11 said:

I rented a house and paid a year up front,   - was this a 12 month fixed term? Any break clause? 
landlord didn't anticipate interest rate rises and served s21 after 5 months.   - their reasons are irrelevant, the point is they can serve S21 on an AST tenant, subject to any fixed term or break clause. When did the S21 expire?
I left approx 2 months after the s21 was up.   - Did you communicate with the LL about this or serve your own notice? 
the market was awful and 4 bed houses don't come up very often sometimes only 1 every few weeks.    
I recieved a order for possession today even though I left on the 28th October, claiming costs.   - which is their right in the course of an AST and S21 process. If you didn't serve notice yourself, then how would they know you're leaving and shouldn't apply to court etc? 
its already cost me a 30% increase in rent,  which was another £4000 for the year, £2000 to move and now this. - right, you never had a teanncy for life, so moving costs are to be expected..

Am I still liable. - probably, but pls answer the questions above to be sure. 

Comments in line.. Remember a S21 is just letting you know about an intention to go to court. If you want to leave prior to the actual court possession order, you can serve your own notice and leave. If this was before the S21 ended, then they shouldn't have applied to court. If not, then they can't wait indefinitely in case you decide to leave.. 

squizz11

TBagpuss said:

Very probably, yes. It's likely that most of the costs were incirred before you left , certainly any court and legal costs to issue proceedings. 

What did you do to notify the landlord and the court that you were moving out / had moved out? 

they were notified about two weeks after the s21 was ending that I had a house but not a definate date as the landlord didn't know.   we started the references then.   all was done by emails to the agent and we had confirmation that they recieved it,   we gave a date 2 weeks after that

TBagpuss

As I unerstnad it, they could issue the application as soon as the notice in the s21 expirted and you failed to move out. It sounds as though you only actually confirmed your move out date 2 weeks before leaving and almost certainly after they had already started that process .

I'm not clear whether what you have now recived is an actual posession roder + order for costs or if it is simply the application for those things. If it is the actual order then the court has already made the decion that you are liable and you have to pay.

If it is just the application then you can of course file s response and can object to paying the costs but the landlord will laready have incurred the court issue frr and some legal costs which they are likely to be entitled to regardless of the fact that you have now left. 

If you had left and notified them of that facct before the date on whih the applciation was issued by the court then you may have an argument that you hould not have to pay the costs 

squizz11

should i have been informed of the court date,  it was just  closed court and I was given no option to respond.    landlord is trying to screw me over with extortionate costs from the deposit as well.

I hate this, seems so unfair with houses so scarce and given just 2 months to find somewhere.  
he didn't even inform the court that I left and the only reason I have the letter is I have a keepsake.    iy was sent to the address I moved out of

tripled

All seems very quick - S21 up on 31st August, less than three months later an order for possession through. OP hasn't given any meaningful information about the tenancy, or if they've previously had any paperwork for the court.

However, if a judge has issued a possession order, and awarded costs to the landlord, then you would need to either pay the costs or appeal the judgement. If you ignore them, you will have a CCJ reported on your credit record and the landlord could apply for the court to enforce the debt.

Edit - looks like we've crossed posted:

should i have been informed of the court date, it was just closed court and I was given no option to respond.

You should have had an opportunity to enter a defence, if you did not, then the judge may have issued the possession order without there being a hearing.

PRAISETHESUN

squizz11 said:

should i have been informed of the court date,  it was just  closed court and I was given no option to respond.    landlord is trying to screw me over with extortionate costs from the deposit as well.

I hate this, seems so unfair with houses so scarce and given just 2 months to find somewhere.  
he didn't even inform the court that I left and the only reason I have the letter is I have a keepsake.    iy was sent to the address I moved out of

You should write to the courts (and separately to your former LL) to inform them of your new contact address, so that further documents will make their way to you. Last thing you want is to lose a judgment by default because you didn't respond to any demands that you never received. Send it by first class post, and retain proof of postage. If your LL then serves new letters to the incorrect address, you'll then have a defense as to why you didn't respond.

squizz11

I was given the s21 earlier in the year to end on the 15th August.    He knew on the 2nd September I had a house that was going through references and that it wouldn't be till end of October.    The possession order was granted on the 14th November, 2 weeks after I moved out.   

the top of the letter says order for possesion(accelerated)

seems so unfair,   I've done nothing wrong and yet it's cost me thousands

tripled

From the sounds of it, the LL kicked off the court process pretty quickly, you didn't enter a defence, and so the order (with costs) was subsequently granted without a hearing. There's no law obliging the landlord to hold off court proceedings while you look for a new place to live.

Accelerated possession order costs should be £355. https://www.gov.uk/evicting-tenants/accelerated-possession-orders

https://www.gov.uk/private-renting-evictions/accelerated-possession

If you'd posted when you first had the court papers through, then some of the experts on here could have given you advice on if you might have a defence that could have had the claim thrown out. However, now it's been issued, you need to consider if you want to spend time and money trying to appeal it, or begrudgingly accept it and move on.

squizz11

wasn't given the chance to enter a defence,  how can I when I'm not notified of a date

I was given the s21 and all was in order.    nothing else after