Friend been issued S8 G8,10,11,17 how can she sort this fast

propertyrental

macman said:

Seems fairly clear that what the OP's friend wants to do first is offer to pay the arrears on the basis that the G10 and 11 is not proceeded with. In which case she needs to extract that in writing before she pays up.
...

I know how I'd react to an approach like that.

A tenant who threatened to withold rent unless the LL gave up his legal rights is not a tenant I'd want a long-term relationship with.

And I can't see a judge being impressed by that either if it came to a 'discretionary' decision on eviction......

SallyDucati

Even if she is taken to court and has to leave, the rent arrears will still be due and need to paid.  The landlord could go as far as getting a CCJ against her to get it if the deposit doesn't cover it.  

IMO she's just making things worse by not paying the arrears immediately.  Whatever happens she will still need to pay them.

MobileSaver

Standingstrong said:

saajan_12 said:

Standingstrong said:

She’s gone through her notice papers and they haven’t included the rental statement ? Does that mean notice is valid ?


and when she pays off the arrears in full this week will the notice expire? as there is no arrears 

she’s going to pay December January and February so basically 3 months rent this week 

The issue is if friend really wanted to pay rent on time, then they'd have paid it as soon as the account got unlocked. Was that really *today* since you mention she can now pay the arrears? They wouldn't have waited for the notice or to write a letter, or just for this week to start. 

She rang agents today and asked to speak to the women and they said not in till tomorrow and she said to the man on the phone can you tell me more please and he said no got to wait Until that girl is in office tomorrow 

So clearly your friend could have paid the arrears by now but for whatever reason is still choosing not to.

I hope you have pointed out to your friend that the longer she leaves it the worse it will get; she will have to pay it all eventually, costs and interest will only result in her paying more and all she's doing is giving the court more reason to side with the landlord when they consider discretionary grounds for possession.

JReacher1

I still don’t really understand why the rent has not be paid 🤷‍♂️

Exodi

Ahh another week, another incredulous thread from Standingstrong.

What spectacular situation have you and your friend gotten yourselves into this time?

JReacher1 said:

I still don’t really understand why the rent has not be paid 🤷‍♂️

I don't think anyone understands this.

Even if this story was true, given the circumstances, I'd still pursue eviction of the friend.

Standingstrong

Right the rent was not paid  because HER BANK ACCOUNT . Got shut for fraud and all her Funds got taken hence why she couldn’t pay the rent. The landlord and estate agent knew about this. 

The estate agents colleague emailed her today and said wait for the girl who’s dealing with this to come in tomorrow so that they can talk and sort this out. 

Does that now sound a bit better? 

Standingstrong

JReacher1 said:

I still don’t really understand why the rent has not be paid 🤷‍♂️

Rent ain’t been paid yet because the girl has not been in the office to chat to my friend which will be tomorrow. 

She rang the office and emailed and a collage of hers said to her wait until tomorrow as the lady wants to speak to her regarding all of this and to pay the arrears off. 

Standingstrong

propertyrental said:

macman said:

Seems fairly clear that what the OP's friend wants to do first is offer to pay the arrears on the basis that the G10 and 11 is not proceeded with. In which case she needs to extract that in writing before she pays up.
...

I know how I'd react to an approach like that.

A tenant who threatened to withold rent unless the LL gave up his legal rights is not a tenant I'd want a long-term relationship with.

And I can't see a judge being impressed by that either if it came to a 'discretionary' decision on eviction......

She isn’t with holding rent? if she was withholding rent she wouldn’t be even bothering to contact that lady tomrorow to pay the arrears and to chat about this situation. Would she. 

She’s waiting for the lady who’s dealing with this in there office to come back to work as she’s on annual leave till tomorrow. 

Standingstrong

propertyrental said:

Standingstrong said:

saajan_12 said:

Standingstrong said:

She’s gone through her notice papers and they haven’t included the rental statement ? Does that mean notice is valid ?


and when she pays off the arrears in full this week will the notice expire? as there is no arrears 

she’s going to pay December January and February so basically 3 months rent this week 

The rental statement is good practice, to show the court the LL has done everything before escalating to court and incurring the fees etc. However its not 100% required and as long as the LL can prove the 2+ months arrears, they will get a possession order. 

The issue is if friend really wanted to pay rent on time, then they'd have paid it as soon as the account got unlocked. Was that really *today* since you mention she can now pay the arrears? They wouldn't have waited for the notice or to write a letter, or just for this week to start. 

She rang agents today and asked to speak to the women and they said not in till tomorrow and she said to the man on the phone can you tell me more please and he said no got to wait Until that girl is in office tomorrow 

That does not stop her paying the rent owed. The sooner it's paid in full, the better the chance the LL/agent will go no further.

Indeed, why is she planning to speak to 'the girl'? Presumably to explain about the fraud and ask for that to be taken into account, and for court proceedings not to be started? That conversation will go much better if the rent is already paid.
Pay it. Today.

if he does go to court they can’t do nothing about arrears as it would’ve been paid , 

Obviously if the rent is paid up to date, the court cannot order her to pay anything other than the LL's court costs.

so what your trying to say is my friend IF it does go to court she can defend the ground 11 and 17

As has been expained multiple times, eviction undr Gs 11 or 17 is discretionary - up to the judge to decide. So any defence ofered may help the judge decide in the tenant's favour. But there's no guarantee.

She said to that man on the phone today I want to pay it as soon as possible but he wouldn’t do anything he was telling her to wait until she’s in tomorrow as she’s dealing with this matter. 

Standingstrong

MattMattMattUK said:

Standingstrong said:

_Penny_Dreadful said:

housebuyer143 said:

_Penny_Dreadful said:

macman said:

I think your friend needs to accept that relations with the LL have broken down irretrievably and that, even if the arrears are paid in full tomorrow, the LL is likely to continue with seeking to gain possession under 11 and 17.
I doubt they want to risk further loss of income by waiting to serve an S21 in November, if that is the end of the fixed term TA.

No sane landlord would walk into a court hoping to get a possession order using two discretionary grounds with a Section 8 notice.  As all communication thus far has been with the letting agent I wonder if adding grounds 10, 11 and 17 were the idea of an over-zealous letting agent rater than the landlord.

When we did section 8 notices at the letting agent I worked for, you always put every available ground down on the section 8 in case the arrears got cleared before the court date. Some landlords still wished to press forward on discretionary grounds. Some landlords I know got possession this way.

If you are doing it anyway, what harm does including the additional grounds do 

When you go to court off the back of a Section 8 using a mandatory ground then providing you can prove the mandatory ground e.g. 2 months rent is owed the tenants cannot defend the case and the judge has to grant the possession order even if he/she thinks eviction is a bit unfair e.g. when someone’s bank account has been frozen so they cannot access their money to pay the rent. 

On the other hand if you only walk into court with a discretionary ground(s) you not only have to prove the condition for the ground is met but the judge has to deem it reasonable for the tenant to be evicted because of it. For example, say you walk in with just ground 10 and at the time of the hearing the tenant owes you £1, yes the condition for ground 10 is met but no judge is going to grant a possession order over £1. 

With discretionary grounds the tenant is entitled to defend it and if they choose to put in a defence the case will not be concluded during the initial hearing as it would be with a mandatory ground.  You then have to wait weeks/months for the next hearing. The case can become drawn out and therefore expensive meanwhile the tenant, if in receipt of benefits could be entitled to legal aid.  It’s much easier for the landlord to issue a Section 21 at the earliest time possible. 

So when she pays the arrears off this week even though the landlord might not go ahead after it all being paid , 

if he does go to court they can’t do nothing about arrears as it would’ve been paid , 

so what your trying to say is my friend IF it does go to court she can defend the ground 11 and 17 ? 

The fact she has the capacity to pay but still has not and is instead messing around with phone calls and letters reflects very badly on her and certainly is not going to help her case with the landlord. I suspect that she might have got away with this if she had been open and sensible with the landlord, but if I were in the landlords position with all the messing around still going on I would want her out as well and I would use any legitimate means to get rid of her.

The man on the phone wouldn’t accept anything as he said to her that she needs to call back tomorrow to pay it and to speak to that colleague who’s dealing with this in there office