Impending eviction :s

Miss_Cat

Gillianh2 wrote: »

Just a thought have you spoken to your Enviormental Health officer, the one who came about the damp. Ask for his written report asap. Produce this to |Council and any Housing Assc; in the area. This will give you "points" on the waiting list.

Hope you manage to get some rest today

i haven't, no, it was my OH who was dealing with that, but i will ask him about it when he finishes work and see what the EHO was going to do, then contact them tomorrow.
such a list of things to do tomorrow:eek:

blue_monkey_2

Good luck Cat, come back tomorrow and let us know how it goes.

Just a thought but you could argue that you had paid off the arrears but the LL was selling the flat (is it on the market or anything) and that it was on the market. You should also take that report to the council to show how unfit it was to live in. Also, do you have any evidence to show that the LL said he was going to deduct money off the rent? You could argue that the 'arrears; were this money that he did not deduct. Have a think on things as to where you best go from here. Good lucky honey, I'll be in tomorrow night to see what hapens, got a list of stuff myself to get done

Write everything down, who you need to speak to, the paperwork you need to dig out, you need to get everything in order to ensure that you have covered everything possible. As someone else mentioned they should house you for at least 28 days once the bailiff evicts you and that gives you extra time to fight this. Fingers crossed for you. xx

Miss_Cat

it was on the market, and they had a couple of people to view it, but then he took it off the market. LA said he wants to do it up... i think that was a direct result of the EHO contacting the letting agents tho

the only evidence i have that the LL said that, was a letter from the council which said the problems we have had (e.g lack of hot water for 3 months) couldnt be taken into consideration for extra points because the LL gave us compensationn in the form of reduced rent. which of course the LL or letting agents have NEVER said to us, at the most they have been quite good at not hounding us for unpaid rent, but then they knew we were having issues with paying it and OH depression
feel a bit useless and out of my depth
OH has enquired as to whether we are entitled to legal aid, if we are i think we're gonna get a soliciter to help.
got to go to the council tommorrow, phone or email shelter and go back to the court office. as well as work, pack, clean the flat, entertain the kids on their last day off school and cook tea. argh.
oh and i have to find out if there are any storage facilities here that are available and affordable. fortunatley the only furnature we own are the beds, 3pc suite, tv and tumble dryer.
on that point, we had a woman from the council come round a while ago to help us sort through our finances, she asked us if we ACTUALLY needed a tumble dryer. made me laugh as we have no garden, no where to hang clothes to dry and the lauderette would be more expensive. but o well.
back tommorow, and thanks again for all the help, you've certainly helped me a lot this weekend. now to get through the next week in one piece...

blue_monkey_2

Miss Cat,

My PC died this morning so if I do not reply then I will be back online as soon as possible. Please let us know what happens and fingers crossed for the csolicitor. I will try and get online tonight briefly to find out if you have posted. Good luck for today. xx

jillie1974

just offering my support really. i have no experience of your situation but the best peeps on here to help you have already posted. Blue Monkey and MOT are great and their knowledge of these situations is amazing. they could set up an advise line to help everyone in similar circs

neas

What happens when you become arrears in rent to a private landlord?

Does that money get reinbursed by the council? Or does the landlord loose hundreds if not thousands of pounds?.. Surely this couldn't happen otherwise no landlord would take a housing tenant.. because they are risky..

In business if something is higher risk you associate more cost to it.. i.e the rent 'would' be more... But obviously housing tenants cannot afford more for the going rate.. so wouldnt it be a bad idea to take a housing tenant if they are more risky?

Sorry to hijack thread.. just a general theme i see on these boards. People are in the crap.. i agree but always the landlord is seen as an independant entity who can afford to loose the rent arrears..

Nobody these days seems to be able to afford loosing rental income or money at all... Was just wondering if the landlord could claim the rent back from the council or the tenant who has left. Or maybe the landlord hjas to sell because no rental income means he got behind on the mortgage and thus.. now is force to sell.. that would be ironic :P.

Kinda like a self fulfilling prophecy... Tenant fails to pay rent for a few months... landlord falls behind on mortgage gets charged thousands of pounds ... can only sell house to stop himself going bankrupt.. ironic but maybe true?

rayday2

Not sure if anyone else has asked but do you have loans, credit cards or catalogues? If you do you need to give these token payments so that you can afford rent.

4littleone

Neas, most landlords should have insurance against rent arrears and damage to property from tenants.

If you read this thread through you can see that the landlord should have been giving a reduction in rent anyway due to the dilapidated state of the property, in which case that writes off most of the arrears to this particular landlord.
Also, the tenants found fire damage, any property that has been damaged by fire should have been surveyed by a structural engineer to prove it is fit for habitation. I suspect this has not happened as the charcoal skirting boards were just painted over.:eek:

I don't think anyone expects that landlords should just put up and shut up, but then again, neither should tenants, and on this thread the OP is genuinely in need.

rayday2

Landlords can only get insurance against rent arrears if proper credit checks are done and passed - hence it can be getting harder to rent privately.

If someone signed a contract happy with the condition of the property it cannot be reduced thats the point of a contract and inspection process.

Did the OP have the council round to inspect the property before giving housing benefit? If they did then the council OK'd the state the property too.

rog2

neas wrote: »

What happens when you become arrears in rent to a private landlord?

I think that this is a totally separate issue, neas.

Rent arrears are debt - of that, there is no denial. The landlord may have the possibility of pursuing the 'debt' through legal means other than eviction. However, in this case he has chosen eviction, and it seems to me, that eviction is driven more by potential profit than it is by social awareness.

We have, locally, one particularily 'nasty' private landlord who rents out both flats and shops, often tying his tenants into untenable conditions, such as paying for previous tenant's damage repair, which are buried very deeply within the small print and only come to the surface when there is a problem. This has, to my knowledge, resulted in at least two small businesses being declared bankrupt, and several others having to cease trading, only to find that they have been liable for not only for rent and maintenance until the premises were re-let, but also for 'refurbishment costs'.
This landlord has now let his residential properties to the local council, as he is guaranteed rental irrespective of whether or not they are occupied, thereby no longer having to 'worry' about potential rent arrears. The properties, themselves, remain neglected - the only sign of any 'refurbishment' being work carried out on behalf of the council following a recent fire.

I know that this particular person may not be typical of every private landlord - indeed 'MOT' has proven that there are some excellent, as well as other nasty, private landlords - I applaud them.

At the end of the day 'Property Letting' is just as much a 'business' as any other business. Of course there are risks - when that business is running well, then it is a good business, but, as in any other business, if there is a problem, such as 'rent arrears' then surely the proprietor of that business could look at every option of redressing that problem, rather than the, often easy, option of eviction.

If Miss Cat's landlord has looked at other options, although it does not seem so, then I apologise, but I do find it difficult to imagine him as 'the unfortunate victim' in this whole scenario in exactly the same way that I fail to see creditors who pass 'debts' on to debt collection agencies before they have tried to come to any compromise with the debtor, as 'unfortunate victims'.

Miss Cat - I wish you well, and I welcome you to DFW. Whatever the outcome, you will emerge a stronger person at the end.