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pregnant, ill & just been served eviction notice

Hi, it's my first time posting here.
My Landlord is a corporate company that rents out hundreds of flats. After two years of being a good tenant and always paying on time, my (now ex) partner stole money from me and I fell into two months rent arrears.
My Landlord was not willing to agree to a payment arrangement and instead served me with a Section 8 Notice and a Section 21 Notice.
Both those notices have now expired.
They seem to have ditched the Section 8 entirely, but I just received the court paperwork for the Section 21 Accelerated Possession.
Now, the Issue Date stamped on the court paperwork is 11th June. But the postmark on the envelope it came in is 22nd June, and it only arrived in today's post. It says I have to send in my Defence "within 14 days".
Does that mean within 14 days of the Issue Date?
Or within 14 days of them actually posting it/me receiving it?

The Landlord's told a few lies on the form. They claim they issued me with a How To Rent booklet and an Electricity Safety Certificate on a specific date. It's not true at all - they never provided these things. And the date they've claimed they issued these items on I was not even their tenant and they'd never heard of me.

Further, the Landlord had finally entered into a verbal agreement with me to let me stay as long as I started clearing the arrears (which I've been doing). Then the court paperwork arrived out of the blue. The Landlord's now denying they offered to let me stay.

This leaves me with something like 14 days to find a new place to live, pack up and vacate. I am 7.5 months pregnant, ill with PTSD (due to the domestic abuse) and I have no spare cash for a deposit for a new place.

Is it worth filing a defence?

I've tried calling the court but they don't pick up their phone, ever.

I've no idea what to do. I'm terrified I will lose my baby if the stress doesn't stop.
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Comments

  • foxy-stoat
    foxy-stoat Posts: 6,879
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    First - chill
    Second read this - https://www.gov.uk/evicting-tenants/section-21-and-section-8-notices
    Third - has your deposit been protected and have you received the information accordingly - can the Landlord or Agent prove that you have?

    If the answer to any of these is NO then the S21 notice they have issued is not valid, they will have to re-issue a new S21 if they want you out so you will not lose your home, yet.

    You should speak to Shelter - they are a charity that helps homeless folk, although you are not, they will be able to give you some pointers about attending court and being possible in a vulnerable situation.

    You may have to find somewhere else to live if the LL can get their act together, so I would start the ball rolling now as if they want their property back, arrears or no arrears if will happen and better leave on your terms than being forced out.

    Good luck and report back
  • Pixie5740
    Pixie5740 Posts: 14,515
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    Fair&Pure wrote: »
    Hi, it's my first time posting here.
    My Landlord is a corporate company that rents out hundreds of flats. After two years of being a good tenant and always paying on time, my (now ex) partner stole money from me and I fell into two months rent arrears.
    My Landlord was not willing to agree to a payment arrangement and instead served me with a Section 8 Notice and a Section 21 Notice.
    Both those notices have now expired.
    They seem to have ditched the Section 8 entirely, but I just received the court paperwork for the Section 21 Accelerated Possession.
    Now, the Issue Date stamped on the court paperwork is 11th June. But the postmark on the envelope it came in is 22nd June, and it only arrived in today's post. It says I have to send in my Defence "within 14 days".
    Does that mean within 14 days of the Issue Date?
    Or within 14 days of them actually posting it/me receiving it?

    The Landlord's told a few lies on the form. They claim they issued me with a How To Rent booklet and an Electricity Safety Certificate on a specific date. It's not true at all - they never provided these things. And the date they've claimed they issued these items on I was not even their tenant and they'd never heard of me.

    Further, the Landlord had finally entered into a verbal agreement with me to let me stay as long as I started clearing the arrears (which I've been doing). Then the court paperwork arrived out of the blue. The Landlord's now denying they offered to let me stay.

    This leaves me with something like 14 days to find a new place to live, pack up and vacate. I am 7.5 months pregnant, ill with PTSD (due to the domestic abuse) and I have no spare cash for a deposit for a new place.

    Is it worth filing a defence?

    I've tried calling the court but they don't pick up their phone, ever.

    I've no idea what to do. I'm terrified I will lose my baby if the stress doesn't stop.

    You don't have to leave in 14 days. Even if the landlord is granted a possession order you can still remain in the property until bailiffs physically remove you. However, it does sound as though you could defend the Section 21 if you wanted to due to the lack of How to Rent Book etc. You can check the validity of the Section 21 here:

    https://markprichard.co.uk/documents/s21-validity-checker

    Have you contacted Shelter for advice?

    https://england.shelter.org.uk/get_help

    Have you contacted your local council yet?

    Do you want to remain in the property? Sooner or later the landlord will get the paperwork right so the least bad option might be to try and get the council to re-house you (could be temporary accommodation or another private rental) rather than fighting the Section 21.
  • Fair&Pure
    Fair&Pure Posts: 22 Forumite
    Pixie5740 wrote: »
    You don't have to leave in 14 days. Even if the landlord is granted a possession order you can still remain in the property until bailiffs physically remove you. However, it does sound as though you could defend the Section 21 if you wanted to due to the lack of How to Rent Book etc. You can check the validity of the Section 21 here:



    Have you contacted Shelter for advice?



    Have you contacted your local council yet?

    Do you want to remain in the property? Sooner or later the landlord will get the paperwork right so the least bad option might be to try and get the council to re-house you (could be temporary accommodation or another private rental) rather than fighting the Section 21.

    Hi, thanks for your reply. The Landlord has been boasting about how they use a High Court Sheriff to throw tenants out into the street within 24 hours and thus bypass the time it takes to use a court bailiff. Is that true?

    As for Shelter, I've been calling and calling but the lines are busy. Will keep trying.

    I'd have wanted to stay in the flat. But it's hardly looking possible at this point!
  • Pixie5740
    Pixie5740 Posts: 14,515
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    Fair&Pure wrote: »
    Hi, thanks for your reply. The Landlord has been boasting about how they use a High Court Sheriff to throw tenants out into the street within 24 hours and thus bypass the time it takes to use a court bailiff. Is that true?

    As for Shelter, I've been calling and calling but the lines are busy. Will keep trying.

    I'd have wanted to stay in the flat. But it's hardly looking possible at this point!

    It is possible for the landlord to speed up the eviction by applying to have the warrant transferred from the county court to the high court. Then High Court Enforcement Officers can be used to evict the tenant rather than County Court Bailiffs. HCEO eviction 24 hours after being granted a possession order sounds like wishful thinking to me though.

    If you think it's likely the landlord might go down the HCEO route then it might be worth defending the Section 21 just to buy you some more time. I do think it's worth contacting the council for housing advice/support as well. Some councils will act when you're issued a Section 21 whilst others wait until you're physically removed from the property, hopefully your council is the former.
  • foxy-stoat
    foxy-stoat Posts: 6,879
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    Fair&Pure wrote: »
    Hi, thanks for your reply. The Landlord has been boasting about how they use a High Court Sheriff to throw tenants out into the street within 24 hours and thus bypass the time it takes to use a court bailiff. Is that true?

    As for Shelter, I've been calling and calling but the lines are busy. Will keep trying.

    I'd have wanted to stay in the flat. But it's hardly looking possible at this point!

    I think he has been watching too many episodes of cant pay we will take it away.

    If the S21 notice isnt valid then they cannot evict you without breaking a few laws.
  • Fair&Pure
    Fair&Pure Posts: 22 Forumite
    Can anybody help me out re Issue Date vs Service Date? As I said in original post the Issue Date stamped on the form itself is 11th June. However, paperwork was not even posted out to me until 22nd June (according to court postmark on envelope) and arrived today. This means I've passed the 14 days allowed to file a defence if the Issue Date is what we have to go by. That wouldn't really make sense.

    Can anyone shed light?
  • foxy-stoat
    foxy-stoat Posts: 6,879
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    Have you tried to call the court? Is it local?
  • Fair&Pure
    Fair&Pure Posts: 22 Forumite
    foxy-stoat wrote: »
    Have you tried to call the court? Is it local?

    Been calling the court non stop. Then noticed on Google Reviews that hundreds of people have left 0 out of 5 reviews because the court NEVER answers the phone and never replies to emails.
  • pinkshoes
    pinkshoes Posts: 20,036
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    I would call the court.

    Have you now paid off the arrears?

    In the mean time, I would focus on packing.
    Should've = Should HAVE (not 'of')
    Would've = Would HAVE (not 'of')

    No, I am not perfect, but yes I do judge people on their use of basic English language. If you didn't know the above, then learn it! (If English is your second language, then you are forgiven!)
  • G_M
    G_M Posts: 51,977
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    Stop wasting time worrying about the date and use your time in getting your defence submitted!


    If the court later says the defence was late, that is the time to start arguing about dates!


    If you did not receive the Gov leaflet say so in your dfence submission, and point out the date they say they submited it was way before you applied for the tenancy (or whatever) with dates.


    "Electricity Safety Certificate" - do you mean gas? Unless this is Scotland or there's some new law I'm overlooking, electric cert is not required.


    Go throught the S21 link pixie gave you with a fine tooth-combe, answering ALL questions. If you get an answer anywhere "invalid", iclude that in your defence. Here it is again:


    https://markprichard.co.uk/documents/s21-validity-checker
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