Housing Association Emptied my Brothers House (Scotland)

[Diddy]

Hi there, im pretty new here so hope i have got the correct section for this.

My brother had his "Housing Association" house taken off him as it was deemed that he wasnt actually living in it. This was actually not far from the truth due to the fact that he was in another town looking after out parents who were ill at the time (this is about 1 year old). Anyway hopefully that is a "brief" background.

So as part of the termination process they (the housing association) must send a letter which states you have 7 days to collect your stuff .....blah blah. So my brother on his weekly visit to his house finds the doors locks changed ect and cant get in. He then goes directly to the HA's offices and explains what has happened. They state that our men have been round and changed the locks (2 days previous) but that his possesions are safely locked inside.

So both my brother and a rep from the HA go to my brothers house together where my brother collects mail and upon further inspection finds that all his possesions are gone !! The HA employee cant really believe her eyes but states well since we gained entry (2days previous) you have 7 days to collect your stuff it seems that you will have to submit an itemised claim with regards to lost possesions ect.

Another thing is at this time my brother was looking after our parents ect so he sought advice from CAB. They get in touch with HA who write a letter ADMITTING liability for making my brother homeless illeagley. IE they didnt come and do any proper check nor write to him before hand to see if they actually get any reply ect. The upshot is my brother gets put to top of housing list and is housed in his preferred area within 2 weeks (fast workers ?).

So onto his possesions. What we are talking about is all his worldy goods. TV, stereo sound sytem, cooker, 3 beds, ect ect ect even his wedding ring had gone (he never wore after being devorced). All the photo's of his kids from the marrage were also gone (even the ones that cost £250++). Went to CAB who state that this is wrong he should have got 7 days (see above) to remove his goods before the house was emptied. They give him advice which includes going to a solicitor to sue the HA for damages ect.

Anyway once the legal proceedings start the solicitor states to my brother that they will be sueing for £7,000 (this covers the cost of buying his lost possesions new). Well now at this point the HA backtrack and say we admit to making Mr. XYZ illeagally homless but we do not admit liability to the lost possesions. They state there intention to defend all legal action vigerously with regards to this action (claim). Now this is about 1 year on and just this week my brother gets a letter from the solicitor stating that the HA have offered to settle out of court for £2,000 as a gesture of goodwill without accepting any liabilaty. But this only covers a fraction of the true value of his goods not to mention the distress that loosing his personal belongings has caused. But to both our suprise his solicitor says my brother should accept this offer because if it goes to court my brother will have to pay costs ect (dont understand that as he has been approved for legal aid) and also solicitor stated "if you loose" you will be well out of pocket.....ect ect.

Well i hope you understand the above post lol. What i am looking for is advice. Has anyone out there been in this situation ? Surley the fact that he has a letter where the HA admit to making him illeaglly homeless would support any claim for damages which should surely be paid out in full without penalties and also costs paid for by the "other side" ? I cant really add much more as i have not been to the solicitors with him so dont really know what has went on down there. But i would also like to add that my brother has learning difficuties but refuses to reveal this to anyone and carries on with life as best he can. But after having say a 1 hour conversation with him you would know he has some learning difficulties. Anyway im now worried that he is just being palmed off with "give him £2k and he'll be happy" type of thing. Solicitor also seems dissintrested. Any advice would be welcome.

[MrShed]

I would suggest reading this thread:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...d-tenancy.html

Problem is that I don't (and I dont think any others do) have much knowledge at all of Scottish tenancy law...

[Diddy]

Hi all. I went to see the solicitor today along with my brother. He basically said my brother had a V.good case for proving "Liabilaty" but he would have difficulty in proving how much his stuff was worth. He would need to produce reciepts in court which the judge would look over as well as his inventory. Needless to sya my brother has no reciepts for his fully furnished 3 bed house so according to solicitor "Thats it im afraid". So the upshot is my brother has lost ALL his possesions and is getting about 1/3rd of the actual price for these goods.
Seems like a good old game to me.....just set up as house clearance...get contract from council...ignore the law with regards to timescale letters of notice ect ect....take all the items of value (including MAIL) and then give the poor punter 1/3rd of there true value.
So we have asked the solicitor to try and get a few more £££ and he said he will "try" but ive got to say what a sorry situation this is.