Hi, Hope someone can help. I went to court this morning to defend a possession order. It was above section 8 but before the hearing we got it to £300 below section 8. The Judge said he wouldn't accept the £500 figure made 2 hours before the hearing and the landlord claimed he hadn't received a furthered £600 from October even though the Halifax building society gave me proof that it had gone out my account and the Judge saw that. We had the Duty Solicitor who didn't say what we wanted her to say and didn't defend us. Also the Judge did not let us speak so for example the boiler has not worked since June. I and my brother has text him to ask him to fix it. He told the Judge he fixed it in June, he didn't and I had texts from July and August asking him to fix the boiler. Is there any help or any advice that someone can give us. We expect the eviction order in a couple of days Thanks. 5:06pm: Can you believe after I posted before the landlord who swore blind to the Judge that he fixed the boiler in June even though we had proof he hadn't, has now text to ask when can he come and fix the boiler. Lying Sod!

Hi there, I am messaging on behalf of my friend. He is an international student here, and his landlady has basically attempted to do two false claims against him; a false Section 8 case which started in July 2012 (which is going to trial), and a section 21 case she started in October 2012. In January, the courts were confused about why two claims had been started so called for a hearing to understand the situation for both cases. Eventually the 21 case wass struck out,because she did not provide relevant info to him or put his deposit in the deposit scheme on time, and the 8 was decided to go to trial, because my friend has put in a counterclaim and defence due to harassment and bills appearing in his name. shortly after the courts decision, the landlady has yet again filed a section 21 claim against my friend.. It is a verrrrry long story, and basically they're looking to go to trial, so witness statements are being drafted up and there's a pretrial hearing in April. My question is basically, is there any way for him to get free legal aid here? He was granted some for a hearing back in october from Shelter, but they then stopped the funding and are saying they cannot fund him anymore. Is anyone able to represent him/work on his behalf to help? thanks

Hi, I've had a section 8 claim filed against me that will be heard in September. I plan on counterclaiming for a number of issues, one of which being that my deposit hasn't been protected. However, from reading a lot of forum posts, I can see that due to current caselaw, if the landlord protects the deposit up to the date of the hearing, I won't be awarded a 3x penalty. Therefore, I'm not keen to put the information of the deposit in my counterclaim form as it will obviously give time for the LL to get around it. I was wondering if there is any way at all that I can raise the issue of the non-protection of the deposit at the actual hearing itself, without filing it in the defence form? I read on a forum here england.shelter.org.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=237 that according to Civil Procedure rules CPR. 20.4(2) (a) & (3) (2) a defendant may make a counterclaim against a claimant- (a) without the court's permission if he files it with his defence; or (3) at any other time with the court's permission Does that mean that I can raise the issue at the hearing without any prior notice? Can anyone from a legal background please let me know if this is valid, as I believe it would be the only way of getting the 3x penalty under current circumstances. Thanks for your help

Please can someone help me with the current situation I'm having as a tenant. To summarise: 1) Our deposit is currently NOT protected. It was originally protected and held by Agent through MyDeposits scheme but the agent went bankrupt and the deposit disappeared and became unprotected. MyDeposits informed LL and us of this via letter AND I asked him via letter (and over phone) to please reprotect and give us information within the same month it happened (about a year and a half ago). He never reprotected (I have checked with all three schemes this month). 2) Reported quite serious repair issues to landlord on phone back in March. LL still hasn't fixed them to this day and didn't seem like he intended to from the start. 3) LL called up one Sunday and demanded to enter property that day to inspect (after accusing us of causing the repair damages!) - told him that it wasn't a good time that day but he showed up same night banging on our door, looking through our letterbox and demanding to come in. Eventually left after we didn't answer the door. LL showed up again announced two nights later banging on door again. I called the police this time due to harassment and he left quickly after that. 4) The next day he served us Section 21 notice through the door (even though deposit isn't protected). 5) After this we stopped paying rent due to unprotected deposit and disrepairs. Have still been trying to get him to do repairs - sent him a letter at the start of this month outlining all repair issues and asking to arrange a time to carry them out otherwise I will contact Environmental Health. He denied receiving the letter according to his new Agent so I sent it again the other day by first class mail with certificate of posting this time to both his address and his managing agent (who acknowledged receiving the letter and said would pass it on to him). 6) He served Section 8 as we are now 2 months in arrears (after I had sent the first letter) and I now have about a week to clear rent arrears before his solicitors said they would start proceedings. What I would like to know is this: 1) How do you put a counterclaim value on disrepairs? If he starts a claim against us, I will counterclaim for both disrepairs and unprotected deposit but how do you assign a value to the former? 2) Should I inform him again of my request for deposit reprotection or is it enough that I have asked him once via mail (and numerous times on the phone) and that he was informed by MyDeposits of unprotection, and should I just put it in my counterclaim with 3x deposit penalty with no further notice? Ideally I would like the deposit return + 3x penalty to offset the rent arrears, but do I have any obligation to request reprotection yet again? 3) If I put 3x deposit unprotection as part of counterclaim and then he protects it before the hearing date, am I still entitled to 3x amount? If he does protect it before hearing date but then I clear two months arrears, can he still proceed with eviction or will it be void? What I want to know basically is what the best way to act now to ensure that either my deposit is protected and the repairs are carried out (and then I will pay arrears) OR that we don't get evicted because the deposit return and penalty (and disrepair award) will offset the current arrears. If anyone can advise the best course of action, I would be very appreciative. Thanks

Hello, My co-tenant and I are currently in a dispute with the landlord regarding, among other things, repairs not being carried out, harassment by the landlord, and an unprotected deposit. For this reason, we have withheld the rent until we get full legal advice and are now in arrears of 2 months. Last week the landlord had a solicitor send a letter addressed ONLY to my co-tenant (not sure if it's by first class or second class mail as it says Postage Paid and a whole lot of numbers) serving a Section 8 Notice (with grounds 8, 10 and 11) with two weeks notice to pay the rent until County Court proceedings begin. I believe that they have sent the same letter to me via Recorded Signed For delivery however I was out at the time that the postman tried to deliver it, and I have not yet collected it. What I would like to know is this: 1) If I do not sign for it, can the landlord commence Section 8 County Court proceedings against us even though I have not received the Section 8 notice. I.e. do both tenants on a lease have to receive individual letters of Section 8 notices for a valid claim to begin? 2) If he does commence County Court proceedings against us and I still have not signed for the Section 8 notice in the first place, will the proceedings be thrown out of court? If so, what will I have to do to show that I never received the original Section 8 notice giving me 14 days to pay the rent, to have this happen? 3) If I make some payments on the rent to ensure that we are just below 8 weeks in arrears, can the landlord still commence CC action against us? We're desperately trying to get all the advice we can on the issues, which is why if anyone can please answer the above questions, I would be most grateful. Thank you very much

I am a landlord and a month ago I served my tenant with a Section 21 notice - which still has a month to run. The tenancy agreement is a AST (periodic). In the last month, the tenant has become 2 months in arrears in rent payments and I am considering a Section 8 notice on the grounds of arrears, persistent late payment of rent and noise/nuisance to neighbours. I am considering this because I believe that the tenant will either: 1. Do a runner - and leave without paying the arrears. The damage deposit will not cover the damage to the premises and the outstanding rent. 2. Refuse to vacate at the end of the Section 21 period and also not pay rent whilst I sort out a Court order - thereby increasing the arrears. I am confused and unsure about which Notice - i.e. Section 21 or Section 8 - will be the most effective. Questions: Can I do both? What is the procedure for recovering arrears following a Section 21 process? Which is the most effective in terms of removing the tenant and recovering unpaid rent? Any help much appreciated.