Council seeking possesion HELP PLEASE

[Simongal]

Hi,really worried about this and hope somebody can advise.

 

Short Version First. is any action against our tenancy invalid if it only has my partners name on it when we have the original which is in both our names.

 

Back in Nov 09 we where issued a notice of seeking possesion because of arrears ,i contacted the council came to an agreement and repaid the arrears as quickly as i could although i was told the notice would still go to court as this was the usual procedure.March this year i was made redundant and the rent was being paid by benefits but due to an oversight on my part this was £10 pounds short of what the rent was so arrears mounted .the long and short of it i messed up a bit and didnt realise .tried to make an agreement with them when i eventually got hold of the person at the couci,l made an agreement, all good except she gave me wrong details for setting up standing order ,next thing i know get a letter saying they are seeking possesion with a court summons so i call them back several times to check whats going on eventually some obnoxious guy tells me she is off ill and wont be back in the near future and i quote "tell it to the judge". i immediately scraped as much money together as i could and payed of as much as possible which brought it down to around £80 (4 weeks ago) and it currently stands at £38 .Today recieved another letter saying they would be seeking an adjournment with liberty to restore .have no idea what this means and was really surprised they where still takeing action as the arrears have been reduced and a constant weekly payment set up ,to be honest i was surprised they took this course of action in the first place .WILTSHIRE COUNCIL WHERE EVERYONE MATTERS ,my arse.

Sorry if its a bit rambly but would appreciate some advise as it almost seems like they are looking for an excuse to evict us we are very quite people, get on with nieghbours ,good kids and we just dont understand if its malicous orthis is what they do to everybody.

[jackieandwayne]

This means basically they are dropping the action for now, and will inform the court that things are inorder, but because an agreement went wrong once, they will ask the court for "liberty to restore". This means at any time in the future they can apply to have the matter resurrected. Your best bet now is to get those arrears clear, keep them clear for a few weeks, then apply to the court yourself to have the whole matter set aside.

 

It is important to pay your rent of course, but I can assure you that with a Council tenancy, no judge in this land is going to give the Council outright possession for rent arrears without first having given the tenant the chance to put it right - usually under a Postponed Possession Order or the old Suspended Possession Order.

 

Just get that small amount sorted out and you will be fine.

[Simongal]

Appreciate the response,Thanks. Dont suppose you know anything about the tennancy agreement being in both our names but the court action just being in my partners

[Simongal]

Anybody

[Simongal]

Attended court and it turns out the council have forged a tenancy agreement with just my partners name on it.the judge added me to the possesion order and charged £100 court fee all over 30 pounds arrears.Can anyone tell me if there is anything i can do to be pain in the neck for the council regarding the tennancy as i feel they have shown a complete lack of understanding and communication regarding this,Surely they have broken the law by offering the forged document in court proceedings.

[jackieandwayne]

Ok Simongal. Swallow the debt for now, get it cleared. We'll argue it later if........Have you got a copy of your partner's original tenancy agreement? And you of course have a copy of the supposedly "joint tenancy"? Say nothing at this stage to the Council.

 

Ask your partner to make a SAR request for her entire record. Go through this with a toothcomb and see if there is any clue as to why you are on a joint tenancy.

 

You say partner, so unmarried? Therefore matrimonial law and all that hoohah doesn;t necessarily come into this - I mean for example, if your partner was a sole tenant and you married her then you would automatically gain certain rights under both Housing law and Matrimonail Law. Sort of you become a joint tenant in a way - oh someone else can explain that! IE'; if one of you passed away but the tenancy was only in one name, the remaining spouse would inherit. (succeed).

 

But, what I am trying to get at is this - if your partner wished to live with you but wanted to be sensible and retain the property in her sole name, she has every right to so. If a fake tenancy has been made then whoever did that has taken away rights from her. Likewise yourself, you had no wish to ever be a joint tenant - what if you fell out and your partner didnt pay the rent, keep the property in good repair etc? You are still liable for all of that. So it could be said that whoever has done this has foisted a responsibility on you that you did not request or wish for. A secure Council tenancy is a most valuable thing these days, and losing one is very serious - which is what has technically happened to your partner she now has a joint tenancy she didn't wish to have.

 

So, get that file and keep quiet. If asked why just say because you are entitled to it. When you have established what has happened, you make an official complaint, straight to the Head of the Council (leader whatever his title is). Once the Council put right this mistake, then the court order can be looked at - because you cannot be taken to court and dealt with for something that has nothing whatsoever to do with you legally. And when you get to that stage I am sure some of the legal experts on here will talk you through any court action - my brains are too rusty to remember now!

[Aviva]

Jackieandwayne you seem to have misunderstood. The OP is saying they signed for a joint tenancy and have a copy of the agreement to prove this but that the Council have now produced a copy of a tenancy agreement in the partner's name only which is a fraudulent document.

 

Not going to go into the issue around the Court proceedings when the arrears are reducing as this has been sorted at the moment due to the Court's decision. However, if there are any further issues please post back.

[reorete]

hi sorry to be a pain but can anyone show me how to start a new thread?

[mariner51]

Thread menu page>forum tools>start new thread.