rent arrears.

[Guest S J]

The notice seeking possession will have a date (the date before which no action can be taken). As long as you resolve the issues that they rely on as grounds for seeking possession, by that date, then no action will be taken. Housing Benefit may not cover the full rent so you may have some arrears created by a shortfall in benefit.

 

A repayment arrangement will need to be made.

 

There is also likely to be an issue with Council Tax...which normally surfaces later...

[m3shl]

Sit tight and do not vacate. You have started your HB claim and advised the agents. They must not harrass you to pay or leave.

 

Yes the landlord is moaning - of course he/she is. This is their income - but life sadly takes turns.

 

I have been instructed by many clients to seek possession for non-payment of rental. However this cannot be issued until you are in 2mths rent arrears - at which point a Section 8 notice will be served advising you court action may commence - this gives you AT LEAST another 16 days before they can apply to the courts (if it is hand delivered) for possession. All this does take time and if you continue to let the agents know what you are doing - both them and the landlord are between a rock and a hard place. They cannot evict you until a Judge grants them possession. Normally by this point the HB will have sorted something out as it will cost them more to re-house you...

 

Any correspondence you receive from the Agents - send to the HB.... keep on their case.

 

Good luck

[happy33]

hi m3shl,

 

many many thanks for the advice, i feel alot better now knowing it has to be 2mths rent arrears, the letter i got from the agents said they would take action to notice to quit in 7 days, i will just have to keep in touch with hb on a daily basis

[m3shl]

Sorry Happy - They may well serve notice for you to quit - this is different to seeking possession by serving a Section 8 notice which is applying for possession and they will state the grounds of rent arrears.

 

If the situation is caused by a delay to your housing benefit, you should write to your local Housing Benefit Office and request a payment within 14 days. If your Housing Benefit Office cannot process your claim quickly, you should ask for an interim payment. You should try and give the Benefit Office any information it requests.

 

If you need further help in dealing with your rent arrears, or any other aspect of housing, I recommend that you speak to a housing adviser or try Community Legal Service Direct

 

But I still say - SIT TIGHT they cannot evict you without a court order.

[meagain]

If it makes a difference, I have successfully done this twice. At the end of the tenancy, the landlord owes you your deposit (minus reasonable deductions). This is a debt. It can be bought or sold just like any other debt. At my last property, with two months' rent arrears, I made arrangements to pay one month directly to the landlord, and effectively sold her own debt back to her for its face value (deposit was cash equal to one month's rent), on the understanding that if further repairs were needed, I would willingly pay any reasonable costs towards this. Spoke to her on the last day of the actual tenancy when the keys went back to the agency about 3 months ago, and haven't heard anything from her since.

 

It's very important that you be reasonable and open with your landlord if you want to do this, though, as they are not in any way required to accept. It will help if you are able to put together part-payment.

 

You might also want to know that even if you're on an assured shorthold (most properties bought to let are) there must be two full months' arrears before action can be taken, so I would not advise you to do this mid-term, only towards the end of the tenancy and only in dire circumstances.

[ATI]

Hi

 

this is how it works

 

depending on what type of contract you have there are rules to follow.

I take it you have a standard agreement ie AST assured short tenancy agreement

 

with the AST you are guarantee to stay there for 6 months without any evictions unless you have broken the Terms and conditions ie Rent Arrears. with rent Arrears they can serve you with Section 8 but they need to show evidence of at least 8 weeks of arrears. then prepare the court procedure . from the moment they sent you teh papers till the day you live the place we are looking at 3-5 months and the trick is that once you pay £5 below the 8 weeks of Arrears you can avoid being evicted

second option is Section 21 which is easy and fuss free, there is no hearing no need to go to court. must pay court cost £150 and they musr serve you with 2 months plus one day notice ie if your agreement start 1st April they need to give you notice 1 or 2nd of August. if they do not do it properly the judge will throw the case out many many had their cases thrown out trust me.

there is another option if the tenants stay beyond 6 months it is called APP the LL can evict the Tenant if the notice is served correctly . the LL will 100% gets possession but can not claim for rent arrears as they is no hearing. and if the Ll wishes to claim for the Arrears another claim separate must be made.

 

 

now regarding the deposit

if there is no inventory done at the beginning of the tenancy they is no need to keep the deposit as the reason the deposit asked is to secure any damages made since no inventory made no claim can be made against the Tenant even if teh Tenant takes a hammer and start to destroy the house.

 

Hope that clarified the issue better

Shelter: Notice from the landlord

[happy33]

as of friday we will be 2 months behind with the rent, the housing benefit will not pay anything until they receive a letter from the jobcentre stating that my partner is receiving jsa, phoned the jobcentre up on friday to see how the claim was going could not give us an answer as to when it will be processed, even though we are a family with no money there attitude was we cannot do anything

[dollies01]

Hiya Happy

Just checking..........

Have you told Child tax credit office, of your new circumstances?

You will now be entitled to the higher premium of tax credits.

My friend, who was in a similar situation as you, went through this recently, she had no money at all and assumed that Income support told the tax credit office. Turned out that they don't and she had to do it herself.

Its just a thought, maybe irrelevant, but thought I'd mention it!

[happy33]

Hiya Happy

 

 

Just checking..........

 

Have you told Child tax credit office, of your new circumstances?

You will now be entitled to the higher premium of tax credits.

 

My friend, who was in a similar situation as you, went through this recently, she had no money at all and assumed that Income support told the tax credit office. Turned out that they don't and she had to do it herself.

 

Its just a thought, maybe irrelevant, but thought I'd mention it!

hi dollies we have done that , thanks.