Help with postponing eviction notice :(

[dimah]

Hi I hope somebody here can give us some advice if possible,

 

we have been served an eviction notice for the 1st August after a long drawn-out battle with the landlords over a leasehold my family has owned for 30 odd years,

 

the original issue was over a sublet breach which was rectified about 6 months ago but the landlords continued to pursue a forfeiture and so on..

 

basically we have had enough and are no longer fighting to stay, but we have only been given just over a week's notice to leave.

 

Following advice we've been given we are filling out an N244 to try and postpone or delay the date we have to be out by, as its a leasehold and a mixed heraditament (sp?) there is a business as well as a home to clear out.

 

I'm desperately trying to find some help in filling out Q3 and Q10 where we lay out our reasons for our order request.

 

As I understand things, we can ask to postpone the warrant/notice but I don't know if "needing more time" is a legitimate reason a judge would consider??

 

My father who is the leaseholder has been ill and recently had an operation, as well as this he is having a council housing officer meet him on monday so he can get somewhere to live. Would it be reasonable to ask for more time based on these reasons, as my father is ill he is going to need to get help to vacate his belongings (30 years is a lot of stuff!)

 

Thank you so, so much for any advice you can give, its hard to keep positive when we feel we are being persecuted like this, sorry to keep mentioning it but THIRTY YEARS of owning a lease and we are getting thrown out because we don't have the money to keep fighting it in court and paying barristers!! We are so grateful for any advice that may help us.

 

[Ell-enn]

You need to get something in writing from the housing officer to submit with your N244, you may find that the HO might be able to give support at your hearing. I can help you write a statement for Q10 of the N244 once you have more information from the meeting with the HO.

[Lea_HTH]

Are you certain you want to give up? Has anyone explained the outcome of forfeiture? You have been advised that you will get nothing from the sale of the property and that any outstanding mortgage on the property remains due and owing?

[dimah]

Hi Ell-enn, thank you very much, I have given my father a list of requests for the housing officer which he will make on monday before we hand in the N244.

 

Lea, its a leasehold property so there is no mortgage as such, it was renewed I think 2-3 years ago.

 

We have been to court in the last year I think about 3 times, first of all to clarify that a breach had been resolved as there was an unarranged sublet of part of the property, the tenants were subsequently removed to appease the landlords, in actual fact paperwork had been in the works to agree a sublet, a final draft was drawn up, and then they took us to court before it was signed. So the tenants were removed to try and resolve the situation.

 

During the time that the landlords became aware of the breach, they began refusing to accept rent, this led to approximately a year's worth of arrears (which were sent back by the landlords)

 

Then after another time at court, we were told to pay around £24k in arrears, legal and court fees including the claimants fees, which were actually paid by us to the claimant.

 

Then, we received a judgement stating a judge had granted the landlords forfeiture of our lease,

 

And now we have a notice of eviction.

 

I could go on with a lot more detail but I don't see the point, my father can't afford to pay any more legal fees now that he paid out that 24k in one lump sum, all his savings are gone.

 

I believe there are now some new arrears (ie, this quarter rent) that haven't been paid since after we received the judgement.

 

I'm completely out of my depth here Lea, do you have any advice?

[Lea_HTH]

I just wanted to make sure that you knew exactly what forfeiture means - particularly if there was still a mortgage on the property.

 

It is still possible for your father to obtain relief from forfeiture, but as you rightly say it will mean paying all the costs and ensuring all rent is paid up to date.

 

With regards to requesting more time, if your father provides a letter of support, as Ell said, from the housing officer and/or from his GP or Social Services (if they are involved), then I am sure that a judge will be able to provide some further time. However, the maximum time a judge can award from the date of possession is 56 days - if that time has already passed, then a stay on the eviction is unlikely.

 

If you haven't already sought legal advice, then I would strongly suggest that you do so as forfeiture is a very different creature to standard possession, and there may be options that are available to you which someone having sight of all the paperwork and judgments to date may be able to ascertain.

 

By the way, whilst it is no help to you at all, I do think that forfeiture is an outmoded method of dealing with breaches of covenants and should be out-lawed. It merely provides a windfall situation to the landlord/freeholder that penalises the leasee beyond a reasonable standard.

[dimah]

We have seen the housing officer today, they said that they do not give support at hearings but to go to the CAB for that sort of thing, which we will try to do tomorrow.

She did give me a receipt /signed note stating that we have applied for housing assistance.

 

Our local surgery said that it can take up to 2 weeks for a doctors note. We're trying hard to get one done before that but hopefully will have one on hand to show the Judge at the hearing.

 

I've mentioned all this including my fathers illness and recent operation in the N244 I'm trying to fill out but if anyone has any advice on filling that out it would be really appreciated.

 

I have to have this done to be given to the court by tomorrow morning as we are swiftly running out of time.

 

Thank you both again for your advice

[dimah]

Hi,

 

I had a read of the PDFs on the link "CAG-guide-Are-you-facing-eviction-or-repossession"

 

But I am a little bit confused, we are not trying to suspend the eviction, just to extend the notice period before the eviction date.. are we doing the right thing here?

 

Could you help me with Q10? My father and I have written this so far and ticked the "evidence set out in the box below" box:

I request an extended time before the eviction date as due to ill health and a recent operation, which my GP Dr Isobel Taylor of Chalfont St Giles Surgery can confirm and I am in the process of obtaining a letter detailing this in writing.

 

I require more time as I am unable to physically remove all of my belongings in the time that has been allocated to me, and also that I have applied for assistance with the Chiltern District Council for rehousing but my application is still being processed and I have nowhere to live or stay at in the meantime.

 

Please excuse the poor writing. We've tried to keep it as formal and simple as possible.