Suspension of eviction

[peacheylesley]

I have to go to court tomorrow morning for a suspension postponement of eviction hearing. I have just come out of hospital after having a total abdominal hysterectomy. I cannot do anything for 6 to 8 wks and

have applied for a suspension on this basis. I have sent all paperwork from hospital and also a letter from

my consultant with my follow up appointment. The eviction is due to take place next tuesday but i cannot move

at the moment i cant even walk properly. Does anyone think i have done enough. I am not supposed to be going out but thought if judge saw me he would know how serious it is.

[Lea_HTH]

What date was the possession order granted? What ground was it granted under? Was it a rental or mortgage?

[peacheylesley]

17th october but i went into hospital on 15th for the major surgery. When i spoke to the court clerks to get the form N244 sent to me they said I had a very good

reason to have the eviction postponed, suspended as with this surgery there is a major chance of hemoraging, probably didnt spell that right. you really cannot do anything for 6 to 8 wks and it is only 3 weeks since my surgery and i am not able to get around very well at all. I got the eviction date last week

and immediately applied for a suspension/postponement of it due to medical reasons. what do you think. plse help.

[peacheylesley]

sorry forgot to say it was for rental. and rent arrears, the housing benefits are paying the rent straight to the LL and i said once i was able i would start to pay off the arrears,

but the LL will not allow me to talk to him to sort things out he went straight to the court.

[Lea_HTH]

Under what grounds? I presume it is a private landlord? Was a s8 notice served, and what grounds were stated? The court order should state whether possession was granted under mandatory or discretionary grounds.

 

You will need to be specific with your answers.

[peacheylesley]

yes and s8 notice was served, and rent arrears were the grounds, i think mandatory

[Lea_HTH]

No 'rent arrears' are the reason, the ground will be a number, probably 8, 10 and 11 - but you need to tell me what is written on your order.

[Lea_HTH]

And what date is the eviction for?

[peacheylesley]

Grounds 8.10 and 11 are on paperwork. and date of eviction is tuesday 20th november.

[Lea_HTH]

Okay, ground 8 is mandatory - if you're at least 2 months in arrears at the time of the notice and on the day of the hearing, then the judge has no discretion and has to award possession to the LL. How many weeks/months are you in arrears and have you managed to clear any of the arrears since the hearing on 17th October? You said the HB is paid direct - was this because you got into arrears? Does the HB cover all the rent or is there a shortfall?

 

The biggest issue that you have here is that the judge only has discretion to allow a maximum of 42 days from the date of the order in cases of exceptional hardship. Your operation would definitely qualify as exceptional hardship, however, the date of your eviction is 20th November, so the most the judge is allowed to give you is a further 8 days beyond that (42 days from 17-10 takes you to 28th November), and thereafter the LL is free to ask for another eviction date as soon as he can get one.

 

Since you are attending court, and the LL is very likely to be there, your best bet would be to discuss the matter with the LL and see if you can get him to agree out of court to you staying for the period of time you need to recover - if he is now getting the HB direct and you're able to make payments towards the arrears he may consider this. This is your best chance, as the judge can only legally award you a further 8 days beyond 20th November - your eviction date. However I am fairly certain the judge would give you that additional time, which in reality could turn into three or four weeks depending on how busy the court is and whether another eviction date is available this side of Christmas.

Edited November 14, 2012 by Lea_HTH

[peacheylesley]

yes i owe £2.900 but have told them that i am willing to pay off the arrears out of my benefits. I havent managed to clear anything since then as i was in hospital on 15th

and have been out of it for the last 2 wks since coming out of hospital. as i said i am not even supposed to go out before the 6 weeks let alone drive. I am only going in the morning so the judge can see i really cannot do anything. the ll does not go to court he sends homelet there to represent him so i cannot speak to him. he just will not let

me any where near him which makes it very hard. I have also just been given the so called certificate for the deposit protection scheme he so called used. it was cancelled

in march this year one month after i signed a new tenancy agreement and was not renewed anywhere.

there is a slight shortfall from the HB because they said he was charging to much for the rent.

If the judge can give me a further 8 days and then the LL has to apply for another eviction date that would give me time to at least recover a bit more and look for a new

place to live. at the moment i cant even go looking at properties.

[Lea_HTH]

The lack of deposit protection is a good negotiation tool IF you can get the rep to call the LL and tell them what you said. If the deposit was not protected by 5th May 2012, then the LL has committed a breach and you can claim for the deposit to be repaid to you (you would have to make a claim for it, you can't raise it in court tomorrow)...but you can tell the LL that his breach has exposed him to you asking a court to consider the lack of protection and ask for the return of the deposit plus one to three times the amount of the deposit as a penalty (the judge decides how much that penalty will be). Just the threat of this alone may encourage the LL to reconsider evicting you on 20th.

 

However, the deposit issue will not help you in court tomorrow (it has no relevance to the type of possession order that was granted for you), so it has to be used as a negotiation tool with the LL.

[peacheylesley]

I have got the certificate that i was given from my deposits ltd with the end date as 28th february 2012, and nothing since,

i have checked with the other companies and they have no record of my deposit at all.

 

I also made a mistake with the date of possession, i thought you meant when was i supposed to move out, that was the 17th october the hearing was on 19th september.

I am hoping that the fact that i can hardly move at the moment and the court has copies of all my hospital notes the judge will just suspend the eviction for now.

[peacheylesley]

Also i dont know how i am supposed to talk to the ll and try and sort something out if he wont have anything to do with me

[peacheylesley]

I couldnt do anything before the possession order ran out as i was already in hospital. Will the judge take this into account

that i was unable to even look for a new property and still cant, i am hoping that he or she will know how serious my surgery was and what the recovery time actually is.

[Lea_HTH]

I think it is highly unlikely that you will be successful on the basis that the order was granted four weeks longer ago than you initially stated (I did say you should be specific). As such, you will have already had the maximum 42 days that a judge can order, and he/she will be unable to grant you any further time - he has absolutely no jurisdiction to do so. You will have had nine weeks (62 days) since the PO was granted - so you are already 20 days over the maximum that the judge can give you. The judge will almost certainly feel sorry about your situation, but cannot go behind the law on this matter without the express agreement of the LL.

 

I am afraid you need to prepare yourself for not being successful in your hearing tomorrow. As I said, your best bet is negotiation with the rep, and hope that he/she contacts the LL with regards to the issue of possible non-protection of your deposit and the possible threat of a claim for the deposit plus 1-3 times the amount as a penalty.