Rent arrears paid off but Housing association still seeking posession

[Jockadile]

Hi guys, I think I’ve got a good idea on what to expect but just want to get some general feedback on my position. Apologies in advance, I have been known to get a bit long winded.

 

I will be defending against a county court claim for possession for rent arrears at a hearing on Tuesday 7th May. The claim is made for possession under Grounds 10 and 11 of the Housing Act 1988 Section 8 as amended by section 151 of the Housing Act 1996.

 

The tenancy is an Assured Non-Shorthold Tenancy with rental of £84.47 payable weekly in advance on a Monday & the total arrears claimed is £675.76p, but had been up at £1202.28 in mid October. The tenancy was initiated by my Late Mother in August 2009 and I succeeded to the tenancy in February 2012 as the only tenant.

 

All arrears have been cleared and rent for period between issue of claim and hearing date have been made with the exception of that rent which falls due on the day of the hearing by way of the previous day being a bank holiday.

 

Following receipt of the claim pack I contacted the H/A advising that all outstanding amounts had been cleared, they advised that they would still pursue a suspended possession order in case of arrears at a later date.

 

I was in receipt of Housing Benefit until I returned to work in June with a Housing benefit overrun till end of June.

This is where the problems began, I put my hands up I started the ball rolling on this one, I had a period when I First returned to work where I basically went off the rails and had one hell of a blow out when I wasn’t working. I prioritised making sure Mums grave was properly marked and settling outstanding funeral amounts. I’m aware not a priority legally but this is my mum and for me there is no higher priority.

In September my housing association wrote to me regarding the arrears, I contacted them and offered to make a monthly payment of £500 at the end of the first week of each month, they agreed and advised that if I had any problems that i should contact them and they’d do what they could to help. The first payment was agreed for October to allow things to fall into line with a budget I had come up with. In December I advised the H/A of changes in circumstance (Hours worked and extra travel costs) and was advised no change of agreement possible. I have since made what payments I could when I could, whilst I have been trying to get on my feet financially.

 

Below is a list of payments made

 

• 18/10 - £500
  
• 06/11 - £500
  
• 09/12 - £400
  
• 14/01 - £125
  
• 17/01 - £125
  
• 24/01 - £125
  
• 31/01 - £464
  
• 31/01 - £11
  
• 02/02 - £42.15
  
• 28/03 - £422.35
  
• 04/04 - £337.88
  
• 03/05 - £337.88
  

Now I know that in the real world there is very little to no chance of any Judge granting possession for arrears where arrears no longer exist and the Tenant has made an effort to redress the amounts outstanding.

 

My concerns are over statement’s made in the claim by the H/A, I believe may constitute a breach of pre action protocol guidelines.

They claim to have written to me, yes they have continuing to threaten eviction even after an agreement had been made and before any breach of that agreement.

They have tried to telephone me, I have not received any calls from them nor any messages left on my answerphones, either land-line or mobile.

They claim to have sought to meet with me and have carded my home, certainly not the case, I work nights as a guard and I'm in the house all day just about every day, I don’t sleep well and have a Jack Russell who uses the front door as a trampoline and barks non-stop when somebody calls, and as I live alone I am the only one who would pick up anything through the letterbox.

 

They maintain I have failed to contact following written communication and have failed to keep to an agreement to repay the arrears by affordable repayments.

It is my understanding that certain other steps should be taken following issue of proceedings, such as those below,

Not later than ten days before the date set for the hearing, the landlord should –

provide the tenant with up to date rent statements;( Not Happened, last rent statement back at end of February).

Disclose what knowledge he possesses of the tenant's housing benefit position to the tenant. ;( Not Happened).

The landlord should inform the tenant of the date and time of any court hearing and the order applied for. The landlord should advise the tenant to attend the hearing as the tenant's home is at risk. Records of such advice should be kept. ;( Not happened only court papers)

If the tenant complies with an agreement made after the issue of proceedings to pay the current rent and a reasonable amount towards arrears, the landlord should agree to postpone court proceedings so long as the tenant keeps to such agreement. (Would only consider stop proceedings if I put rent account 1 month in advance as I pay monthly)

Any opinions input would be greatly appreciated

Edited May 5, 2013 by Jockadile

[stu007]

Hi Jock

 

One question I need to ask:

 

The Agreement they state was agreed did you sign a written agreement to these arrangements with the HA?

[Jockadile]

No the agreement to pay £500 was just verbally agreed

[stu007]

Do you have a Court date yet?

[Jockadile]

Yes stu, this Tuesday the 7th at 2pm

[Conniff]

Well you ar e correct about a judge being unlikely to grant an eviction.

 

Make sure all the paperwork is in order showing no arrears and attend the court. My betting is they will not turn up.

[45002]

Well you are correct about a judge being unlikely to grant an eviction.

 

Make sure all the paperwork is in order showing no arrears and attend the court. My betting is they will not turn up.

 

The HA are trying to use

 

Ground 10 Any amount of rent is in arrears at the date of service of the notice and remains unpaid on the date on which the proceedings for possession are begun.

 

Ground 11 The tenant has repeatedly failed to pay rent.

Which are discretion anyway

 

grounds 9-17 are down to the discretion of the court

Sounds like HA are trying to push there luck and hopefully the judge will tell them go away !

 

Jockadile

 

Are you happy representing yourself,you may find there a duty Solicitor in the court somewhere who can help and advise you.

 

Please let CAG know who you get on on the 7th,Good Luck

 

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Edited May 5, 2013 by 45002

[mariner51]

It is difficult to determine the amount of accumulated arrears just from list of dates & payments made, nor date the £500 pcm was payable and how long it would take payment of £500 pcm to clear the arrears.

The payment record does show a history of irregular payments and some rent still owing.

g 10 & 11 are discretionary but OP needs to persuade Judge not to evict by presenting a clear payment statement, he should not rely on Council solic 'no show'.Council may have submitted a payment record with s8.

 

Lets hope OP will post outcome on 7th IMO it could go either way Good Luck

[Jockadile]

45002, Thank you, I believe theyve been a bit inflexable since the word go, they have recently change a number of policies regarding rent arrears and are now planning to use Ground 8 where tenancy agreements allow for this. As the vast majority of tenants in my district are in receipt of benefits to some degree I see them spending a significant amount of time in court over the coming year due to changes in benefits and bedroom tax.

 

Mariner many thanx for your response, but, let me be clear on this there are no arrears owing. I have paid all outstanding amounts in full.

 

To avoid any confusion Ive attached an image of my online rent account, the only payment not showing is my payment of £337.88 made on Friday 03/05/2013. As this payment is made through a gateway provider it always takes several days to update online.

 

The housing association has provided a payments history in thier claim, but its a bit sparse only showing 1 single payment of £125 between 08 October 2012 and 21January 2013. This is only one of a number of inaccuracies within the claim, Id be very surprised if the court were to view this case as an either way matter.

 

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]43621[/ATTACH]

[Jockadile]

Just an update,

 

Been to court today and case has been adjourned for first available date after 2 weeks.

 

Housing officer representing Housing Association had not been given any details of case by the arrears recovery team. 2 weeks adjournment given to allow her to verify arrears cleared etc and see whether to proceed solely on costs. Judge has stated that whilst he will consider costs, he will be mindful of a possibly wasted journey for me and this may affect any award of costs.

 

Once Its been back to court, If it goes back to court Ill let you know how it goes on.

[Conniff]

They were hoping you wouldn't turn up. Nice one Jock, I hope you knocked over her coffee on the way out.

[Jockadile]

Hi Conniff, if it had been the arrears team I would have quite happily, our housing officer for this estate is quite a nice lady and has been more than helpful in the past. The shame about this situation is that had there been some flexibility court could have been avoided. I cant even complain about the quality of the Housing association they have always been reasonable but since the mergers with other Housing Associations a couple of years back things have changed and not for the better. The policy of centralized finance can cause issues

[caro]

Some HAs want rent to be paid a month in advance and if that's in the tenancy agreement it can still be classed as arrears - even if rent is up to date.

 

Could be worth asking the HA for an uptodate statement before the next hearing. It's not unheard of for payments to go to the wrong account, such as the previous tenant of the property or a previous tenancy of your own.

[stu007]

I would also write to the Housing Association concerened always get proof of posting and ask for:

 

1. Full Rent Statements for the period of just before arrears to date. (You want the print out from the housing association)

 

2. Copy of Complaints Policy and Procedure.

 

3. Copy of the Rent Arrears Policy and Procedure (when you get this one check the date it was approved and next review date, also have a good read of the policy with a pen and notepad handy and write down everything they should have done as per the policy but didn't actually do)

 

Also have a check of the housing associations website as these policys may be published on there website.

Edited May 7, 2013 by stu007

[Jockadile]

Just to finish this one off, Ive been back to court today as the Landlord wished to proceed on costs. The Judge noted that they had shown up without instruction at the first hearing which triggered the original adjournment and failed to attend today so dismissed the case. I'm quite surprised really as I had offered to meet them halfway on the issue of costs, they didn't want to know and never acknowledged the offer.

[caro]

Nice one jock.

[stu007]

Well done jock and thank you for updating us and I would like to thank all those that came here to offer you advice.

 

If you have any further issues you know where we are just pop back.

[45002]

Just to finish this one off, Ive been back to court today as the Landlord wished to proceed on costs. The Judge noted that they had shown up without instruction at the first hearing which triggered the original adjournment and failed to attend today so dismissed the case. I'm quite surprised really as I had offered to meet them halfway on the issue of costs, they didn't want to know and never acknowledged the offer.

 

 

Great news and well done ...............