Paying court costs to landlord after possession order

[stamarie]

Please could someone give me some advice? To cut a long story short my landlady served me with a section 21 notice as work needed carrying out on the property I was renting and she was unwilling to pay out.

 

My local council were unable to house me within the notice period but have now rehoused me and I have handed back the keys to my old house. However my landlady still went ahead to get a possession order which was granted on 20th September. It states I have to be out on or before 4th October and pay £244.50 plus a fixed fee by then too.

 

I am now out of the property but there's no way I can afford that sum of money by Friday. I live with my 2 children on my own and work part time plus have had the additional moving costs. I have spent 4 hours at CAB today but they were not helpful at all and were talking about court bailiffs and mounting court costs.

 

Surely I can't pay what I don't have and there must be others in my situation? I just don't know what to do.

 

Thanks

[sequenci]

Hello there, have you actually seen anything from the court at all?

[stamarie]

Hi, yes I've been sent the order for possession. I did write a letter to the judge before stating I was moving out anyway but the landlady still went ahead with the court order.

[citizenB]

So the Landlady knew you were leaving or had left, but still submitted the repossession order, anyway ?

 

I wonder if Shelter will be able to advise on this - they don't just deal with homeless situations. Give them a call, they are open until 8pm and the call will be free.

 

Free advice helpline

 

0808 800 4444

 

8am-8pm Monday-Friday

8am-5pm Saturday-Sunday

[sequenci]

Do speak to Shelter. If you had left the property the landlord had no reason to seek the court's assistance.

[stamarie]

CAB told me I could appeal the decision but it will cost a further £115 and I'm not guaranteed to win! It all seems so unfair these ruthless landlords can make people homeless then make them pay for it ! I'll try shelter tomorrow, thanks

[sequenci]

Do you get Working Tax Credits?

[stamarie]

Hi yes I get working and child tax credit and a bit of housing benefit.

[sequenci]

In that case you should be able to make certain court applications for free, it'll be worth seeking advice from shelter.

[stamarie]

I've been trying to ring shelter since first thing this morning but can't get through. I really feel like I'm banging my head against a brick wall! To top it off not only did I have to pay rent on 2 properties for one week council tax are trying to charge me for both properties for one week !

[sequenci]

Where do you live? There could be a Law Centre in your local area.

[stamarie]

I live in Portsmouth

[Lea_HTH]

You stated that the local authority were unable to house you before the notice ran out, which ultimately left the LL with no other option but to go for possession. It would be foolhardy for a LL to wait for a local authority to rehouse a tenant in their property without going down the formal route. Most local authorities won't take responsibility until a possession order (and more often than not the eviction notice) have been served.

 

You don't have to pay the court costs in a lump sum, you can make an arrangement to pay over time.

 

I don't think that you will win if you return to court, and you may well have to pay the additional costs of the LL returning to defend your action.

[stamarie]

I don't want to return to court but want to work out a way to pay that I can afford but the landlord is being so unreasonable and bullying he won't accept the amount I am offering . I needed advice on what to do about this

[Lea_HTH]

You can apply to the court for time to pay - if you do so, it won't become a CCJ unless you default on the agreed payments. The LL can defend your application, but if you'd been present at the hearing, the judge would have taken into consideration your offer to pay in instalments. Make sure you include a full income and expenditure.