Possesion Notice Served

[Simbatim30]

Hi All,

 

I'm hoping someone can help.

 

I am a Council Tenant and have recently been served the above. I have been served this on the grounds that I breached the tenancy on subletting and sublet the whole of the property with a sub heading of instructing letting agents to let the property.

 

The first gripe I have with this was how it was done as I don't feel this process was correctly followed. I called the Council about an ongoing issue with my garden fence as I have been having issues for the last year with neighbours wandering into my garden, threatening me and generally just not being nice and knocking on my door late at night. As the missing fence was at the back of the property and the council were digging their heels about whether they were liable for this this was never resolved. So in Sept I contacted the council for an update to be told I was being investigated for the above. I was horrified so, asked if I could go in to see them to discuss the matter further so, arranged a meeting with my Estate Officer and her Manager.

 

I went to the meeting and was served with the notice and basically given a few accusations (no evidence of these) which I was able to back up but was basically told I had 4 weeks to vacate the property and if I wanted to try and sort it out I was to seek legal advice.

 

I immediately sought legal advice and my solicitor has since written to the Council stating that I did the sublet which they were aware of and was working through the week somewhere else but returned on weekends. The Council were made aware at the time of the sublet that I was working away at the time and still authorised it. As I still had a room in the house, my house was not entirely sublet and I did return to it. Also, they are saying I don't live at the property now. I do still work away and due to the issues with the neighbours I have been spending very little time there as I do feel unsafe and only stay there when my boyfriend visits.

 

My subletters moved out in May this year and the issues with the neighbours worsened (I was then a young lady living alone) and felt very unsafe at times. I was told at the meeting that the situation with the fence would not be resolved until the situation with the Possession Notice is resolved.

 

Anyway, prior to receiving the Notice to Quit I had applied for the Right to Buy the property which has now been formally accepted after me receiving the notice to quit. I only have 90 days to respond to this. My solicitor has advised me not to respond to this whilst we are working on the Notice to Quit as she feels it has only "leaked" through due to Coucil Depts not communicating with each other. However, the Acceptance of the Right to Buy has still not been formally withdraw.

 

This is the part where the instructing letting agents part comes in. I did visit a few agents to get a feel for market values and possible rental rates etc but at no time instructed anyone to do anything, signed any contracts or even had anyone visit the property. The council are saying things like "I told them I was the Landlord" which I maybe did at the time but there was no way any of this was going to be or was pursued or followed up. I do realise that in doing that it was very premature of me but the way I saw it was that I was simply looking at options and as I later found out I would have needed a buy to let mortgage and it is also not legal to do this under the Right to Buy scheme. Hence, it would never have actually happened.

 

My solicitor has written to the Council since I received my notice and they have written back with yet more different allegations against me that have still not been backed up with any evidence. It's very much this neighbour said this and some vague statements that have been taken out of context. The letters are also very badly written and their latest letter advises me to return the keys to the property to them asap or they will take me to court and I will be liable for all costs. None of the points made in my solicitor's letter have even been addressed.

 

I am just baffled by all of this tbh, I am scared I am going to become homeless very soon, my legal action seems to make no difference as they do not respond to any of the points made in the letter and the Council are not giving me any support or opportunity to state my case or fight my corner. Unless they take me to court and I foot the bill.

 

I do feel I have a solid case if it were to go to court as I haven't done anything wrong apart from make a few enquiries but if I were to lose, the thought of having no home and the legal costs to pay does scare me.

 

I also would like to know where I actually stand with the Right to Buy, can I accept this or not? Also, could the Council be digging their heels in purposely for this to time out? As it has not been withdrawn so, I'm wondering if it would do any harm for me to send my acceptance back just to keep things moving?

 

I have recently written to the Housing Liaison Officer at the Council to ask if there is any way we can meet amicably to discuss the matter further before proceeding further down the legal route. I thought this would have been the case initially anyway but I have been given no opportunity to do this at any time.

 

I am now even beginning to doubt my solicitor as even she seems unable to fathom what is really going on. She is currently writing another letter which I've not seen yet but this is going to cost me another £180 and I just wonder if it is worth continuing down this route as the Council seem to have decided I'm out and won't listen to reason.

 

Oh, and I had a call from the Council today to say they are coming to build a wall (not a fence) next week which has further baffled me.

 

I have tried to contact Shelter but no one seems to come back to me.

 

I just need to know where I stand and if I should possibly consult another solicitor or if anyone knows of any similar cases/outcomes?

 

Alison

[renegadeimp]

Have you complained to the CEO or whatever theyre called now, of the council. The front desk staff are more or less droolbots in a lot of councils, and in a lot of cases, the office work is outsourced to capita, who couldnt care less about you at all.

[raydetinu]

what sort of tenancy agreement did sign up to. They cant make you leave or evict you without a court order anyway.

If they do take you to court, you must defend it.

As you are still the legal tenant, cant see why you cannot continue with your right to buy.

[Simbatim30]

Hi,

 

It was a secure tenancy but the notice says it's not anymore.

 

My solicitor has said today it may cost me £5000 to go to court. What a shock but do you think it'll even get to this stage?

 

I think I will proceed with the Right to Buy and see what they come back with.

 

Thanks.

 

Alison

[raydetinu]

As said before you must defend this in court, Shelter may help you in this, go and speak to them.

see below may help.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/renting_and_leasehold/council_tenancies/secure_council_tenancies

[45002]

Hi All,

 

I'm hoping someone can help.

 

I am a Council Tenant and have recently been served the above. I have been served this on the grounds that I breached the tenancy on subletting and sublet the whole of the property with a sub heading of instructing letting agents to let the property.

 

The first gripe I have with this was how it was done as I don't feel this process was correctly followed. I called the Council about an ongoing issue with my garden fence as I have been having issues for the last year with neighbours wandering into my garden, threatening me and generally just not being nice and knocking on my door late at night. As the missing fence was at the back of the property and the council were digging their heels about whether they were liable for this this was never resolved. So in Sept I contacted the council for an update to be told I was being investigated for the above. I was horrified so, asked if I could go in to see them to discuss the matter further so, arranged a meeting with my Estate Officer and her Manager.

 

I went to the meeting and was served with the notice and basically given a few accusations (no evidence of these) which I was able to back up but was basically told I had 4 weeks to vacate the property and if I wanted to try and sort it out I was to seek legal advice.

 

I immediately sought legal advice and my solicitor has since written to the Council stating that I did the sublet which they were aware of and was working through the week somewhere else but returned on weekends. The Council were made aware at the time of the sublet that I was working away at the time and still authorised it. As I still had a room in the house, my house was not entirely sublet and I did return to it. Also, they are saying I don't live at the property now. I do still work away and due to the issues with the neighbours I have been spending very little time there as I do feel unsafe and only stay there when my boyfriend visits.

 

My subletters moved out in May this year and the issues with the neighbours worsened (I was then a young lady living alone) and felt very unsafe at times. I was told at the meeting that the situation with the fence would not be resolved until the situation with the Possession Notice is resolved.

 

Anyway, prior to receiving the Notice to Quit I had applied for the Right to Buy the property which has now been formally accepted after me receiving the notice to quit. I only have 90 days to respond to this. My solicitor has advised me not to respond to this whilst we are working on the Notice to Quit as she feels it has only "leaked" through due to Coucil Depts not communicating with each other. However, the Acceptance of the Right to Buy has still not been formally withdraw.

 

This is the part where the instructing letting agents part comes in. I did visit a few agents to get a feel for market values and possible rental rates etc but at no time instructed anyone to do anything, signed any contracts or even had anyone visit the property. The council are saying things like "I told them I was the Landlord" which I maybe did at the time but there was no way any of this was going to be or was pursued or followed up. I do realise that in doing that it was very premature of me but the way I saw it was that I was simply looking at options and as I later found out I would have needed a buy to let mortgage and it is also not legal to do this under the Right to Buy scheme. Hence, it would never have actually happened.

 

My solicitor has written to the Council since I received my notice and they have written back with yet more different allegations against me that have still not been backed up with any evidence. It's very much this neighbour said this and some vague statements that have been taken out of context. The letters are also very badly written and their latest letter advises me to return the keys to the property to them asap or they will take me to court and I will be liable for all costs. None of the points made in my solicitor's letter have even been addressed.

 

I am just baffled by all of this tbh, I am scared I am going to become homeless very soon, my legal action seems to make no difference as they do not respond to any of the points made in the letter and the Council are not giving me any support or opportunity to state my case or fight my corner. Unless they take me to court and I foot the bill.

 

I do feel I have a solid case if it were to go to court as I haven't done anything wrong apart from make a few enquiries but if I were to lose, the thought of having no home and the legal costs to pay does scare me.

 

I also would like to know where I actually stand with the Right to Buy, can I accept this or not? Also, could the Council be digging their heels in purposely for this to time out? As it has not been withdrawn so, I'm wondering if it would do any harm for me to send my acceptance back just to keep things moving?

 

I have recently written to the Housing Liaison Officer at the Council to ask if there is any way we can meet amicably to discuss the matter further before proceeding further down the legal route. I thought this would have been the case initially anyway but I have been given no opportunity to do this at any time.

 

I am now even beginning to doubt my solicitor as even she seems unable to fathom what is really going on. She is currently writing another letter which I've not seen yet but this is going to cost me another £180 and I just wonder if it is worth continuing down this route as the Council seem to have decided I'm out and won't listen to reason.

 

Oh, and I had a call from the Council today to say they are coming to build a wall (not a fence) next week which has further baffled me.

 

I have tried to contact Shelter but no one seems to come back to me.

 

I just need to know where I stand and if I should possibly consult another solicitor or if anyone knows of any similar cases/outcomes?

 

Alison

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?395409-Tenants-have-left-without-notice-and-with-all-of-my-furniture

 

My understanding is council houses are for needed and not for sub letting

Edited November 6, 2013 by 45002

[raydetinu]

Quite so, and it is one of the reasons they can evict as noted in the shelter guide.

[Steve__M]

My local council is getting pretty hard-nosed in these days of austerity.

 

The HB office recently rejected an HB claim even though we had clear legal advice that the reason for rejection was completely invalid.

 

This council seem to have more than one line of evidence to support their suspicion that you may have breached your obligations at a time when there is significant focus on this sort of activity (people "working away" and letting people "stay to help out with costs").

 

If your solicitor is struggling with this it seems unlikely that someone here can provide better advice.

[45002]

A London council has reclaimed more than 250 homes following a crackdown on tenants unlawfully subletting, abandoning or purchasing homes under the right to buy.

Read on

 

http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/tenancies/council-crackdown-recovers-266-homes/6525880.article

[Lea_HTH]

Your biggest issue is that your tenants have left and may well be called as witnesses in the possession proceedings. Which I strongly suspect will be the case.

 

Have you received the court papers yet? When you do, expect to receive a very large bundle of papers containing all the evidence they seek to rely on - which will undoubtedly involve various witness statements and observations of your lack of living at the property, as well as information from credit agencies, council tax, electoral roll etc - this will be information they obtained on the property address as well as the address you were living at. The strongest element will be any evidence from your previous tenants, because the moment they agree to appear and make statements that say you did not live in the property during the time they were there and that they had exclusive possession, you're going to lose. Unless you are now living back in the property, in which case you may be able to fight it.

 

However, you have a solicitor involved - and if they are already quoting £5k to defend, it looks likely that the solicitor believes there will be several witnesses called, involving examination and cross - which takes time and therefore costs money.

 

Edit: The right to buy won't stop the proceedings - you cannot sublet a property you have purchased from a local authority until a qualifying period has passed.