Tenant £20,000 in arrears (at £695 pcm) Difficulty with going to Court.
After years of trying to be compassionate and reasonable with a Tenant who regularly defaulted
in paying his rent and being sympathetic to his circumstances I did not raise his rent since the 2012
amount which was £695 pcm( 2 Bed flat in this area current market rent £1150 + pcm)
After running up thousands of pounds of arrears and failing to stick to our agreements he
stopped paying anything even though he was receiving Housing Benefit. He would not reply to
my phone calls, emails and letters so I informed him I would take him to Court for possession
of the flat and the arrears. Still no contact.
The Government brought in 'fast track' legislation , a Section 8 Notice to speed up the process
of eviction when a Tenant was in serious arrears, which by way of example they quoted 6 months
or more. In this case the arrears were far in excess of this.
I issued the Section 8 in September 2020, had the delivery to the flat photographed and a signed
statement issued by a third party.
After the prescribed period I had no response from the Tenant so I applied to the County Court
for a Possession Order in January 2021.
After 5 weeks I received a letter from the Court (General Form of Judgement or Order) signed
by a Judge stating they were throwing out my case as I had not complied with the Notice of
Hearing to provide a bundle of documents in support of the Claim :
BUNDLE OF DOCUMENTS AS REQUIRED BY PRACTICE DIRECTIVE 55
55.4 – PARTICULARS OF CLAIM
I wrote back and disagreed with this as I had sent a huge bundle showing Shorthold Agreement
full schedule of rent paid and arrears due, copies of letters to the Tenant, copies of emails
sent to the Tenant, dates and times of telephone calls and text messages.
I had given all the details I had regarding the Tenant and his personal details of which I was
aware. I also informed them that I had made myself available both in person if required and, as requested, made myself available beside the telephone at the time and date set for reviewing the claim to answer or clarify any queries that might arise. I receive no telephone call or communication.
A few more weeks past and I received another identical letter from a different Judge stating I
had not complied with Directive 55 - 55.4 - Particulars of Claim. I informed them all the items in Directive 55 were included in the documents I had already sent them but if there was any other information they required to please inform me and I would provide it.
A few weeks later I received yet another identical General Form of Judgement from yet another
Judge saying I failed to comply with Directive 55. ( Had they even read my previous letters )
This time in order to thwart them I copied and pasted Directive 55 and under every paragraph
of that document wrote 'ANSWER' followed by the relevant information ( all of which I had already
provided in previous communications).
Obviously now they could not say I had not dealt with Directive 55 and set a hearing date for
the end of July 2021.
When I arrived at court they informed me they could not find any documentation
relating to my case, even though it was listed.
I had to wait a few hours until they located the documents and the Judge heard the case.
I was granted and Order for Possession and arrears of just under £25,000
After waiting to see if the Tenant vacated, which he failed to do, I had to apply for a
Warrant of Possession. This was issued on 20th October 2021 and a Bailiff attended on
10th November 2021.
In the meantime the Tenant had been arrested for Criminal Offences ( unrelated and I won't
go into the misdeeds here) and had been sentenced to prison where he now resides.
I now have possession of the flat however it is full floor to ceiling of his possessions.
He has racked out both bedrooms, the lounge, kitchen and hallway, floor to ceiling with
archives relating to his 60 yrs. These are of no use or value to anyone but him and there
are a few items of value which would not be nearly enough to cover the estimated £3000 - £4000
to clear and dispose of the huge amount in the flat before I can re-let it or even have actual
possession.
Up to this stage I have had 53 communications with the Court over a period of 15 months and
it is still not resolved. So much for 'fast tracking' !!!
This has been a long message but there is another saga relating to my attempt to get a warrant
of control over the items in the flat so I can get them removed and that is UNELIEVABLE !
Maybe when I get that resolved I will share the experience with you. I have had multiple conversations and form filling so far with no result. The lack of logic in the British Judicial System today is truly incomprehensible and ridiculous !!
