Court hearing for possession – Make sure you are very careful!

Court hearing for possession – Make sure you are very careful!

16:11 PM, 10th July 2022, About 2 years ago 14

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This isn’t a moaning landlord post it’s just a very factual train of events as I wanted to share my experience of a civil court hearing yesterday when I was attending after serving a section 8 notice on November 18th 2021.

I attended the hearing although the tenant did not despite when being sent the court papers the tenant was supplied with leaflets and a helpline for Shelter! Only the judge and I were in the room.

Once I had attested to tell the whole truth we got down to the nitty gritty. I had to supply the AST, proof that we had bought the building with the tenant, the tenancy deposit certificate which I explained I had returned the deposit as I was doubtful the previous landlord had serviced the correct information, the section 8 notice which the judge checked I had serviced on the correct day and the level of arrears on the date of service, proof that I had posted and proof that I had hand-delivered the notice.

As we are in Wales he also wanted the landlord licence of not only myself personally but the landlord licence of our company. Then he asked for the Rent smart wales landlord registration for myself, I explained that a licence cannot be issued with a registration and that’s when he got very annoyed and spoke to me in a very aggressive manner that if I didn’t have the paper copy he would be throwing out the claim, fortunately, I found not only the company registration and my personal registration in my emails on my phone which he begrudgingly accepted.

Once all of this had been produced he asked for a copy of rent arrears currently and hey presto he asked if I was happy with 14 days notice. I explained that I was and if he knew the waiting time for the local bailiffs which he said was around 4 weeks although I would require a warrant of possession in case the tenant doesn’t vacate.

I said I was doubtful but I would wait until the date of the notice to check. All in all, it will take approximately 10 months to get possession. All I can say is make sure the paperwork is in order, check it again and expect a tough time as they are looking for every technicality to throw out your claim.

Make sure you are very careful and get your paperwork in order.

Michael


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Comments

TheMaluka

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7:22 AM, 11th July 2022, About 2 years ago

I agree. Could it be that the government has exerted pressure on the courts to avoid possessions if at all possible? I have just issued a section 8 on antisocial behaviour grounds and after a few days received a letter from HMCTS informing me that they were busy and would not issue a hearing date for 8 weeks.

One further point pleae make sure that the name on the tenancy agreement matches EXACTLY the name on the possession claim, "ABC Ltd" on one and "ABC Limited" on the other is not good enough.

JB

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8:39 AM, 11th July 2022, About 2 years ago

Take a copy of ALL your paperwork to court. I delivered mine to court previoulsy but the judge had not received any of it and could not proceed without it.

Mick Roberts

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10:11 AM, 11th July 2022, About 2 years ago

And as we know, this hypocrisy & ever increasing delays only makes it worse for future tenants as we sell & avoid any one that deserves a chance but could be risky.

Your 3 stories above are scary.

Peter G

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20:58 PM, 11th July 2022, About 2 years ago

To be fair, the Judge is probably working to a checklist of the documents every landlord is required to have, and will insist on them because ANY perceived latitude by him in favour of the Landlord is likely to be challenged by the tenant AND Shelter AND the Council (trying to avoid housing more people) AND any people who think all Landlords should be attacked.

TrevL

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0:21 AM, 12th July 2022, About 2 years ago

How many first time/amateur/accidental landlords get their paperwork right . I reakon one in five at best. And it's only gonna get harder. And even agents get it wrong quite regularly (I speak from experience).

Mick Roberts

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5:51 AM, 12th July 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by TrevL at 12/07/2022 - 00:21
I've been doing it 25 years & I am most certainly getting my paperwork wrong, as more changes & punitive retrospective anti Landlord laws are bought in.

I keep saying it:

My boiler certificate notes:
And this shows why Benefit tenants can't get houses any more and rents extortionate. Having to make sure we got 100% proof tenant has received it. Done slightly wrong and u can't get bad non paying tenant out which then wrecks it for the good tenants.
U MUST have gave the tenant boiler certificate Judge says or u not getting her out even though she owes 2 years rent.
But Judge, I've put a new boiler in since then, so it's irrelevant.
Judge says Not bothered, this retrospective Anti-Landlord law is now in and bad tenant is never leaving.
That's OK Judge, Cause when other Landlords hear stories like this, you've just made it so that another 90% good tenants now can't get a house.

Michael Johnson - Amzac Estates

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8:26 AM, 12th July 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Peter G at 11/07/2022 - 20:58
I can see the point that you raise, however there are documents for section 21 and documents for section 8 notices. Proving arrears is the point for this particular section 8. Asking for the company license and registration is the issue in this instance however it was fortunate that I have a personal license and registration otherwise the claim would have been thrown out. What if I didn’t have a personal registration as in Wales ( and other home nations I suspect) ? If the company is registered, licensed and bringing the claim , it should not matter should it?

Christopher Lee

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17:11 PM, 12th July 2022, About 2 years ago

Am i right in thinking that for a section 8 you can still have possession granted even if the deposit hadn't been correctly protected?
I thought it was only s21 that wouldn't be granted?
Is it different for Wales vs England?

Michael Johnson - Amzac Estates

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17:20 PM, 12th July 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Christopher Lee at 12/07/2022 - 17:11Hi Christopher. I want to say yes but to be honest I don't think its worth taking a chance. I believe in England you guys also have to produce the Right to rent guide and also demonstrate that the gas safety certificate was given to the tenant as well.
My only thought is that if you are seeking an order for the arrears then the tenant can counter claim for the deposit not being correctly registered but honestly if you cannot get deposit registration right after 15 years then you should probably give up being a landlord!

Hardworking landlord

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9:04 AM, 16th July 2022, About 2 years ago

Hi I posted on here last month my friends daughter had a court date for eviction 4/7/22 only to be told a couple of days before her eviction was being stopped my friends and tge letting agent agreed on the arrears being paid off so it was a shock when another court letter arrived with a new court date . So not really sure what’s going on but the problem of her not having her deposit protected or a uptodate gas safety certificate ( last check was in 2018 ) had countless problems with her boiler breaking and at one point no heating for over 6 months during winter is it worth writing to the court before hand to tell them about this ? Any advice would be wellcome again

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