Possession date – tenant still in – what next ?

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "13/11/2014 - 17:14":

Hi Mark - the council has obviously got its legal eagles at this issue..... their stance is that yes it is the tenant who is at fault, and yes it is the tenant who owes them the money, but, their argument is that the money I receive from them is NOT my money but her LHA - and as such they are clawing it back off her assets....... clever....

Reply to the comment left by "All BankersAreBarstewards Smith" at "13/11/2014 - 17:26":

They may be able to get away with that whilst she remains your tenants, but the opposite is definitely the case once she's evicted.
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The Landlord Forum is Cardiff is on 26th November, date and venue to be added. IF mark doesn't mind you can have my email and I can let you know where it is before the date - Kev _- AA Properties

Thanks Kev - I will see what my diary is like then...... I'm sure Mark will put us in communication with each other....

Just to say thank you so much to everyone who has provided invaluable help this last week and helped me stay sane.... I am just leaving home and will let you all know what happens on Monday ..... I have put belt and braces strategies in place ... so there is nothing further I can do.

The county court bailiff has been absolutely brilliant I have to say... talk about going the extra mile....

That is good news and fair play to the CCB. Most will go the extra mile if they can it's just many courts are just ludicrously under staffed.

I've no doubt you'll keep us posted with any developments.

Regards

David

Well, what an awful experience for me and the tenant. I decided to go to the property today and meet the bailiff, but the bailiff phoned me at 9.45am to tell me she had turned up at court, so I dashed over to the court 5 miles away. She was alone, looking terribly sad, and the usher gave me a copy of her handwritten application for more time - clearly she had had no assistance from anyone. No family had come with her.

She was very quickly in tears before the judge - I genuinely think this was the first time she had realised the seriousness of her position. I was almost as distressed as she was. Taking away someone's home is a terrible thing to do. This woman had indeed brought it upon her self by her inability to provide paperwork and her lack of communication skills, but, I do believe none of her actions were malicious. She is an inadequate vulnerable woman.

The judge explained her position to her. He asked her what steps she had taken to find alternative accommodation since the possession order was granted to me. She actually had no response, and simply wept. He asked me what I wanted and I said that I did not want to have to throw away her belongings, and that I would accept a definite date in the near future for her to arrange for their storage and then to leave my property, and that I wanted an end to this once and for all - for both our sakes. I think my Local Authority clawing-back funds from my current rent was the swaying factor for the judge. He agreed that I had done everything possible to prevent repossession, and he then told her that he had seen many landlords and that I was an extremely good one. She nodded and just said "I know"." Legally he could only give her a limited extension on time (6 weeks in total from the original order is the maximum the law allows ) so he phoned the bailiffs office, got the first available bailiffs diary date (8 days time) and I agreed that was ok.

I am attending again with the bailiff next week, and will then reassess the property and its poor state of repair, and just hope to goodness she has removed her belongings.....

So she has now been given 8 days to leave - along with her possessions. I asked her why her mum was not with her and the tears poured and she just said "I didn't dare tell her". This woman in 42 years old and one of life's inadequate people. It gave me a horrible feeling to have made her homeless, but, it had to be done.

She said the local authority could only offer her a hostel and that there was an outside chance her son could let her and her teenage daughter have the use of his spare bedroom for a limited period.

Its been an emotional and exhausting day. I now have a bill for £55.50 for the locksmith who hung around for hours waiting for instructions.....

As i said... a sad day.

Reply to the comment left by "All BankersAreBarstewards Smith" at "17/11/2014 - 22:08":

Thank you for the update.

Sad indeed!

I remember the day one of my tenants was evicted, she had previously been an accountant but had become a heroin addicted prostitute and cost me nearly £18,000.

Nevertheless, as she was forceably evicted from the property and promptly arrested by the Police, the cost to me was the last thing on my mind at that time. I was sad that a person could allow their life to turn so badly in such a relatively short period. The anger came later.

The story is here >>> http://www.property118.com/perfect-tenant-evicted-prostitute/29056/
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Thanks Mark - by the time I add up the refurb costs it will add up to thousands of pounds I will have lost because of this tenant ... but actually... money is the last thing on my mind.... its the cost of the human misery which I think is the most important.

I can empathise with your ex-accountant's situation , and yours. But what i have gradually realised is that all this "possession" process is part of our British way of life, its the difference between the people who "cope" and the "non-copers" - the two different approaches to life will always be different - i.e. self-determination, or reliance on others' peoples' actions to sort your own life out.

I am still convinced, in spite of everything I have been through, that we need a better benefit system, but one which is capable of discrimination between the truly vulnerable and the scamsters....

Reply to the comment left by "All BankersAreBarstewards Smith" at "17/11/2014 - 23:28":

It is 11.41pm and as I sadly read this I do hope the various councils also understand that the genuine vulnerable need help when folks like this are not able to understand "their process" on paperwork. There also remains a fine line to what we as landlords call being a bit successful and landlords who are on the verge of losing it all due to expensive repair bills and bad tenants who wreck their places. I house vulnerable tenants, some are genuine, some are not, some become friends, some become enemies. I just stick to what I have to do "be their landlord". For if I don't..I become "dependent on the system".

If we are to succeed we need to educate ourselves as Landlords. A big part of my process is to keep up with the tenants paperwork as it is a nightmare when dealing with HB tenants. I send out a letter to all my tenants now stating it is their responsibility to keep up with their entitlement. It must have been a very stressful and sad day for you both. BUT, you are helping this poor woman re-connect with her son, it will kick start her determination not to let it get this bad for her again hopefully. AND, maybe you can re-house a good family (do reference check), and then you will be doing a service in the every merry go round of "providing accommodation to our great nation" so you can..have your life that you work so hard for. Goodnight.
Kev - AA Props