Readers account of an ongoing eviction by their agents

We have a tenant who is a single mum and she has been in the property since December 2011. One month after her starting the tenancy with the letting agent we use she started missing payments and paying minimal amounts like £5 per month.

We served her section 21 notice on Oct 25th 2012 and have had real issues with evicting this tenant. We have the following discussion with the letting agent, please see below. Any readers advice will be gratefully received.

1) Please provide the details of the solicitors who are dealing with this issues as we would like to get an understanding from them on the complications of this case- ?
The solicitors are based in Northampton they have informed me Monday that we currently have a court date of the 28th August 2013 so we are literally waiting for this date as we speak before going forward and settling this once and for all

2) How much rent arrears are due?
– so far the tenant owed £1680 until the 7th July- I am in daily contact with the guarantor to negotiate payment plans etc

3) Why has the guarantor not been pursued for the monies, to us what is the point of the having a guarantor of there is nothing to enforce them to pay the monies due. Can you please also explain what option we have legally to pursue the monies from the guarantor ?
The guarantor is aware we will penalise them for the lack of payment and the court will deem them secondly liable for this money- They can even be ordered to pay this on behalf of the tenant (In some cases)

3) We know she mentioned she would empty the property out on the 7th July which we have always been dubious about. Why would she voluntarily evict herself when she as you mentioned to me is fully aware would not be re-housed by the council under that circumstance?
The tenant decided to leave the property due to being able to live with her brother for the time being before being re-homed, unfortunately the brother is in hospital and is therefore unable to stay with him until he is back she has also been informed by the council/ accommodation concern & others not to move as they will not re-home her again.

4) What exactly are the delays with evicting her legally and through the courts?
– generally going to court can take a while they estimate 6-8 weeks on getting a date, because the courts are so full they have to prioritise putting a lot on the backlog unfortunately I have known cases to be delayed for as long as 11 months.

5) We have had several other tenants who have been problematic and within 3-4 months they were evicted after a section 21 notice. Its been 9 months since we gave her section 21 notice (October 2012) and yet we have not made any progress, why is this and what makes this so unique.?
Basically because the tenant is on housing benefits ( I am currently trying to re-home her as we speak) she is now not attempting (from the best of my knowledge) to move, find another property. She is requesting the accounts to be re-looked at- ( I have previously had a meeting with her to discuss this further but she simply and will not believe she owes so much despite going through this thoroughly)

6) We have duly paid rent and legal insurance. Why exactly is the rent arrears in this case not covered by the insurance and what other options do we have to recover cost ?
– The court will determine if the tenant can AFFORD to pay back the arrears- chances as she is not working she will not be able to pay this back unless this is the minimal amount (£5 a week I am estimating!) therefore this is where the guarantor comes into place- this will all be determined in court where they will go from here to obtain this money for you

7) Can you please specify what benefits she is on and under what pretext is she a tenant on the property. From the best of my knowledge the tenant is currently just on Housing benefits?
– she has a savings account from her late husband which she uses to “top” up the shortfall with

8) What options do we have to evict the tenant and recover the rent arrears?
– From my experience the courts will not allow her to stay in the property due to the arrears- therefore will give her 14 days to leave on- the new tenant lined up is more than happy to wait and is being updated on a fortnightly basis by myself- generally a money order from the court can be given but again this depends on the tenants earnings

Jiten

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