evict a non rent paying, blackmailing tenant - Courts no help at all!!

[landlady_uk]

Apologies in advance for this lengthy post – am in desperate need of some help please! I am trying to evict my tenant who owes me thousands of pounds in rent – I presented s8 and 21 and we attended court whereby the judge provided an eviction order. The tenant appealed so this order was revoked and we had a hearing where the judge discussed the next directions. To my dismay the judge ordered that I the landlady would have to pay £500 for a small hearing to take place plus hundreds of other pounds when I submit paperwork/evidence etc – below is the evidence I submitted to court :

• Evidence that the tenant was in rental arrears exceeding 2 calendar months. And that the tenant’s rental arrears are continuing on a monthly basis.
• Petition drawn up by neighbours supporting my claim that the tenant be evicted due to unsociable and hostile nature of tenant
• Evidence that the tenant has kept 5 large German shepherd dogs in my property despite my continued requests to remove them
• Evidence that the tenant has continued to harass me via emails sent to me of a threatening nature at unsociable hours – I attached all emails that the tenant sent me which included serious threats to my safety
• Evidence that tenant used to email me up to 10 times a day at work which caused me distress and deeply effected my health
• Evidence that the tenant is blackmailing me, requesting me the landlady to pay the tenant £10,000 of money and only then will he leave the property
• Evidence that the tenant is running a business from the residential property
• Evidence that the tenant has damaged my property (before and after pictures provided of the front garden/back garden front door)
• Evidence in the form of local councillor to support my claim to have the tenant’s removed due to unsociable and nuisance he has caused to surrounding mature people’s residential building.
• Evidence that I had visited the police to complain about this tenant and they had experience in the past of the tenant being involved in violence, abusive and a nuisance.
• Evidence that the tenant is a SERIAL tenant. I had contacted 2 of his previous landlords who testified in writing that the tenant did not pay their rent either and caused subsequent damage to the properties
• Evidence that the tenant’s previous landlord paid the tenant £3,000 to leave the property – Testimony to the fact that the tenant’s nature is to damage properties and blackmail the landlords to pay him off with money to leave. The council are aware of this tenant and have had numerous dealings with him.

I have lost faith in the british justice, this tenant knows the law inside out and the for the past 2 landlords he has had (plus me = 3) the judge has failed to order a an eviction notice.

please help!
thank you for reading

[bhaal]

From the sound of what you have posted the tenant has no chance of success at the hearing. The best thing to do is to follow the process through and get the tenant evicted.

Why exactly did the judge order a hearing though? Are they alleging that you have done something wrong? Have you done anything wrong? Have you complied with requirements such as protecting any deposit that the tenant paid in an approved scheme?

[landlady_uk]

I have done nothing absolutely wrong - I would say that in hindsight I was too 'nice'- the tenant who is dss did not pay me a penny for the first 2 months, despite recieving money from council and spending it himself. He said the temptation to spend the money was too much for him.

The tenant appealed against the judge's initial eviction order, and in doing so put in a counterclaim against me, alleging that I have made him bankrupt (because the state of the house is unhabitable - it has affected his health). My house is lovely - i have relevant gas/electric certificates, new bathroom before the tenant moved in, recently rennovated lounge/kitchen/bedrooms, front and back garden..

Surely the evidence that I submitted should have made the judge aware as to the nature of the tenant...and with regards to proceeding with courts, that would mean paying thousands more in court fees, and evan then I am not hopefull that I shall get justice.

[landlady_uk]

Thanks for your help Bhaal.

The tenant has not paid the full deposit, he still owes me £200.

[westminster]

I am trying to evict my tenant who owes me thousands of pounds in rent – I presented s8 and 21 and we attended court whereby the judge provided an eviction order.

Your post suggests that you applied via s.8 route. Why didn't you apply via s.21 route? - because if the paperwork is correct, then the T has no defence and the court must order possession.

You do not say why the s.8 application failed; has the T reduced the rent owing and unpaid to less than two months, did he defend on the basis of disrepair, etc?

Please give some more details:

Date fixed term commenced, length of term?
Is rent payable monthly or weekly?
Was a deposit paid, if so was it protected and the prescribed info given to T?
Date s.8 was served and what grounds it cited?
Date s.21 was served and what date it expired (exact wording, e.g. "on 2nd February" "after 2nd February")?
Did you obtain proof of service of notices?
What date you started the possession claim and what form(s) you used?

[landlady_uk]

This is one of the many emails the tenant sent me (must warn in advance he cannot spell!):


hi

as i have not heard from you ... i have desided to put a counter claim in agaist you

for the following



1 / loss earnings of 2,000 for recovery jobs that we have had to cencel
due to our time being wasted on this court case ...



2/ money for the doors / handles plus fitting of 2 doors 433.65



3 / money we had to paid to get bathroom light sorted 60.00



4/ repayment of 2,500 rent / houseing benefit you have recived on the grounds

the property has been let to us in an unlawful and unsafe condtion

comfirmed by the inspector on the inspection ...

you signed a legal document namely a tenancy agreement stateing that the property

meet all the safety regulation required by law for the letting of the property .

which the property dose not meet those safety regulations therefore the tenancy agreement

is illlegal ......... we are entilted to our rent / houseing benefit back by law ..........





WANT TO TALK WITH ME YET ????????????





county court





part 20 offer settlement



on the payment of 5,000 pounds in cash ...

we will give you back your property and leave within 7 days





this is a legal offer that is offered in settlement of this claim under section 20 of the

county court act ......

other wise the claim / case gets kick out of court .......


Since the tenant sent the above email, the amount he wants to leave has gone from £5,000 - £7,000 and now £10,000!

[landlady_uk]

Hi,

I submitted the s8 as the tenant owed me over 2 months in rental arrears – and this was the fastest option.

The application initially was successful, but when the T appealed against the decision due to ‘disrepair’ of home (which he has inflicted himself. He damaged the property, made holes in outer wall and contacted the council advising them that the house was let in such a condition) . Once he appealed and decided to sue me (see email I have included on this thread for his reasons cited) the judge decided to freeze the eviction order. We attended a ‘direction hearing’ where I was told I had to pay hundreds of pounds more for a small hearing where I could call upon witness/statements etc.

During this ‘direction hearing’ I told the judge about the blackmail/threatening nature of the tenant and the fact the tenant is refusing to clear the rental arrears, the judge upon hearing this ordered the hearing had closed and he left the room!!!

Answers to your questions below…

Date fixed term commenced, length of term?
Naively the tenant told me he wanted a long term property which and I agreed to sign the tenancy for 5 years

Is rent payable monthly or weekly?
Monthly

Was a deposit paid, if so was it protected and the prescribed info given to T?
Deposit amount still outstanding - £200

Date s.8 was served and what grounds it cited?
Served in May 2010 – I cited many reasons:
Rental arrears over 2 months owed
Keeping dogs in property and breeding them to sell on
Running a business from residential property
Damaged the front garden and back garden (photos were attached)
Petition from neighbors to support the eviction


Date s.21 was served and what date it expired (exact wording, e.g. "on 2nd February" "after 2nd February")?
Don’t have this information to hand at the moment

Did you obtain proof of service of notices?
yes

What date you started the possession claim and what form(s) you used?
June – don’t have the details to hand – can get this to you tomorrow. The court sent me the paperwork which I completed myself.

[bhaal]

The offer to settle the tenant has made is not blackmail - it's an offer to settle. His counter-claim is, from the sounds of it, completely bogus, but he is perfectly entitled to make such an offer.

Any deposit you received must be protected in an approved government scheme. If you have not done this already you should take steps to do so now. If you do not you will potentially be subject to a penalty for three times the amount of the deposit and any s21 notice served will be invalid.

The judge has to consider the whole case, including the tenant's claim that the property was let in an unacceptable state. You will have the opportunity to present evidence refuting this claim at the hearing.

[thesaint]

One of our landlords has had a similar problem that has been going on for about six months.

I would advise you to stop the Sec 8, and go with the Sec 21.

[jta]

Date fixed term commenced, length of term?
Naively the tenant told me he wanted a long term property which and I agreed to sign the tenancy for 5 years

Was this registered? All tenancies over 3 years have to be.

[mjbfire]

I would say keep it simple, just argue the case on ground 8,10,11(Non payment of rent grounds), all the rest will cloud the situation. With the S21 he could agrue about the deposit or that the AST was for 3 years, as you got no paper work, how can you prove either way.
I afraid the courts, don't like chucking people out on the street, regardless of what the law says, so the courts, will in the majority of cases give the T as much time as they can.

The only way is either
1) Do nothing (And he never leaves)
2) To pay him off.
3) To do the court process by yourself(And get pushed from pillar to post, as he will get a lot of free advise and all he has to do is wait until he prompts you into doing something wrong, and you may end up paying him).
4) Pay a professional L&T lawyer, to fight your case.(But will cost money, as landlord don't get free advise like Ts).

I would suggest do either 2 or 4.

Option 2, because you not going to get any money from him, because he got none, and because you can't get a rent paying T in there until he gone.
Once he gone, hopefully you can go to court and get a CCJ against him, so it's easier for other landlords to spot him.

Option 4, will take a little longer, I doubt you get any money, but you will sleep better at night and he may think twice about doing it again to another LL, plus it be easier for other LL to stop him as will have a CCJ.

In a business sense i guess, it's better to pay him off and move on, but I think in this sense us LL are our worst enemy, as it's the only reason why Ts think they can get away with it.

Hope this helps

[westminster]

TBH your approach to the possession procedure appears to have been chaotic and I'm not particularly surprised the T is running rings around you. I suspect that it's not the court or the law which is at fault, but your total lack of understanding as to how the procedure works.

I asked you what grounds you cited in the s.8 notice, but you haven't answered the question - if you, say, didn't cite or quote ground 8 of Schedule 2, HA1988, on the notice and in the possession claim, then that's your first mistake. The other tenancy breaches are non-mandatory grounds. See http://www.letlink.co.uk/letting-fac...-8-notice.html


Mistake 2: it seems you haven't protected the deposit (it's irrelevant whether T has paid 10% or 100% of it, it must be protected - if it's an AST), therefore, any s.21 notice served will be invalid if served when the deposit is not protected nor prescribed info provided to T.

Mistake 3: Signing a FIVE year fixed term FFS! With a DSS tenant! Go and see a specialist solicitor, because you need to find out the implications of this. Different laws apply to terms of more than 3 years.

Overall, I strongly recommend you seek specialist legal advice as I don't think you are going to succeed in getting a possession order if you try to DIY (not least because you've failed spectacularly already).

To find a specialist solicitor in landlord & tenant law, try:
http://www.contactlaw.co.uk/

[landlady_uk]

Hi,

thanks for replying.

I have not registered this tenancy agreement. Who would I need to register with?

[Snorkerz]

There is no need to register the tenancy agreement

[landlady_uk]

I submitted the s8 notice and cited ground 8 (non payment of rents for over 2 months – I understand that this is a mandatory ground) This was the most primary reason for applying for an eviction order.

Numerous other non – mandatory grounds were also included to support my claim, which are outlined in my primary post – If there was some kind of discrepancy with my paperwork, the judge would not have ordered an eviction notice to the tenant. The reason as to why this case is still ongoing is because the T appealed against the judge’s decision and decided to counterclaim against me for ‘unaccountable’ claims. (Incidentally the T could not even be bothered to turn up at the initial hearing on time, so he was not allowed inside the court room).