Possession order granted - what next? Over £20000 in arrears and costs owed

[mlsmith]

A section 8 notice was served and recently a possession order granted. I'm sorry if a similar question has been posted. But I am struggling to find out how to transfer to the HCEO.

I have used a solicitor to date, and a barrister to represent at court but it is costing me £1000s; as it had cost me £1000s already when I got my local agent to do it for me and they got it so wrong. So i wanted to ensure things are done properly via a solictor and barrister. Unfortunately the solicitor firm is not very upfront with their costs so I find that I am always having to pay for an extra 8 hours here and there with absolutely no proof or evidence of the slow trainee solicitors outputs and I do not see any of the papers submitted to the court or any of the judgement papers issued. All I have to go on is the following:


The judge made the following order:

1. The Defendants to give the Claimants possession of the property by 20 June 2017 based upon mandatory ground 8.
2. There be judgement for the Claimants in the sum of £20,800
3. The Defendants do pay the Claimants use and occupation charges at a rate of £60 per day from 1 July 2017 until possession is given up
4. The Defendants do pay the Claimants costs summarily assessed in the sum of £900 by 20 June 2017 [I do not know what this cost consists of - did not see any of the papers submitted]

With the above in mind - what do I need to do next to get my tenants evicted. I read that i need to transfer to the high court - but must i apply to the county court first? Ive been told that it will take 8wks plus for the county court bailiffs. But I assume I can't use the County Court Bailiffs given the amount owed.
I dont want to have to pay another £800 for the solicitor to fill a form for me. So ideally i'd like to do this myself. Any guidance and notes would be appreciated, as well as reliable HCEOs.

thanks

[JK0]

It's going to be pricey to go back to court for that. I'd use county court bailiff IIWY.

[charliesugar]

I would contact HCEO and see if they can help you transfer the claim to High Court and then carry out the eviction for you. I can't say they are cheap to use but it sounds like solicitors and barristers have bled you dry so wouldnt go back to them if it were me.
I was lucky in that the judge allowed me to transfer up as part of the judgement. It took HCEO exactly 7 days to effect eviction so money well spent in my books.

I don't know if I am allowed to name the firm I used? Mods will remove if not
https://www.burlingtongroup.co.uk/about/

[Dinkum]

There is a sticky at the top of this section telling you what options are available to gain possession and attempt to get some money back.

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums...cement-Options

Good luck.

[Augustminx]

A section 8 notice was served and recently a possession order granted. I'm sorry if a similar question has been posted. But I am struggling to find out how to transfer to the HCEO.

I have used a solicitor to date, and a barrister to represent at court but it is costing me £1000s; as it had cost me £1000s already when I got my local agent to do it for me and they got it so wrong. So i wanted to ensure things are done properly via a solictor and barrister. Unfortunately the solicitor firm is not very upfront with their costs so I find that I am always having to pay for an extra 8 hours here and there with absolutely no proof or evidence of the slow trainee solicitors outputs and I do not see any of the papers submitted to the court or any of the judgement papers issued. All I have to go on is the following:


The judge made the following order:

1. The Defendants to give the Claimants possession of the property by 20 June 2017 based upon mandatory ground 8.
2. There be judgement for the Claimants in the sum of £20,800
3. The Defendants do pay the Claimants use and occupation charges at a rate of £60 per day from 1 July 2017 until possession is given up
4. The Defendants do pay the Claimants costs summarily assessed in the sum of £900 by 20 June 2017 [I do not know what this cost consists of - did not see any of the papers submitted]

With the above in mind - what do I need to do next to get my tenants evicted. I read that i need to transfer to the high court - but must i apply to the county court first? Ive been told that it will take 8wks plus for the county court bailiffs. But I assume I can't use the County Court Bailiffs given the amount owed.
I dont want to have to pay another £800 for the solicitor to fill a form for me. So ideally i'd like to do this myself. Any guidance and notes would be appreciated, as well as reliable HCEOs.

thanks

Hi there

I have done several of these myself and it is a bit of a minefield. However, I have done alot of research and training and now do these for private landlords. The debt is above the limit for County Court Bailiffs I believe so will need to be transferred for execution by HCEO. I have always used DCBL and highly recommend their services, extremely helpful and very professional. Your next step will be to obtain what is called 'Leave To Transfer' from the County Court Judge. If you speak to DCBL they will probably assist you with forms.

Good luck

[JK0]

I don't think the guys chucking tenant out collect money, whether high court or county court, do they?

(If 'Can't Pay or We Take it Away' is anything to go by.)

[mlsmith]

Hi all thanks for your responses. From reading recent recent articles about HCEOs I am slightly concerned with the timescales for transferring up to HCEO and then their fees. If it's around a 2 wks difference between a county court bailiff and a HCEO, i think i'll rather save money by just sticking with the County Court bailiffs.
I am only after possession of the property at this stage and i'll look into how to get the money back later. So can i just complete with the minimum amount on the N325 form for part 4, as suggested below. rather than enter the outstanding balance owed to me which is of over £20,000?)

i.e. I've read on various posts that this is what i should complete? Can anyone confirm that this would be ok and my N325 form wont be rejected?

"The N325

Complete name of court and claim number at top right hand side

Paragraph 1 (Claimants Name and Address) is the landlord or his/her solicitor name and address.

Paragraph 2 (a) Enter "As Above" unless the address is different.

Paragraph 3 (Defendants Name and Address) is all the tenants names and the full property address details.

Paragraph 4(a) If the claimant has asked for and received a judgement for costs then insert £355 into section 4a. If the defendant is not required to pay costs, then insert Nil.

Paragraph 4(b) Insert the same amount as box a, unless the tenant has paid some of the judgement already. Then insert £121 for issuing the notice and any legal representative costs that have accrued and then total up the amount.

Paragraph 5 (Property/Land Details) Date of judgement/order, this is the date of the hearing. Date of possession, this is the date possession should have been given up

"Describe the Land" box is simply the address and post code of the property.

In the signature box on the right hand side delete the wording within both sets of brackets in part (1) and delete the whole of part (2). Add signature and date

At the bottom of the form put the contact details of the landlord.

Once completed post N325 form to court with the appropriate fee of £121. It is advised that the landlord retains a copy of the completed and signed N325 form, for their own records. The court will then contact the defendant."

[JK0]

That sounds fine to me. You might want to check if that is still the correct fee.

[charliesugar]

The money I spent on HCEO was well worth it in my case. My local County Court, Bow, has a long waiting list for CC bailiffs whereas it took a total of 7 days from instruction to actual eviction via HCEO route. Burlingtons are located right next door to the court so their timescale was very neat.
They gave me an initial quote for fees but then of course locksmith charges were added on but given wheat you have paid out in legal fees the costs will be reasonable.

[JK0]

I think we've had this discussion before, haven't we Charlie?

The problem with HCEO's in my view is the lack of notice for the tenant. Tenant is unlikely to have anything packed, or any way of removing it. So further hassle, and fees if you can't attend yourself, come after the eviction, when you have to open up to allow tenant to pack.

[charliesugar]

HCEO do have to give notice now JKO. 7 days in fact so plenty of time for tenants to pack if they are ever going to do it.
It's not perfect to have to re-attend to allow tenant to remove remaining items but this kind of tenant has proven not to be the reasonable kind anyway so I don't think giving them extra weeks while waiting for CC bailiff would make much difference.

[mlsmith]

That sounds fine to me. You might want to check if that is still the correct fee.

Thanks -it is £121 according to https://www.gov.uk/evicting-tenants/...s-and-bailiffs

Does anyone know if the amount entered in (4) the warrant details section of the N325 form need to match the amount in my possession order? Particularly 4(a)? As the balance due is well over £20k (as you can see from my opening post). If I do put the £20k+ for 4(a) and then £355 for (b) will the form be rejected? I don't understand what the point is of entering this amount if the County Court bailiffs can't collect any debts anyway. Do I therefore enter:

1. A lesser amount (various suggestions on the forum say to enter £355 for both a) and b)
2. Enter the maximum the N325 is permitted (is this £5k?)
3. Enter £20k for a) and £355 for b)? I must admit, I don't understand what b) 'amount for which warrant to issue' actually means, does this mean the amount the bailiff should seek to recover?

Also I'm not sure what legal rep costs I should enter. I know it has cost me a significant amount of legal costs to date! Is the legal costs that I should enter the amount entered when applying for the hearing. One of the ouctomes of the hearing was'the defendants pay the claimants costs summarily assessed in the sum of £900' so I assume this includes my legal costs. Unfortunately my solicitors did not send me any of the documents they sent to court or the resulting possession order so I do struggle to see what this £900 is for. I had also paid solicitors £6 for the HM land registry fee, so I assume I put this for Land registry fee? Unless of course, the aforementioned £900 includes this fee..


4. Warrant details
(A) Balance due at the date of this request
(B) Amount for which warrant to issue
Issue fee
Legal representative’s costs
Land Registry fee
TOTAL

Although I do want a quick eviction, it has to make money sense too. I don't want to be paying an extra £600 only for the HCEO to be 2wks quicker. CC bailiffs time currently expected to be 6-8 wks. I don't know how long it takes to transfer up and also serve notice to tenants before HCEOs to evict.

Thanks all in advance. I am just so fed up with this, it's been over a year since the tenants stopped paying.

[JK0]

I think I just put the £355 when I did this, although in my case rent was owed as well.

[wfd_property]

£20k? Is this normal domestic tenants on an AST or is this something commercial?