:help: My friend lives in a council house and recently split from her partner in December 2005.She works part time and has a son aged 13.
After her partner left she claimed rent rebate,poll tax rebate etc,
Although when she's been going to pay her rent her rent book is telling her she is in arrears.
She has notified the council and they have told her not to worry it will sort itself out eventually.
She has now recieved a summons for court for rent arrears of £1500.
She faces court tomorrow morning,I am very worried for her and her little boy.
She has managed to scoop £1000 with help from her friends to help her pay some of the arrears off.She intends to pay £1000 tomorrow morning,but will the courts still evict her as she has still got £500 owing in arrears.
She just doesn't know which way to turn and it's not her fault.
Does anyone know what will happen???? will they evict her or not?????

Beamer it's highly unlikely that they will evict her tomorrow, but it is really important that she attends court and explains her problems to the judge, and if at all possible she ought to get some legal help to be with her in court.

She has spoken to her solicitor today at 2pm, and he has told her he is going to try and sort out the problem before her hearing tomorrow,but she is not convinced he will.she is absolutely out of her mind.i just wish i could help her more than i already have!!!!!

if its just a case of housing benefit not being paid in time then they will wait till its sorted but she will have to go to court just to tell them that with the evidence of wen she applied and that she still is on benefits and things,,, they r pretty understanding,, i have had two mates go thru this and the court are pretty nice,, they may b satisfied with her just paying a few quid a week if she explains that she cant pay it all at once cos is it alot of money they will b fine with minimum payment,,, if she has borrowed the money and this all gets sorted out and paid into her account then her rent will b in credit by £1000 i dont know how the council stand on paying that back to her if she has paid it in her account,,, just tell her not to worry especially if its the first time shes been in arrears or been to court!

Tell her to get in touch with her local councillor. My partner is a councillor and has dealt with many situations such as this. When it is as dire as this you need all the help you can get.

She is taking letters etc she recieved from the housing/DSS granting her benefits,She has also the letter that tells her how much rent she must pay as from Dec 2005.
Her rent book tells her how much per week she has paid and the date as from Dec 2005,I have checked and double checked her rent book for her and she has paid the amount of rent it tells her to pay on her benefit letter dated Dec 2005 and she has religiously paid the same amount per week until today when her rent was due again.

She is taking letters etc she recieved from the housing/DSS granting her benefits,She has also the letter that tells her how much rent she must pay as from Dec 2005.
Her rent book tells her how much per week she has paid and the date as from Dec 2005,I have checked and double checked her rent book for her and she has paid the amount of rent it tells her to pay on her benefit letter dated Dec 2005 and she has religiously paid the same amount per week until today when her rent was due again.

No problems then. I can’t see her being evicted if she takes all that evidence to court. No way!

you may want to phone the citizens advice centre im sure they can represent you and give you advice on situations like these im sure there is one on spital hill ,good luck

Tell her not to worry too much, I'm sure it will all sort itself out in court. She's obviously not done anything wrong. Evictions occur more when someone has the means to pay and refuses to pay despite several warnings. It's not for people who have been mis-informed, want to pay, and haven't been bad tenants.
Tell her to speak clearly and confidently in court, make sure she understands everything thats being said and she'll be fine.
Make sure you let us know the outcome but I'm sure she'll be OK.

Her rent book tells her how much per week she has paid and the date as from Dec 2005,I have checked and double checked her rent book for her and she has paid the amount of rent it tells her to pay on her benefit letter dated Dec 2005 and she has religiously paid the same amount per week until today when her rent was due again.

Sounds like two council departments not speaking to each other and your friend is 'pig in the mddle'. If this is the case I hope the judge gives the council workers a good wigging - not that it will make any difference. :rolleyes:

She is taking letters etc she recieved from the housing/DSS granting her benefits,She has also the letter that tells her how much rent she must pay as from Dec 2005.
Her rent book tells her how much per week she has paid and the date as from Dec 2005,I have checked and double checked her rent book for her and she has paid the amount of rent it tells her to pay on her benefit letter dated Dec 2005 and she has religiously paid the same amount per week until today when her rent was due again.

She has nothing to worry about, especially as she has a letter from the local authority stating how much she has to pay per week. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES PAY ANY OF THE 'ARREARS'. Had there been any question to entitlement, this would have been raised already. If possible, get the rent statement which also comes from the council, stating how much has been paid, and what the full rent is.

I'm assuming that she is receiving Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, as well as her earnings, as she has a child. This should still qualify her for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. If she doesn't meet the hours for WTC/CTC then there will probably be an underlying entitlement to Income Support, which has automatic qualification for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. Unfortunately, however, the time taken to process the simplest of claims can be extremely long.

Realistically, what she should do, or get someone to do in her prescence (for Data Protecion purposes) is call the local housing office, and explain what has happened. The computer system should tell the officer when a claim was made, etc, and the court appearance can be cancelled. As she has a letter saying how much is due from her per week, this should be straightforward, as there has been an acknowledgement of entitlement to benefit.

If there had been a problem in administering the claim, because of a mistake on her part in completing the forms, or by someone from the authority, or even DWP (if there is an entitlement to Income Support), then this would be an official error under the Housing Benefit regulations 2006, no 213, section 100, clause 3. Under this regulation, the 'overpayment' of Housing Benefit (even though none has been granted yet), is not recoverable by law.

If the claim needs to backdated, she has 52 weeks from the original claim date to do this.

If it is not possible to resolve this over the phone, then she MUST have representation at court.

Hope this helps, and I hope she gets to calm down soon! Please let us know what happens.

beamer, how did your friend get on today? I hope things went ok in court.

Thankyou to all who gave support.
My friend went to court and NO EVICTION was the outcome.She has been through absolute hell,but now she is fine.
They actually dealt with the case without her as she was 5 minutes late.
They have cleared her of all arrears,but have advised her to check her rent book for arrears on Monday when she pays her rent.
I apologise for the delay in telling you all the outcome as we have been buisy unpacking her clothes etc.
Thanks once again:thumbsup:
Beamer

So pleased everything got sorted. Any sign of problems like this in future, best thing to do is get advice centre or Shelter to give help and support before it gets to this stage. Hopefully her stress levels are going down now.

Yeah she got a good nights sleep last night,and she is certainly alot more calmer now its all over and done with.:thumbsup:

Hi ther ei was wondering if anyone could give me some advice my landlasy has moved into our property without telling us she has converted the lounge into a bedroom without telling us and now resides ther. i wrote to her expalining she had breached the contract and she said shes evicting me and has given me 28 days notice , however she refuses to put this in writing. furthermore i gave her half rent for braching the contract in the spirit of compomise and she told me she wants to evict me . i also want to leavre but i want her o do it properly can anyone help please? i have never ;breached the contract and have always paid rent therefore i dont understand what her groundas for eviction are. She claims that she lives there now and she can kick me out when she wants and has requested that i leave asap. im reluctant to leave as she has my bond money and i dont think ill get that back. is it true that to be evicted she needs to get a court order? hope someone can help me !! Thanks Sheena

Hi ther ei was wondering if anyone could give me some advice my landlasy has moved into our property without telling us she has converted the lounge into a bedroom without telling us and now resides ther. i wrote to her expalining she had breached the contract and she said shes evicting me and has given me 28 days notice , however she refuses to put this in writing. furthermore i gave her half rent for braching the contract in the spirit of compomise and she told me she wants to evict me . i also want to leavre but i want her o do it properly can anyone help please? i have never ;breached the contract and have always paid rent therefore i dont understand what her groundas for eviction are. She claims that she lives there now and she can kick me out when she wants and has requested that i leave asap. im reluctant to leave as she has my bond money and i dont think ill get that back. is it true that to be evicted she needs to get a court order? hope someone can help me !! Thanks Sheenatake your rent book,tenancy agreement etc and go to the c a b ,she cant just throw you out,the c a b will give you the best advice and if needed the address of a solicitor for getting your bond back

http://www.nomadsheffield.co.uk/content/

They might be able too help i was with a private landlord and they helped me loads :)