Warrant for possession?

[cbear214 10]

This is more of a query than anything but we are seeing someone in Shelter in town for help so this is just to see if anyone has any more knowledge on the matter. The home in question is owned by Sheffield city council and we have been renting the property since '95.

 

We have recently been served n eviction notice, with the eviction due to take place tomorrow. I have noticed upon going through my post that we had been sent two letters (one on the 8th July, and one on the 6th August I believe) regarding them telling us to pay rent arrears in total in 5 days or they would send off for a warrant of possession (N325 form). Both of these letters had a lovely red triangle saying 'DANGER' on them. I know the warrant costs £110 (which is usually added to rent arrears) and there was no change in the rent arrears during this time (except of course the usually weekly rent).

 

We were then went another letter on the 13th August (which is 5 working days from the last 'DANGER' letter stated above, saying that we needed to contact them about sorting rent out and to come to some agreement with them. This letter was far more polite and had a 'WARNING' yellow triangle, instead of the bright red ones seen in letters before.

 

We had set up a direct debit with the Sheffield city council to pay rent ajnd any arrears off, which had to be cancelled at the end of June due to the banks recommendation because a lot of companies were taking money out of the bank account without our permission. If we had the direct debit still in place, rent would have been paid directly on the 1st of July. I don't think its very fair that within those 7 days - only 5 of them working days, that they sent this letter out so fast.

 

At some point, between the 13th August and the beginning of September, a warrant has been granted and I know £110 has been added to the rent arrears.

 

I am just wondering if anyone has any knowledge on the matter or has had experience with this sort of thing before.

[JJRB 10]

By saying you have gone through the letters just now I guess its been a case of burying your head in the sand so to speak. Its easy to do as could be many other factors affecting this but we now need to sort this head on to resolve it.

 

You mention the words "danger" and "warning" on letters and you are against them being used. In truth they are telling you how serious the situation is.

 

You mention a direct debit being cancelled at end of June and that a payment was due out 1st July for the rent and part of the arrears.

 

Can you confirm that the money set aside for 1st July, Aug and Sept is available still? If not July because of problems, then is Aug and Sept available?

 

This will have a huge bearing on the eviction notice.

[cbear214 10]

I went though the letters recently because there is a lot of other factors (including a lot of debt and stress in the household. My daughter lives with me and due to her mental health condition, I was focusing on trying to assist her with getting better as well as balancing my full time job with other issues).

 

I understand the reason for the 'danger' and 'warning' but am still unsure why they sent letters out in the order of 'danger' which was rather harsh and terrifying to then double back on themselves somewhat and go to 'warning'.

 

The money which would have been used to pay rent for those months had to be spent on food and household items (like a freezer and washer as they broke) and a lot of it was to pay pay-day loan companies back, even some of it was taken out of my bank account from certain companies without my consent but I am working with CAB to resolve that issue.

 

I have re-set my direct debit back up (I did this a week or so ago) so the 1st payment due to be taken out for rent is on Oct 1st and I paid some money on my rent yesterday.

[JJRB 10]

Its all about figures now to stop the eviction. Can you tell me what was the agreed monthly amount starting 1st July (rent+arrears) and how much your arrears stand at the moment?

 

How much was paid yesterday as this will take a couple of days to register?

[cbear214 10]

I think the agreement is rent (84.05) plus £10 and the arrears stand at £2300 or around that figure. Yesterday £95 was paid.

[JJRB 10]

Judging on the amount of arrears and the length of non payment the council will only cancel the eviction if a significant amount of arrears is paid. The letters you received are part of the legal process which takes time to set up. One of the letters would have asked for the full arrears and albeit you making a £95 payment yesterday the letter will still stand. Its a lengthy process to secure an eviction and the bailiffs will have been organised already so you can see they will not accept a token payment at this late stage.

 

See what Shelter say - the council will have gone through the correct legal process - be prepared for the worse. Unfortunately its been left too late to reason with the council - I know there are a lot of factors but the amount owed I fear is too much for them to make another agreement. Give it all you got, good luck and best wishes.

[geared 302]

Unless you can pay up then you should probably start moving your stuff out immediately.

 

You've left it far too late to reason with the council, if you can't pay then you will get kicked out on the street.

 

If you're in deep with pay-day lenders as well as the council you might need to talk to the CAB, or a money advice service to see what your best options are.

[Douglas J 10]

So what happened?

[V.Rossi 10]

Scary stuff, especially seeing as you have left it so late to sort out...

 

We went through this several years back when we were stupid and just kept hiding from debts hoping they'd just go away (They didn't), but we sorted it out good and early, had a solicitor/financial expert from CAB attend court with us and spoke to the council rep before we went before the district judge, they agreed rent + an amount toward the arrears and we set about getting our house in order, just about paid it all off now.

 

But I'm guessing that having left it this late to seek legal help, the court bailiffs were at your house before you even left court? One thing I learnt about the council through our experience was they are very ruthless and you need to have a degree in hate, biterness and snobbery to get a job with them. They will eat you alive given half the chance so best to sort things early.

 

PS: If you did manage to secure the tenancy, don't go out of your way to make huge, unaffordable payments off the arrears and leave yourself struggling, it wont impress them in the slightest, they just want to see you sticking to the agreement every week / month whatever you agree.

 

Hope it all worked out in the end anyway....

[geared 302]

One thing I learnt about the council through our experience was they are very ruthless and you need to have a degree in hate, biterness and snobbery to get a job with them. They will eat you alive given half the chance so best to sort things early.

 

In their defence tho I bet they deal with a right old load of freeloaders, con-artists, lazy sods and druggies.

They have to be efficient in getting rid of people because the waiting list for housing is enormous.

 

You can't have a load of your properties taken up by people who aren't paying for them, that house could be better put to use giving a family a new home they can enjoy and put to good use.

[V.Rossi 10]

Oh I agree totally geared...I can understand why they are how are they are and I've no doubt they have to be like that to get results but it would be nice if they could turn it on and off when necessary, unfortunately they are just wired all day long.

 

I will say though, there is one woman who's name I wont mention who has been dealing with us lately with our overcrowding application who at first was a bit wired but recently actually admitted she likes dealing with us and has said we couldn't imagine some of the horror stories of some families she could tell us she deals with regularly...I suppose it's hard to imagine people being any less than decent/friendly, especially when asking for help?

[geared 302]

I bet it wears you down, alot of jobs that deal with the public are like that.

 

I suppose it's hard to imagine people being any less than decent/friendly, especially when asking for help?

 

I bet a ton of people they deal with are just plain angry, and venting at the first person they come across.

 

Must make it tough to have some compassion for people when you've spent all morning dealing with utter ar*eholes.