I had my third and final court hearing today, to see if the court would decide in favour of the landlord or me.
Well as expected they did decide in favour of the landlord eventually, although the judge himself said it was marginal! He was by far the fairest and light-hearted of all the judges, the perfect one to have making the final decision. I was happy with him saying it was close.
The next point was arguing for the max. 6 weeks to leave instead of 2 weeks, in view of my various health issues for which I’d got letters from my doctor and Stepping Forward listing them and how they affect me. The judge gave me 4 weeks.
There’s a few positives from it all:
- The thing is now resolved and I have some certainty about what’s going to happen.
- I have an actual hard, final date I can give to the council for when I’m going to be homeless.
- I can now do a homelessness assessment thing with the council for people at risk of homelessness.
- The council should put me at max. priority given my health conditions AND if they don’t I can go back to the solicitor (on legal aid) and get a court to rule that I should be the top priority.
- We can even get a second ruling from the court ordering the council to actually house me in a suitable place.
- The landlord and letting agent got absolutely everything coming to them for the torment they put me through last year with the abuse and attempted break-ins! In 4 days it is exactly 1 year since I received the initial eviction notice π.
I just need to keep on top of this stuff whilst the Salvation Army try to find a private place for me to move to. At least I have steps I can take and some kind of plan.
Negatives from today:
- Upon leaving the house to go to court I realised my duct-tape fix for my scooter’s rear mudguard was resulting in the mudguard rubbing on the tire. I had to make a quick decision to remove the mudguard which was connected by an electrical cable for the rear light. In trying to detach the cable (so as not to resort to cutting it), I used my room key to try to lever apart two pieces of plastic and snapped it in halfβ¦I then just used my other key to sever the cable.
- I had no phone with me to phone a locksmith with after the court hearing because I purposefully take minimal possessions to reduce hassle when going through the metal scanner at the courtβ¦it occurred to me then that I’d taken my own initiative obviously too literally and too far π€¦ββοΈ.
- It was pissing with rain immediately after the hearing so I got absolutely soaked in my shirt and trousers. Luckily my housemate was in and she let me use her phone to phone a locksmith.
- I spent Β£124 on the emergency lock change π€¦ββοΈπ€¦ββοΈπ€¦ββοΈ. But they did come quickly and it was minimal hassle.
House keys are weaker than they seem.
πͺ
π»πππππ
π πΆπ πͺππππ πͺ 
I wish I could be there to help. Just even friendly support in the court with you. That sounds so incredibly difficult.
LikeLike
Thanks a lot! Appreciate it. I do have a couple of great friends who are always there to listen and I do feel supported by salvation army and stepping forward. It’s always a big comfort knowing people online will be mad on my behalf :).
LikeLike
I’m glad you are able to find positive in this. Maybe it is for the better that they ended it this way so that you have clearer options to move forward rather than more uncertainty in battling the landlord. On what basis did they win the case anyway?
LikeLike
So the eviction was a procedural type where there is no accusation of fault on the tenant. The landlord is able to reclaim the property without reason. The ‘price’ for the landlord is that any mistakes in the documentation are fatal for the case. So it basically came down to the balance of evidence for the landlord/council supplying this handbook vs. not. I have to say that in the eyes of the judge from the evidence available it was certainly in the landlord’s favour. As it happens this ‘section 21’ type of eviction has been in the news lately being raised by campaign groups as unethical. Other countries don’t have it and we do need it to be banned. Landlords need to be forced into proving a breach of contract by the tenant (or that they themselves are in financial ruin I guess).
But anyway my goal was only ever to delay the eviction and buy more time in any means possible. Going to the solicitor in the first place was only to see what was possible given the bad treatment I’d experienced, and they came up with this query about the handbook :).
It has been a huge huge win dragging this out to my 35th birthday!! Only a few weeks now.
LikeLike
So the handbook was almost a red herring ultimately. Renting ain’t fun.
LikeLike
Well. It wasn’t in that I had no record nor memory of the updated one they were supposed to have sent. However the council shared a copy of a letter they they sent around the time they would’ve needed to send it stating they’ve attached the updated copy. But I had no record of the letter either. Which is weird because I kept all the letters I ever received from them in a specific file. Given how scrupulous I’ve been with that there’s no reason for me to believe I ever received it.
Also at the time I was surprised there was no documentation for the automatic tenancy renewal after the first year, and had emailed the letting agent about it at the time. Thinking about it I probably should’ve submitted that as evidence π. Ah well, all done now! Let us never speak of it again lol.
LikeLike
Landlord types always have another card to play.
LikeLike
I am really sorry that you have had to experience what you experienced in terms of your landlord and letting agents and the emotional trauma that you must have experienced.
I was fortunate inasmuch as last year in-fact it was around this time I was renting from a well known local lettings agent who would employ similar measures to those you have talked about and was unlicensed in Wales when I returned home after cremating my uncle and within a couple of days I was broken into and my flat completely emptied, my landlord refused to make my door safe due to time and cost however it helped me move out of the property and into a council property within a couple of months.
I wish you well and hope that you get the help that you both need and deserve and that your next move into a new home will be a positive one.
LikeLike
Wow sorry you experienced all that, that’s hellish. Glad you were able to get prioritised and into a suitable place.
Thanks for the comments!
LikeLike
Thank you for your comment I really appreciate it, I only shared those thoughts with you to highlight the reason why I was able to relate to your experience and that things can get better.
I hope that you are given priority and find somewhere suitable.
LikeLike
Oh now the hole in my understanding is filled by this post.
LikeLike