Being Evicted by council any advice would be. so appreciated

[helloall22]

So i have had some rent arrears and as the past year has been horrible i’ve missed the repayment plan
Ive had my life turned upside down and now im going to lose my home.
Ive been attacked in the street badly beaten up and then we lost our baby, had his little funeral, then my son was harassed by his ex girlfriend endlessly and her family she then had our house front door burned by my sons ex partner, then we were burgled, had my husband work van burnt out at night, we have been threatened by these people to drop the court cases as all have been reported to the police
Now my aunt has cancer of the liver
My kids are are scared to leave the house and dropped out of college after my daughter was threatened with a attack
So then i lost my job this week and im
beyond worried

I received a letter for a court date for a possession order by the council i have a secure tenancy.
they said they sent a notice of possesion letter a year ago.
I have misssef a couple of payments this year as i had large stomach operation and had to go on the sick and wasn’t entitled to sick pay after three months
so arrears started again. Then i got back to normal again when i started working
So then on the Beginning of march 26 was contacted to say i needed to start making payments to cover the debt
So by email i contacted the office and said i would
I did make payments for march
Then i made payments for April
and intend to make payments for may in two weeks

however in mid april she applied for the possesion order and now it’s likely i will lose my home and have no where to go plus im worried i am main carer for the person with cancer

I have emailed her over a few things but she hasn’t replied to me and even accused me of stealing housing benefits however i had to get prof from the benefits to prove i wasn’t paid anything and showed her that, that’s when she started to ignore me

can anyone offer advice or if they may have been through this the total arrears are 10months over 10 years that i have missed for different reasons

Why didn’t your husband pay the rent when you were off sick?

Jeez there are some nasty and unhelpful comments on this thread.

I agree. @helloall22 Provide proof of all the difficulties you have had and offer a proper payment plan that you are sure you can stick to and keep making payments even and she says no or doesn't respond. I think that will help when you get to court and the judge will let you stay. Try to get your finances in order and make sure you pay your rent. It's your last chance .10 months is a lot

But it's true!

OP .sorry for your troubles. But the council aren't interested in the whys. They want their rent.

When you're entering a period of financial difficulty your first port of call is to tell the people you rely on who need money from you. There are mechanisms to point you to the right place for help.

However they're properly clamping down on anti social behaviour at their properties.

You probably should ring shelter for advice. You might be able to pull it back.

Incorrect. A friend of mine had terrible problems with anti social behaviour, drugs, threats of violence, vandalism etc. She had 2 small children.
Council werent interested. Local MP helped her to be moved to a safer area.
Another friend, an armed forces leaver with a family. Council told them not a snowballs chance in hell.
Contacted local MP who reminded the housing department of the Armed forces covenant. Next week friend was top of the priority list.

Even if something is technically true, you don’t have to be a dick about it, especially when dealing with someone begging for support.

I think if you want advice, take the emotion out of the post and add the genuine details. You had rent arrears then these sad events happened so you defaulted the repayment plan.

Is it a council property or private let? How old are the arrears? How much are the arrears?

That isn’t remotely similar to OPs issue

It would also be useful to add the ages of DC. From your post it sounds like your children are over 18s that have dropped out of education, so adults just like you and me rather than little children.

I agree the neighbours will be sick of all the drama, but it's not OP causing it, is it? Being beaten up, having your front door and van flamed and house broken into ... not the victim's fault, surely? Unless you're assuming a hell of a backstory that we can't know is true!

Assuming (and its not clear) that this is a private rental, under the circumstances I cannot see the landlord back tracking.

My advise therefore would be of course to look for other permanent accommodation, if you can't find somewhere else (permanent not temporary) before the eviction date you need to still be in residence to be evicted so you can go to the council to get emergency accommodation.

However, as you will know the date of eviction in advance, to minimise stress, if you can, move out much of you stuff to temporary storage before that date.

That's realistically all you can do,

In the OP it's perfectly clear that the first thing to happen was their baby dying. Given she also mentions a funeral, I'm assuming this was a baby already born or perhaps stillborn. She didn't get pregnant during all the subsequent stuff happening.

Granted, this doesn't explain the original rent arrears or not setting up an automated payment plan, but my god have some compassion for someone losing a child.

I think no matter what is going on in your life you should prioritise your home. You mention defaulting on a repayment plan so I am guessing there is a considerable amount owing. However I do think it will be more to do with the person burning the front door and setting fire to the van. Social housing properties are in such high demand that councils now act on these issues. I know on our local estate, predominantly social housing, a big effort is made to keep everything in good condition (not that it needs much as the estate is quiet and in really good repair).

Is this the Council's first attempt to gain a possession order? Judges don't always grant them, because the Council doesn't just need to have grounds to evict you, (e.g. rent arrears or other breaches of the tenancy agreement), they also have to show it would be reasonable to do so. If you have been through a period of genuine hardship and are trying to catch up on the rent arrears, then the judge might give you another chance. But there are many variables in this. Realistically, will you ever be able to afford the rent for this property, including the arrears? I agree it would be a good idea to speak to Shelter.

So every person with a chaotic life should lump the problem on their local MP? What do you think they will do?

How old are your children? I'd imagine this will make a difference. It takes a lot for the council or a housing association to evict a tenant. Rent arrears will be a good enough reason though, especially if you haven't been sticking to the arrears payment plan.

My BIL/SIL had 3 children in a 2 bedroomed housing association property. They deliberately stopped paying the rent, because they thought if they stopped and got evicted, the council/housing association would pull a bigger property out of a hat for them!!!! 🙄 Funnily enough it didn't happen, and they were put into emergency accommodation. They also had to find a private rent, because the council wouldn't house them or they were pushed down the housing list due to the previous rent arrears (I can't remember which it was).

You need to seek advice from Shelter and the CAB.

The council will be looking at it as persistent rent arrears with little effort of repaying the arrears or even maintaining rent payments. I know this sounds harsh but the council will have heard a variety of excuses from tenants before and they cannot just ignore ongoing rent arrears. Rent is a priority bill so if you weren’t working and your husband doesn’t earn enough to provide you should have been claiming universal credit for that period.

You now need specialist advice and you need to sit down and make a realistic plan on how you will ensure the rent is paid on time every month and how much you are able to pay towards the arrears. Ideally you need to do an income and expenditure sheet to fully work everything out as this will give you a clearer idea on what your spending and any areas you can reduce.

My labour MP is really good at assisting with things like this. She supported my friend in having her banding changed and getting housed when she left an abusive relationship.

Let the case go to court where you will have the chance to explain everything to a magistrate. The council will have to accept any offer of payment of the arrears even if it’s a £1 a month

If the possession proceedings were only issued in April, you have some time to get your ducks in a row financially

How are you going to be paying the rent? Are you able to claim any benefits to help? Are you eligible for a discretionary housing payment from the local authority? Would you qualify for legal aid? If so, speak to a local legal aid solicitor

The most important thing is not to bury your head in the sand. It is essential that you make all rent payments going forwards. If a hearing date comes through, ATTEND! There will be a duty advisor at Court who can go into the hearing with you and give you some brief advice about what to do.

If the current rent payments are being made along with something towards the arrears, the court is unlikely to make an outright possession order, particularly if you are a council tenant. If a suspended possession order was made you would have to make future rent payments religiously for the period that it is in place (usually 2-5 years depending on the level of your arrears).

But kindly, use this as an opportunity to start getting back on track. It sounds like you’ve had some very tough times recently but life will become infinitely more difficult if you don’t have a home. All the best

This

Have the council been aware of the threats and your DC being in fear? They should have been supporting you to be relocated rather than serving notice. I agree with a PP about contacting the MP, public services seem to respond better when an MP or counsellor is involved.