UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi,
Livid doesn't come close.
It's cost us £18k to get to here, 2x S21's and 1x S8.
Tenant is 3 months plus behind in rent.
Council have now stopped paying his Housing Benefit.
Council advised, upon receipt of S21 notice, that "if he left he'd have made himself intentionally homeless and therefore not entitled to rehousing" ... he NEEDED the Court Possession Order to be rehoused.
So it went to court 2 weeks ago.
Judge agreed on our side and found for us.
Possession order & Costs (we'll never see) obtained & sent to Tenant.
Was supposed to move out yesterday (30th July). He called the Solicitors and said he'd drop the keys in to them.
He didn't, so they called him.
He said he'd spoken to the Council and they told him he should remain In Situ.
I can't believe this is true, would a council really say go against the court... especially when he's over 3 months in arrears. They both work for the Government! We've followed all due process at GREAT expense.

Any advice?

Grumps

Have you filed N325? £148. If not please do so ASAP. That is what the council might be waiting for as it ends with the bailiff

Not yet as he said he'd be out yesterday.

Two (possibly obvious) questions. Did you decide to use a s8 process, rather than the s21, to help the tenant, or because s21 wasn't going to work? It seems an odd and expensive route to have gone to help someone.

Why do you believe him when he said the council had told him to remain in situ. It's a possession based on unpaid rent, so their advice should be different than the normal s21 outcome.

The whole thing has been a fiasco, the tenant played us like a fiddle, the solicitors have been close to negligent, and wasteful of our money (imho).
We started S21 as advised by the sols, about last August. Christmas comes and the tenant ( been there 20 years and generally not much of an problem other than slipping behind in rent) asks for some extra time as he thought he had found alternative accommodation. Nothing came from it and at the end of January this year he said "oops looks like the S21 has lapsed as it's now 6 months since it was issued."
Here I think the Sols are negligent as they never highlighted the 6 month time period, as surely it's their job to.
So we then issue the 2nd S21. Another couple of months pass but we're wise to it now and chase regularly. As he's now over 2 months in arrears and slipping further behind the sols say a S8 is the 'safer' option ( other than the possibility of tenant paying a lump to get less than 2 months in arrears ( luckily didn't happen).
Sols say we need a Barrister (what for? you're a solicitor, surely you can handle this?) ... another £3k
Court day comes ...Barrister in court for maybe 5 mins and Judge rules in our favour.
When asked the cost he was INCREDULOUS that the costs were at £12k, he was happy about £4k.
So we paid for 2x S21's and used neither of them.

And he's still there.
I don't think we do believe him, but that's what he's saying. It seems unlikely the council would suggest going against a court possession order.
We're awaiting contact from the Council.


 

The council housing team won't want the tenant to move out because then they're on the hook (well, we taxpayers are) for emergency accommodation. But they should stop short of telling someone with rent arrears from staying put (something you could usefully mention if you do manage to speak to the council).

But the reality is that your tenant is only a cost/problem to the council and they'll do anything they can think of to keep him of their books. If the tenant is a single man, they're going to be entitled to the cost of a single room in a shared house - at a rate that means no such rooms are going to be available. So it's a BnB or a room in a dive of a hostel/HMO. So everyone loses.

Not for you, but for anyone reading the forum, your solictor experience is why the advice currently (mid 2025) is to use a specialist eviction company, rather than a solicitor. A possession claim is a pro-active, time-based process, and, in my experience, that's not something many solicitors are great at. Most tend to be reactive, although it's fortunate how often your file is "on their desk" if you manage to get through.

Hi Grumple,

Have you considered utilising High court enforcement as a quicker option?  Using the county court system, particularly in certain parts of the country can take many months, leaving you more in debt.  The reason tenants wait to be evicted is so they can attend the council to show the eviction notice, to be then prioritised for housing.
Ideally applying for section 42 ( or permission to use High court enforcement ) is best done on the application stage.  But you can still apply whilst you are waiting for the county court.  Utilising High Court enforcement can be far far quicker than waiting for county court.