UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hello my lovleys hope you are all having a good day!
Just wanted to get some help and advice if possible I will try and keep it short and sweet....
Letting Agents served 2 months notice November 2021,landlord wanting a rent increase of £235 per month which we are unable to afford.I work part time, partner full time,we are on Legacy benefits to top us up and have 3 dependant children.Currently in 2 weeks arrears paying back an additional £50 a month. Previous to this we did not have a working boiler from August 2021 to October 2021 so suspect he wants a rent increase to cover the cost of putting a new boiler in hence the 2 month notice in November 2021.
Upon contacting the council they gave us their usual 💩 stay until baillif arrives at door.
Received claim form from claimant,went through it, statement of truth signed by Letting Agent, depoist not dealt with correctly, defended,hearing listed for June 2022.
Council have been in contact with us asking if they could approach Letting agents to give them a cash incentive.They would pay the difference between what we are paying now and what the landlord wants per month for rent, for a year, we agreed but since then the council have not responded to our emails or Letting agents.Has anyone on here ever had this experience either tennants or landlords and how did it work out for you?

Thanks

I had some Tenants in arrears a while back.

I had arranged an unchallenging payment plan with them, all via emails.

They apparently took that email to our local Council... and then the Tenants got in touch with me, and told me that the Council would pay off all the arrears in one fell swoop. I was dumbfounded. But a few days later, they did.

So stranger things have certainly happened.

Well that is a bit of good news, hopefully council will follow through with their word.So my next question would be about the court hearing in June 2022 for the accelerated procedure. Am I able to withdraw our defence from the court? Or can the Letting Agent do this? Or is it to late to stop proceedings? Please bare in mind that it will be presumably struck out anyway because of statement of truth, pescribed info not given etc

Thanks

I would certainly not  withdraw your defence from court until you have something in writing to say the council has done a deal with the agent/landlord. Given the situation with the deposit mistakes the claimants would be foolish to refuse this. That is a hell of a big increase in rent, were you paying well below market values before?   

Quote from: heavykarma on April 28, 2022, 05:43:09 PM
I would certainly not  withdraw your defence from court until you have something in writing to say the council has done a deal with the agent/landlord. Given the situation with the deposit mistakes the claimants would be foolish to refuse this. That is a hell of a big increase in rent, were you paying well below market values before?

Hi

Thanks for your responce, I will await for a letter/email in writing.

Our rent is £1435 PCM, the private housing rental index has pushed the the average rent up in our area to £1650 upwards for a 3 bedroom property, therefore out pricing us in the private rented sector.Landlords not willing to take us on even although we work and claim benefits we don't meet the income criteria, council saying you can't rent a property for more then £1500 PCM only stepped in with a cash incentive when they had too,can understand from landlords point of view, if we all could get extra money then we would, it just don't help us! The landlord/letting agents are 🍆's when it comes to maintaining the property and doing repairs, but am willing to accept what is given from the council as long as I have a roof over our heads for the next year at least.

So I thought I would give you an update, Council would not confirm in writing confirmation of the offer, so we proceed to court today..... Claimant instructed Solicitor last week.The Solicitor approaches us before going in front of the Judge and asks if he can look at our Claim Form we received and our Defence Form, too which we agree. We, the Letting Agents and Solictior enter courtroom (Landlord didn't even bother to turn up). Judge commences proceedings, Solicitor opening statement states Statement of Truth signed by Letting Agents, asks for an adjournment as Claimant now has a Solicitor and the forms can be corrected and refiled. Judge quotes Prractice Direction 22.7 case dismissed within 2 minutes. I am in absolutely no doubt the Landlord will restart the process again but at least for the time being we still have a home, we also expect a Section 13 to land on the mat very soon x