Continuing the saga of my tenant Mrs F, who is due to be evicted on Thursday ... I was just about to call the police to arrange for assistance on an if-needed basis, when the phone rang. It was the solicitors acting for Mrs F. They claimed that she would be moving out, but the property she was moving into was not ready, and asked if I could give her another week before moving. My response was a swift and unequivocal, NO. The solicitor tried again, and put the question slighlty diferently, and the answer was still No, this time I explained that her client, my soon to be ex-tenant, had completely used up all the goodwill that was available to her, and I was not prepared to suffer another week of no rental income. Eventually, solicitor rang off, and I put down the phone, relieved that I had not lost my temper.
The cheek of it! This is the same tactic that this tenant had used all along - promise to pay tomorrow, next week, the following week, next month ...... endless. Give her due credit for trying though! Tenacious in her duplicity. With no proof of where she was moving to, what state the place was in, nothing at all, the solicitor expected me to give Mrs F leave to remain past the eviction date!! And these are solicitors for goodness sake, who are supposed to be versed in housing law??Maybe they are not. Whatever!
No, I've had enough of being mucked about by Mrs F. Enough is enough. Roll on Thursday.
Showing posts with label Tenant Eviction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tenant Eviction. Show all posts
Monday, 11 January 2010
Monday, 21 December 2009
Law and Justice - still definitely not the same thing
Not the best way to start a new week, but there you go - it happens.
I sent a form N325 (warrant for possession) to the court on 14/12/09 by royal mail first class recorded delivery. I telephoned the bailiffs office on15/12/09, but the request had not arrived. It eventually arrived on thursday 17/12/09, 3 days after it was posted. Wow! now that, dear Royal Snail Mail, is what I call first class service. And I had the priviledge of paying extra for it too. I might as well not have bothered and just popped it in the post as normal and hoped for the best ... on a wing and a prayer.
Reminds me of another incidence with royal mail in October when I sent a letter by Special delivery, paid £5.40 for the service that guaranteed the letter would be delivered by 1pm the next day. You know what I am about to say don't you?. The said letter did not arrive before 1pm. So, I'm jumping up and down, making phone calls to each and every royal mail customer service number I could find, but could they help, oh no! The best the staff could do was tell me that it was on its way to be delivered, the postman must have been delayed, apologies etc.etc.What the heck is an apology going to do? Is that what I paid extra for? What about the repercussions of the letter not getting to its destination on time? And they get away with it too because frankly, there's nothing in the system that enables one to take Royal Snail Mail to task for its sloppiness and inefficiencies. I've made complaints a number of times already, on other cases, and each time it takes forever to get anything done, and then the classic response is "its been so long" that they can't trace the postman in question, or the whatever other thing needs tracing, and so apologise. Whose fault was it that it took so long? definitely not mine. But who bears the repercussion? yours truly. I'd rather pay more for a service that will be given, than this apology of a service we seem to have now. No offence to any postie out there - a lot of you guys and gals are doing a good job (I've got two postie tenants btw). The system just stinks.
Anyway, back to the bailiff. So I ask when the warrant will be executed, and was told mid to end January 2010. That of course goes down well-not! red rag to a bull I nearly hit the roof, but I reign in my temper and ask why, only to be told the bailiff was now on holiday and won't be back until 4/01/10 and the defendant has to be given at least 2 weeks notice. So, still holding my temper (with some difficulty I might add), I ask "why did bailiff not give notice on 17/12/09 then?" the reply came back "because she went on holiday on 17/12/09". Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!! I managed a short but polite rant, apologised to the lady at the end of the phone for the rant, and wished her a merry christmas through gritted teeth.
So, between the acts of my errant Tenant, aided and abbetted by the County Court System, and in connivance with Royal Snail Mail, I am about to lose another month's rent. Not good tidings of joy is it!
And the gofmint calls this an "accelerated possession process"!! Pleeeeeeeeeease, give me a break. There is Law and there is Justice, but when will the two meet?? Hopefully sometime in my lifetime-and they had better hurry......
I sent a form N325 (warrant for possession) to the court on 14/12/09 by royal mail first class recorded delivery. I telephoned the bailiffs office on15/12/09, but the request had not arrived. It eventually arrived on thursday 17/12/09, 3 days after it was posted. Wow! now that, dear Royal Snail Mail, is what I call first class service. And I had the priviledge of paying extra for it too. I might as well not have bothered and just popped it in the post as normal and hoped for the best ... on a wing and a prayer.
Reminds me of another incidence with royal mail in October when I sent a letter by Special delivery, paid £5.40 for the service that guaranteed the letter would be delivered by 1pm the next day. You know what I am about to say don't you?. The said letter did not arrive before 1pm. So, I'm jumping up and down, making phone calls to each and every royal mail customer service number I could find, but could they help, oh no! The best the staff could do was tell me that it was on its way to be delivered, the postman must have been delayed, apologies etc.etc.What the heck is an apology going to do? Is that what I paid extra for? What about the repercussions of the letter not getting to its destination on time? And they get away with it too because frankly, there's nothing in the system that enables one to take Royal Snail Mail to task for its sloppiness and inefficiencies. I've made complaints a number of times already, on other cases, and each time it takes forever to get anything done, and then the classic response is "its been so long" that they can't trace the postman in question, or the whatever other thing needs tracing, and so apologise. Whose fault was it that it took so long? definitely not mine. But who bears the repercussion? yours truly. I'd rather pay more for a service that will be given, than this apology of a service we seem to have now. No offence to any postie out there - a lot of you guys and gals are doing a good job (I've got two postie tenants btw). The system just stinks.
Anyway, back to the bailiff. So I ask when the warrant will be executed, and was told mid to end January 2010. That of course goes down well-not! red rag to a bull I nearly hit the roof, but I reign in my temper and ask why, only to be told the bailiff was now on holiday and won't be back until 4/01/10 and the defendant has to be given at least 2 weeks notice. So, still holding my temper (with some difficulty I might add), I ask "why did bailiff not give notice on 17/12/09 then?" the reply came back "because she went on holiday on 17/12/09". Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!! I managed a short but polite rant, apologised to the lady at the end of the phone for the rant, and wished her a merry christmas through gritted teeth.
So, between the acts of my errant Tenant, aided and abbetted by the County Court System, and in connivance with Royal Snail Mail, I am about to lose another month's rent. Not good tidings of joy is it!
And the gofmint calls this an "accelerated possession process"!! Pleeeeeeeeeease, give me a break. There is Law and there is Justice, but when will the two meet?? Hopefully sometime in my lifetime-and they had better hurry......
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Tenant keeps her word for first time in months...... refuses to vacate
Wonders will indeed never cease.You recall the tenant I told you about on the on Friday 10thDec, well, she has surprised me. I really really was hoping that she would keep true to type and not keep her word. Sadly for me, she has kept her word.
What the heck am I on about. well, Mrs F was given a court order to vacate and give me possession of my property yesterday 14/12/09. However, her solicitor had advised her not to leave, and to stay till I got a warrant of possession. Well, considering that Mrs F has been promising to pay her rent since August and has come up with every excuse under the sun for not paying, I had come to understand that her word could not be trusted, and she could not find it in herself to tell the truth or keep her promises. Surprise, surprise, she kept her word this time, and did not leave on the due date. Aaarrghhhh ... the one time I wanted her to be true to type, and she fails me. Oh well. I suppose it just makes the saga more interesting.
I sent someone to go and visit the property, and she duly knocks on the door and Mrs F opens up and asks her in. My agent says she's come to check if Mrs F had left or was leaving, and Mrs F promptly replies that she has no intention of leaving. I'm told that the christmas tree is up, with decorations and lights, not sure if there are presents under the tree ... maybe an inspection is due!!
It never ceases to amaze me that the tenants who claim not to be able to afford or pay their rents are the same ones who can find money to spend on frivolities and luxuries such as 40inch flat screen TVs.
I duly filled in the N325 form yesterday afternoon, wrote out a cheque for £95 made out to HMCS, and promptly sent these off by first class recorded delivery to the court. I telephoned the court mid morning today, and actually spoke to the bailiff. But thanks to questionable services of Royal Mail, the warrant request had not been delivered. The bailiff was quite a nice man actually. He took the case number, went away to check their mail for the day, and called me back to let me know they hadn't received the letter.
I then went onto the Royal mail website to see what the heck was going on, entered the tracking details for the letter and got the message ".... being processed through the system". What b**lsh*t. First class is not 1st class anymore. You just can't get the service nowadays, can you. Courts don't work, royal mail doesn't work, the gofmint doesn't work, the banks stopped working ages ago, and pretty soon BA won't work. The world is going to pots all around us.
Oh, and whilst I was on the phone to the bailiff, i asked him why it was that the system encouraged tenants to flout orders to vacate until bailiffs are called. He didn't know. He sympathised and all that, but had not answer, mind you, not that I expected he would have an answer. I just thought perhaps he could give me an insight into that side of things.
What is a landlord to do?? We can but keep pressing and pushing for our rights and try and keep our tenants paying rent in the face of all the odds stacked firmly against us.
We shall overcome some day.
What the heck am I on about. well, Mrs F was given a court order to vacate and give me possession of my property yesterday 14/12/09. However, her solicitor had advised her not to leave, and to stay till I got a warrant of possession. Well, considering that Mrs F has been promising to pay her rent since August and has come up with every excuse under the sun for not paying, I had come to understand that her word could not be trusted, and she could not find it in herself to tell the truth or keep her promises. Surprise, surprise, she kept her word this time, and did not leave on the due date. Aaarrghhhh ... the one time I wanted her to be true to type, and she fails me. Oh well. I suppose it just makes the saga more interesting.
I sent someone to go and visit the property, and she duly knocks on the door and Mrs F opens up and asks her in. My agent says she's come to check if Mrs F had left or was leaving, and Mrs F promptly replies that she has no intention of leaving. I'm told that the christmas tree is up, with decorations and lights, not sure if there are presents under the tree ... maybe an inspection is due!!
It never ceases to amaze me that the tenants who claim not to be able to afford or pay their rents are the same ones who can find money to spend on frivolities and luxuries such as 40inch flat screen TVs.
I duly filled in the N325 form yesterday afternoon, wrote out a cheque for £95 made out to HMCS, and promptly sent these off by first class recorded delivery to the court. I telephoned the court mid morning today, and actually spoke to the bailiff. But thanks to questionable services of Royal Mail, the warrant request had not been delivered. The bailiff was quite a nice man actually. He took the case number, went away to check their mail for the day, and called me back to let me know they hadn't received the letter.
I then went onto the Royal mail website to see what the heck was going on, entered the tracking details for the letter and got the message ".... being processed through the system". What b**lsh*t. First class is not 1st class anymore. You just can't get the service nowadays, can you. Courts don't work, royal mail doesn't work, the gofmint doesn't work, the banks stopped working ages ago, and pretty soon BA won't work. The world is going to pots all around us.
Oh, and whilst I was on the phone to the bailiff, i asked him why it was that the system encouraged tenants to flout orders to vacate until bailiffs are called. He didn't know. He sympathised and all that, but had not answer, mind you, not that I expected he would have an answer. I just thought perhaps he could give me an insight into that side of things.
What is a landlord to do?? We can but keep pressing and pushing for our rights and try and keep our tenants paying rent in the face of all the odds stacked firmly against us.
We shall overcome some day.
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Ongoing Court processes in the matter of tenant evictions
I have been away from this for a little while, but not because there's been nothing to report. Rather, there's been too much going on and too few hours in the day.
Today, I received four letters from three Courts, and one letter from a lawyer dealing with enforcement of a possession/money judgement order. Yes, five different tenants or ex-tenants and various stages of possession. Anyone would think I had become litiguous . ... and they'd be right. Unfortunately its the only way to get the parasites off our backs, and reclaim what is owed.
The enforcement is of a money judgement given in January this year. We have had a Court order for the Defendant to pay £100/month starting August 2009. Guess what, they have so far paid £43, and propose paying £10/week. At that rate, we'd still be trying to collect for a few years. Now, I'm no legal bod, but surely, that is contempt of court, isn't it. The law comes down heavy if we don't pay parking/ticket/speeding fines, or miss payments, so why not CCJs for rent arrears? The High court enforcement officer writes to ask what we want to do? suspend enforcement and accept the offer? Now what is their job? Enforcement or negotiation ..... so I've just emailed to say... go ahead with enforcement of the court order. Its a matter of principle now.
The Order for possession arriving today was for a court hearing on 16/09/09. I get a copy of the order a month after the order was given, and two weeks after the defendant was ordered to vacate the property. The actual hearing took less than 10minutes on the day, after having waited several weeks for the hearing itself. Justice might be slow, but, hey.... thaaat sloooow?? I guess blame will be laid at the door of the postmen now.
The attachment of earnings case... that's been dragging itself around for a wee while. Started with moneyclaim online, then passed through a couple of courts to the one local to the Defendant. Well, local is relative in this case, as there's one closer, but that was not the right one. Such a rigmarole. The Defendant in this case works, but as he himself said "money seems to just slip through his fingers"... make what you will of that. And this is not a young man, I mean, he is in his fifties for goodness sakes, and can't manage his financial affairs. Unfortunately, the money is not even being spent on himself .... nor on women, nor on wine, nor on weed. You guess it, its being spent on Weapons of Mass Poverty Creation ... where the owner of the money keeps thinking his luck will change at the next draw. Yeah, right!! As long as he manages to stay in work, we will collect it all ... including ongoing rent. No, not turfing him out - ulterior motive... need to ensure he keeps a roof over his head and stay in work so we can collect.
The remaining two are being dealt with by one court. Next possession hearing is now second week in November, which means this one will be trying to find a new home in December.... not the best time eh? but that's not my problem. Its hers. She is even getting help from the State, but decided to use it for purposes other than paying rent. Then does the proverbial ostrich ... not answering telephone, email, letters or even personal visit. Car out front, people in house, knock, knock, knock... wait, knock some more, louder and louder, curtains twitch but she aint got the bottle to face up to the problem. The State have been informed, but we wait and see what the State will do. They are notorious for their inept handling of such matters, but that's another story.
The last one .. well now, THAT is one heck of a story, which will be told at a later date, so watch this space. She is one twistedly purposeful liar in the guise of a nice lady. If there's been a disaster that can befall anyone, she's had it. She basically ran out of excuses. Gave her plenty of rope, and she's basically twisted herself all up and no houdini can get her out of the knots she's tied herself in. Saw her yesterday and she tried the waterworks trick .... oh no! moved me not an iota. Now,believe it or not, I'm normally a compassionate person, but folk like these lot just don't allow compassion to even come into the equation. They'll gobble you up, chew you to bits and spit you out again without so much as a blink. That's the world we have to deal with.
Well, tomorrow is another day, and I should be checking in two new tenants.
Today, I received four letters from three Courts, and one letter from a lawyer dealing with enforcement of a possession/money judgement order. Yes, five different tenants or ex-tenants and various stages of possession. Anyone would think I had become litiguous . ... and they'd be right. Unfortunately its the only way to get the parasites off our backs, and reclaim what is owed.
The enforcement is of a money judgement given in January this year. We have had a Court order for the Defendant to pay £100/month starting August 2009. Guess what, they have so far paid £43, and propose paying £10/week. At that rate, we'd still be trying to collect for a few years. Now, I'm no legal bod, but surely, that is contempt of court, isn't it. The law comes down heavy if we don't pay parking/ticket/speeding fines, or miss payments, so why not CCJs for rent arrears? The High court enforcement officer writes to ask what we want to do? suspend enforcement and accept the offer? Now what is their job? Enforcement or negotiation ..... so I've just emailed to say... go ahead with enforcement of the court order. Its a matter of principle now.
The Order for possession arriving today was for a court hearing on 16/09/09. I get a copy of the order a month after the order was given, and two weeks after the defendant was ordered to vacate the property. The actual hearing took less than 10minutes on the day, after having waited several weeks for the hearing itself. Justice might be slow, but, hey.... thaaat sloooow?? I guess blame will be laid at the door of the postmen now.
The attachment of earnings case... that's been dragging itself around for a wee while. Started with moneyclaim online, then passed through a couple of courts to the one local to the Defendant. Well, local is relative in this case, as there's one closer, but that was not the right one. Such a rigmarole. The Defendant in this case works, but as he himself said "money seems to just slip through his fingers"... make what you will of that. And this is not a young man, I mean, he is in his fifties for goodness sakes, and can't manage his financial affairs. Unfortunately, the money is not even being spent on himself .... nor on women, nor on wine, nor on weed. You guess it, its being spent on Weapons of Mass Poverty Creation ... where the owner of the money keeps thinking his luck will change at the next draw. Yeah, right!! As long as he manages to stay in work, we will collect it all ... including ongoing rent. No, not turfing him out - ulterior motive... need to ensure he keeps a roof over his head and stay in work so we can collect.
The remaining two are being dealt with by one court. Next possession hearing is now second week in November, which means this one will be trying to find a new home in December.... not the best time eh? but that's not my problem. Its hers. She is even getting help from the State, but decided to use it for purposes other than paying rent. Then does the proverbial ostrich ... not answering telephone, email, letters or even personal visit. Car out front, people in house, knock, knock, knock... wait, knock some more, louder and louder, curtains twitch but she aint got the bottle to face up to the problem. The State have been informed, but we wait and see what the State will do. They are notorious for their inept handling of such matters, but that's another story.
The last one .. well now, THAT is one heck of a story, which will be told at a later date, so watch this space. She is one twistedly purposeful liar in the guise of a nice lady. If there's been a disaster that can befall anyone, she's had it. She basically ran out of excuses. Gave her plenty of rope, and she's basically twisted herself all up and no houdini can get her out of the knots she's tied herself in. Saw her yesterday and she tried the waterworks trick .... oh no! moved me not an iota. Now,believe it or not, I'm normally a compassionate person, but folk like these lot just don't allow compassion to even come into the equation. They'll gobble you up, chew you to bits and spit you out again without so much as a blink. That's the world we have to deal with.
Well, tomorrow is another day, and I should be checking in two new tenants.
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