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.