pregnant, ill & just been served eviction notice

[Fair&Pure]

Hi, it's my first time posting here.

 

My Landlord is a corporate company that rents out hundreds of flats. After two years of being a good tenant and always paying on time, my (now ex) partner stole money from me and I fell into two months rent arrears.

 

My Landlord was not willing to agree to a payment arrangement and instead served me with a Section 8 Notice and a Section 21 Notice.

Both those notices have now expired.

 

They seem to have ditched the Section 8 entirely, but I just received the court paperwork for the Section 21 Accelerated Possession.

 

Now, the Issue Date stamped on the court paperwork is 11th June. But the postmark on the envelope it came in is 22nd June, and it only arrived in today's post. It says I have to send in my Defence "within 14 days".

 

Does that mean within 14 days of the Issue Date?

Or within 14 days of them actually posting it/me receiving it?

 

The Landlord's told a few lies on the form. They claim they issued me with a How To Rent booklet and an Electricity Safety Certificate on a specific date. It's not true at all - they never provided these things. And the date they've claimed they issued these items on I was not even their tenant and they'd never heard of me.

 

Further, the Landlord had finally entered into a verbal agreement with me to let me stay as long as I started clearing the arrears (which I've been doing). Then the court paperwork arrived out of the blue. The Landlord's now denying they offered to let me stay.

 

This leaves me with something like 14 days to find a new place to live, pack up and vacate. I am 7.5 months pregnant, ill with PTSD (due to the domestic abuse) and I have no spare cash for a deposit for a new place.

 

Is it worth filing a defence?

 

I've tried calling the court but they don't pick up their phone, ever.

 

I've no idea what to do. I'm terrified I will lose my baby if the stress doesn't stop.

Edited June 25, 2018 by Andyorch
Paras

[AndyOrch]

Hi Fair&Pure and Welcome to CAG

 

Im sure the experts will be along later.

 

There will be days served included..normally 5 for normal court claims but assuming you have retained the envelope I would go a head and submit a defence.....possibly worth calling into your court and informing them of the dates difference.( assuming its quite local)

 

When they can use the accelerated possession procedure

 

To use the accelerated possession procedure, the following must apply:

 

The tenant is on an assured shorthold tenancy in England or Wales

The tenant moved into the property after 15th January 1989

They must have given the tenants at least 2 months’ notice under section 21 of the Housing Act and they have not left by the date specified

If they took a money deposit, they must have put it in a deposit protection scheme

They are not claiming rent arrears

 

 

 

Regards

 

Andy

[Fair&Pure]

Can nobody help?

[Mr.P]

I see from elsewhere that you have finally made contact with the court and been told date of service is effectively 27th June. So plenty of time to get the defence in. Have you made contact with your local council, CAB, and Shelter yet ?

 

Should also point out Shelter have a realtime live chat system on their web site: https://england.shelter.org.uk/get_help

 

[For reference: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5860546 ]