Help needed with Accelerated Possession Claim

[Malibu1]

Hi, I am not sure if have posted this in the correct section.

I am a private tenant and my landlords have issued an accelerated possession through the courts. I received the papers today, which are dated 1 week ago, so don't have much time to defend.

I was hoping someone might be able to help with some questions and what to write on the defence form.

I was assured it would be a long-term tenancy of several years, however was served section 21 notice, solely because I was too unwell / unable to accommodate a property inspection at the time demanded, so the letting agency immediately served S21 notice.

It is extremely difficult to secure another property at the moment, due to lack of available properties, and huge demand / competition for properties, so I have been unable to move out quickly enough. I also have been extremely unwell with Covid and other health conditions.

I have also been repeatedly threatened / harassed / bullied by the letting agents throughout the tenancy, and also harassed / stalked and spied on repeatedly by the landlords. The landlords are farmers and have also been terrorising myself and pets by deliberately using pigeon scaring guns extremely closely to the property and also deliberate and negligent misuse of pesticides, which they have sprayed directly over myself and my pets, causing injuries. I have evidence for the above.

Please could somebody advise, what I can ask the judge to do? Can I request that the claim is struck out on any of the above grounds - Such as the S21 being invalid, as was served solely in retaliation. Being made homeless would also cause me exceptional hardship and exacerbate my health conditions. Can I ask for a hearing and for as much time as possible to put my case together with required evidence?

How much of the above information should I include on the defence form and should I submit any evidence, such as photographs, medical records, or other evidence?

Many Thanks in advance for any help.

[dslippy]

What does your tenancy agreement say about the term.?

[Malibu1]

The tenancy was for a standard 6 month initial term and then rolling monthly after that, but it was agreed that the tenancy would be for several years, otherwise I would not have agreed.

[dslippy]

Sorry, but the writing prevails.

Get looking for somewhere else. Put in a request for homeless housing to your LA. Hopefully you will not need it, but they have to find you something.

[Malibu1]

I thought it might be helpful if I give a bit more information about the details and background story of this -

The property was let through a letting agency and the landlords name / address are not provided on the tenancy agreement - Only the name of their farming company. The tenancy was managed through a letting agency.

I was not aware that the landlords were farmers before the start of the tenancy, or that the surrounding farmland is owned by them, or that they live nearby - Their house is visible from the property at the other side of the field, backing on from the garden of the property.

I was told that the landlords own & let several properties and that the previous tenants had a 12 month tenancy, but had terminated early due to health conditions and illness from Covid, that the lady could hardly walk up the stairs and that they had moved to another part of the country, to be closer to their family.

The property was advertised for rent before the previous tenants had moved out, and viewing the property had to be arranged several weeks in advance, due to the current tenant being unwell with Covid.

I viewed the property once it was vacant and was initially told it was available immediately within a few days. The letting agents have been a complete nightmare from the very beginning and kept delaying the move in date by over a month, despite the property being vacant and ready, stating various reasons for the repeated last minute changes of move-in date. The reasons they gave were that the previous tenant had to pay a further months rent, which they were not willing to refund to them, in order for new tenant to move in straight away, and various other reasons, such as they had left a lawnmower behind, and they said they were not legally allowed to let a new tenant move in, until the lawnmower was arranged to be collected several weeks later. This was despite my move being urgent and also having already arranged removals and everything else, based on move-in dates previously agreed. I was threatened that if I didn't accept their changing of dates, they would simply cancel my application and give the property to somebody else.

I had to pay 6 months rent upfront, due to poor credit rating, which I was open and honest about from the very beginning and openly agreed to, however following this I was thoroughly interrorgated by the agent over the phone to explain in much greater detail the exact circumstances of my past, which caused me uneccessary distress and reduced me to tears.

I was then told that the gas safety certificate would expire shortly after moving in and that I would be required to accommodate that. I asked them if they would provide a new 12 month gas safety certificate before I moved into the property, so that I wouldn't have to accommodate this so soon after moving home and that I was also recovering from being severely unwell with Covid and also shielding due to being high-risk for Covid due to physical health conditions and would therefore prefer to avoid any uneccessary visitors to the property. I felt this was a very reasonable request, considering the fact that the property was empty for over a month between tenancies, so they could have easily arranged a new 12 month gas safety certificate to be done before I moved in, to prevent the inconvenience to myself and also huge risk to my health.

Any property I have ever rented in the past, or when I have previously been a landlady myself, I have only ever known a new 12 month gas safety certificate to be provided to a new tenant, to prevent any immediate inconvenience to a tenant in having to accommodate this, and especially in the middle of a pandemic, for which I am a high-risk person for Covid. However, I was then contacted by the snotty lettings manager, who told me that the landlords will not be providing a new certificate any earlier than they legally have to, that I would have to accommodate the gas inspection shortly after moving in, that they didn't care about my health conditions, and then threatened that if I didn't do as they say, they would give the property to somebody else.

The home move cost me a huge amount of money in 6 months upfront rent, security deposit, removal costs and various other expenses. I also have specific property requirements and had to pay considerable money to make adaptions to the property to suit my needs. These were all agreed by the landlord & agency, on the understanding and agreement that the tenancy would be long-term for several years, as I would not be able to afford the stress and expense of moving again in the shorter term.

It was also agreed that any required access to the property would be with my express consent and agreement for an agreed appointment where I would be present at the property, due to working from home and also to ensure the safety of my pets, and it was agreed that nobody would gain access to the property with their own keys for those reasons and there is a very busy road to the front of the property and I would not allow any access without being present, to ensure the safety of my pets, and to arrange a mutually convenient time for any required access for maintenance, to suit my working diary also. This was agreed, although was not stated in the tenancy agreement.

Shortly after moving into the property, the gas engineer turned up at the property twice trying to gain access, without any notice, or appointment, going against what had been previously agreed. I had to contact the agency myself to organise an appointment for the gas safety certificate to be carried out, which was huge inconvenience to me, taking several hours of my day to accommodate and I subsequently was extremely unwell with Covid again following the engineer visit, when they were already aware I was recovering from severe Covid and high-risk / shielding. They had ample opportunity to carry this out before I moved into the property and feel they were extremely negligent in exposing me uneccessarily to Covid.

A couple of months into the tenancy, the letting agents harassed and demanded a further 6 months rent upront from me, stating my tenancy was coming up for renewal, despite the fact I had already paid them 6 months upfront and had only just moved in.

Shortly after moving into the property, I had noticed several times a lady walking her dog very closely to the boundary of property by the garden fence, and had presumed that there must be a public footpath between the field behind the garden and my garden fence. I did not realise this was the landlady, until the letting agent contacted me and stated that the landlady had been walking her dog, and was questioning things she had seen through my bedroom window. I felt quite shocked by this and it made me feel incredibly uncomfortable, and that my privacy was being invaded. There is ample land for the landlady to walk her dog without any need to come anywhere near my home and spy through the windows and she had to walk across an extremely large field to spy on me and see through windows, despite having hundreds of acres of land, and their own private garden of approximately 1 acre. This made me feel unsettled and uncomfortable and I felt my privacy was being undermined.

Shortly after this, I was then contacted by the letting agent accusing me of one of my pets being on the farmland and had scared the landlady whilst she was walking her dog, as it had jumped out on her through the bushes. A threat was made that the animal nearly lost it's life, as it had startled her. I was threatened that my pets are not allowed on her private farmland. I assured the agent that it was definitely not my pet, as mine are secured within the boundaries of the property and are not roaming free on her farmland. This made me feel incredibly threatened and unsettled.

I then received a letter regarding a property inspection, dictating on what day they were carrying this out and that they would be using their own keys for entry, whether I am available or not, which is against the terms of tenancy that were previously agreed. I contacted the agency to discuss that this date was not convenient for me and that I was currently too unwell with Covid and other health conditions to accommodate an inspection. I offered various alternatives, such as an inspection at a mutually convenient later date, or to send them a video of the property. This was refused and I was threatened by the lettings manager by phone and email, that they didn't care about my health and if I didn't accommodate inspection when they demanded, I would be evicted.

30 mins later I was hand-delivered section 21 eviction notice by the lettings manager.

That same evening, the male landlord came flying across the field in his golf buggy and was hanging over the garden fence staring into the property, only a few feet away from me. I did not know who this was and asked several times how I could help him, and he just stood there staring at me for considerable time, in an aggressive, intimidating manner, before eventually leaving and driving the golf buggy back across the field to their house. This left me shaking & distressed, feeling very intimidated and unsafe in my own home.

Shortly following this, they began firing bird-scaring guns extremely closely to the property, causing immense distress to myself and my pets. They did this several times in the weeks following eviction notice being served.

They then came right up to the property boundary with large farm machinery spraying large amounts of pesticides, with absolutely no distance, or barrier between my home. The spray hit my pets who were in the garden at the time, and also myself and I could feel the spray hitting my face and skin. This triggered breathing difficulties and a severe asthma attack and my eyes were also sore. My pets suffered chemical burns to their eyes, in addition to breathing difficulties and other injuires. I have this recorded on CCTV.

I contacted the letting agency regarding this and asked for information of what the toxic pesticides / herbicides / chemicals were that they had sprayed, and advised them that injuries have been caused and asked them if the farmers can provide advance notice of any future crop spraying and also details of what the legal distance is from where farmers are legally allowed to spray highly toxic chemicals directly near people and pets. All of my requests were refused and they refused to provide me with the names / address / direct contact details of the landlords. Immediately following this, myself and my pets were sprayed on further occassions.


I have tried my utmost to rectify and communicate with the landlords and letting agents, and also the solicitors of the landlords, to no avail. I have tried to negotiate more time to move out, due to circumstances beyond my control and also that the stress this is causing me is exacerbating my health conditions. They have failed to rectify anything, or act reasonable and have intentionally, negligently and repeatedly caused me injury and emotional distress.

I really would appreciate any help with filling out the defence form and stopping this possession taking place - Which would cause me immense harm.

Many Thanks

[dslippy]

All of which will get you every propr sympathy, but the s21 procedure is designed to be very simple and iresistable.

You might have a claim for nuisance and otherwise, but I can see no grounds to resist possession. Hopefully somebody else can..

[Malibu1]

dslippy - As much as I appreciate your replies, I have extremely limited energy and time to deal with or defend this and would prefer advice solely to assist with my defence to this, which is what was requested. If you are not able to assist with what I need, then it would be greatly appreciated is sonbody else could possibly help?

There is no council housing available and I am not eligible for council housing - There is a 4-5 year waiting list for council housing and people considered much more vulnerable than myself. I have disabilities and housing needs and my ONLY option is private renting. I am obviously well aware of the extremely urgent need to find alternative accomodation - Which as already stated is beyond my control and extremely difficult, due to the pandemic and various other factors.

The immediate help I require is to strike out, or delay, the accelerated possession order, which is causing me immense harm, distress, and would cause significant harm to my health and severe financial hardship if not defended.

I would very appreciate if somebody could help with what I have asked and not deviate from that, as the priority is to delay, or stop the possession order, and time and energy is extremely limited.

Many Thanks

[efpom]

A s.21 accelerated procedure is a "no fault" application for possession - N5B claim form.

You are required to enter your defence on form N11B

The court will usually consider the papers without a hearing.

I suggest that you make a start by filling in the the form N11B and post up your draft of that form.

a copy can be found here:

https://assets.publishing.service.go...ngland-eng.pdf

[Malibu1]

efpom Thank you for the link. Can I complete the form electronically and send to the court via email with just a typed signature, or does the signature have to be signed in ink? I will post a draft as soon as possible. From what I understand the maximum extension of time a judge can allow for this is 42 days. Is that correct? I am hugely concerned that would not realistically be enough time for me to secure and move into alternative accommodation. Is there any way of requesting more time than this? Can I also counterclaim for damages caused by harassment, bullying, discrimination and injuries caused by the misuse of commercial pesticides? Can I ask the judge for more time to prepare my evidence and case? Would there be any possibility this would allow more time, or that a hearing will be possible instead of accelerated possession? I did report the landlords various harassment and stalking to the Police and it may take about a month to obtain those Police records. I may also need more time to obtain adequate medical evidence and also to put my claim together properly. I really do need as much time as possible to be able to secure another property. Do I have any possible grounds at all to request that the possession claim is struck out completely, such as discrimination, intentional injury and a malicious / retaliatory / unlawful / invalid S21? I believe the claimants are trying to usurp the course of justice by trying to prevent me being able to make any claim for damages. The stress of this is making an already extremely difficult situation even more difficult and exacerbating my health conditions. Are there any grounds at all that a judge can strike out an accelerated possession claim? If so, on what grounds can that be considered? I have tried to communicate with their solicitor when I received notice that they were pursuing possession claim through the courts. I have advised them that I am actively trying to move out as quickly as possible and discussed how difficult that is in the current climate, which is beyond my control. I advised them that their actions are exacerbating my mental health conditions and asked them to cease any further action through the courts, as this is also making it even more difficult for me to secure alternative accommodation. They contacted me again and stated that the landlords will not allow more time and despite my health, they will still be taking possession through the courts. They also stated that I am lying and that the landlords did NOT serve S21 as a result of me being too unwell to accommodate an inspection, but that they require the property for their elderly mother. They did serve S21 solely because I was unable to accommodate property inspection on their demand, which is discrimination and in my view, an outrageous, unlawful reason to evict a vulnerable tenant. I have this evidenced in emails and phone conversations of their lettings agents threatening me that they do not care about my health, and if I don't allow inspection at their convenienece, I would be evicted, and then was served eviction notice 30 minutes later. One of the agents even stated that "If you had allowed the inspection when we wanted, you wouldn't be being evicted". Should I contact the solicitors again and try again to ask them to withdraw their possession claim and allow me more time, as they are causing me immense distress and harm to my health and a possession order will make it a million times more difficult for me to secure alternative accommodation? Would it go in my favour at all to try to communicate with them again, or should I not? Should I also write a letter directly to the landlords regarding my claim for damages caused, or should I just do this through the courts via a counterclaim to the possession claim? Sorry for all of the questions, but would be very helpful and appreciated if anybody could help. Many Thanks

[Malibu1]

efpom Thank you for the link. Can I complete the form electronically and send to the court via email with just a typed signature, or does the signature have to be signed in ink? I will post a draft as soon as possible. From what I understand the maximum extension of time a judge can allow for this is 42 days. Is that correct? I am hugely concerned that would not realistically be enough time for me to secure and move into alternative accommodation. Is there any way of requesting more time than this? Can I also counterclaim for damages caused by harassment, bullying, discrimination and injuries caused by the misuse of commercial pesticides? Can I ask the judge for more time to prepare my evidence and case? Would there be any possibility this would allow more time, or that a hearing will be possible instead of accelerated possession? I did report the landlords various harassment and stalking to the Police and it may take about a month to obtain those Police records. I may also need more time to obtain adequate medical evidence and also to put my claim together properly. I really do need as much time as possible to be able to secure another property. Do I have any possible grounds at all to request that the possession claim is struck out completely, such as discrimination, intentional injury and a malicious / retaliatory / unlawful / invalid S21? I believe the claimants are trying to usurp the course of justice by trying to prevent me being able to make any claim for damages. The stress of this is making an already extremely difficult situation even more difficult and exacerbating my health conditions. Are there any grounds at all that a judge can strike out an accelerated possession claim? If so, on what grounds can that be considered? I have tried to communicate with their solicitor when I received notice that they were pursuing possession claim through the courts. I have advised them that I am actively trying to move out as quickly as possible and discussed how difficult that is in the current climate, which is beyond my control. I advised them that their actions are exacerbating my mental health conditions and asked them to cease any further action through the courts, as this is also making it even more difficult for me to secure alternative accommodation. They contacted me again and stated that the landlords will not allow more time and despite my health, they will still be taking possession through the courts. They also stated that I am lying and that the landlords did NOT serve S21 as a result of me being too unwell to accommodate an inspection, but that they require the property for their elderly mother. They did serve S21 solely because I was unable to accommodate property inspection on their demand, which is discrimination and in my view, an outrageous, unlawful reason to evict a vulnerable tenant. I have this evidenced in emails and phone conversations of their lettings agents threatening me that they do not care about my health, and if I don't allow inspection at their convenienece, I would be evicted, and then was served eviction notice 30 minutes later. One of the agents even stated that "If you had allowed the inspection when we wanted, you wouldn't be being evicted". Should I contact the solicitors again and try again to ask them to withdraw their possession claim and allow me more time, as they are causing me immense distress and harm to my health and a possession order will make it a million times more difficult for me to secure alternative accommodation? Would it go in my favour at all to try to communicate with them again, or should I not? Should I also write a letter directly to the landlords regarding my claim for damages caused, or should I just do this through the courts via a counterclaim to the possession claim? Sorry for all of the questions, but would be very helpful and appreciated if anybody could help. Many Thanks

[Malibu1]

Apologies - The above reply was paragraphed, but for some reason has appeared as a block of text when posted.

[efpom]

The defence form can be filed and served electronically - it does not require a "wet signature". The only 3 possible outcomes with a S.21 accelerated procedure is that the judge either 1) issues an Order for possession or 2) refuses to grant an Order or 3) decides that a hearing will take place.

If 1) (or 3)) The order will normally take effect 14 days after the date of the Order, but the court has the discretion to extend the date on which the Order becomes effective.

If 2) the landlord can proceed by serving a new s.21 Notice of Possession or by issuing a s.8 Notice of Possession.

3) speaks for itself.

A claim by you for harassment is, in my view, something you can pursue as a separate cause of action, not via the S.21 procedure.

My strong advice is that today you concentrate on filling in the defence form. You have, it would seem, only about 6 days to file and serve so you may run out of time if you decide to post the draft on here and await comments.

You may wish to seek professional advice.

[dslippy]

What - exactly - is the s21 reason you wish to give for the possession order not to be granted?

The L may well have acted very badly, and you may have a claim for harrassment against him, but that is not itself a defence to the section 21 claim.

You say that you asre asking for more time to arrange somewhere else. What steps have you taken to find somewhere else?

What people are very politely, but unhelpfully not telling you, is that you are stood in front of a bulldozer. Without some magic words it will keep on coming. I see no magic words.

[islandgirl]

I am sorry that you have these issues but looking for an alternative home is a priority. You can however check if the S21 is valid by using a flowchart here: https://nearlylegal.co.uk/section-21-flowchart/
If it is not, you can add the reason why to your defence.
However you are delaying the inevitable.
As above - you can make a separate claim for the other incidents but proving them would be almost impossible.

[Malibu1]

islandgirl Yes I have obviously been well aware, since receiving the original S21 eviction notice, that securing another home is a priorty. Sadly it is not just simply a case of picking a home and moving immediately. There are limited private rentals available and huge demand and competition for those that are. Due to the continued knock-on effect of the pandemic and so many people needing to move home. Many properties are snapped up within hours of being advertised and many properties have in excess of 20+ applicants all needing to move urgently. I also have to find a property that will accept pets, of which limits available options even more. To also have to do this with various health problems and also to a short deadline, in addition to an underlying threat of bailiff eviction, and having to now divert what little time and energy I have trying to defend court claim really does not help matters. I do not know why you say that proving these incidents would be impossible - I have ample evidence. I do not know much about accelerated possession, other than what I have googled since receiving the court papers. I have seen that people have counterclaimed accelerated possessions and been successful in being awarded compensation. Yes I could make a seperate claim at a later date, and would need to find suitable legal representation to bring a seperate claim, although that may raise the question as to why I did not raise these claims along with my defence for the possession claim. I feel it would be best to initiate my counterclaim in response to the possession claim - I was hoping somebody could help me do that, as I cannot see on the defence form any option to include a counterclaim. I am also hoping that would give some more time and/or the opportunity of a hearing, which would also provide more time for me to secure alternative accommodation and also more time to prepare my claim properly.