Help wanted - unlawful eviction scotland

[Roofless]

My partner and I went on an extended holiday 2 years ago and whilst we were gone a mallicious and vindictive individual contacted Aberdeen City Council and informed them that my partner had emigrated!
The result was that my partner lost her home and all her belongings. The eviction was carried out under abandoment process and although she had been in contact with ACC to let them know she was only on holiday, they continued and evicted.
The individual responsible for false info appears to have been friends with the Council Housing Officer.
We have discovered proof that this ACC Housing Officer actually sold some of my partners belongings and property. (Proof positive exists).
They apparently continued in abandonment despite KNOWING this was not true.
All statements claimed by the malicious contactee can be proved to have been false statements.
Can my partner force the Council to reconsider their action?
Should we pass information regarding theft and fraud to the Police?
Should we pass information regarding theft and fraud to Aberdeen City Council?
This info has only recently come to light and we are unsure how to proceed.
Any contact with ACC has always resulted in us getting nowhere!
HELP

Roofless

[PlanB]

Re: Help wanted - unlawful eviction scotland

Hello Roofless

Some quick questions and then I'll be back tomorrow to see if I can add anything useful once I have your answers

How long was the "extended holiday"?

Was rent paid on the property while you were were away?

Were you in receipt of housing benefit at the time?

Was the property sublet informally or formally while you were away or was it left empty ?

What was the council tax situation during your absence paid/not paid/exempt?

How long ago was the property repossessed?

Your username is "Roofless" does this mean you are currently homeless as a result of the eviction and is the council refusing to re-house you?

Has the property been re-let to someone else since or is it empty?

[mystery1]

Re: Help wanted - unlawful eviction scotland

http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/get_a...ning_a_tenancy

M1

[mystery1]

Re: Help wanted - unlawful eviction scotland

http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinions/B676_09.html

M1

[Roofless]

Re: Help wanted - unlawful eviction scotland

Thanks for prompt response!

How long was the "extended holiday"? We were gone for 4 months (was intended originally to be for 12 weeks but I had an accident, slipped on ice and was unable to travel.)

Was rent paid on the property while you were were away? (My partner was a student at the time (RGU Aberdeen) and had arranged for email study whilst we were away.

Were you in receipt of housing benefit at the time? I'm not 100% sure of this but will ask her how rent was paid.

Was the property sublet informally or formally while you were away or was it left empty ? Not sublet at all. A friend was monitoring post and checking security.

What was the council tax situation during your absence paid/not paid/exempt? Exempt because both my partner and her daughter were students. Her daughter had gone to stay with my partners Ex (temporarily) whilst we were gone.

How long ago was the property repossessed? Reposessed on 19th Dec 2010

Your username is "Roofless" does this mean you are currently homeless as a result of the eviction and is the council refusing to re-house you? No, I work abroad and now my partner and I are married. We still want to bring the injustice to an end. My wife was devestated by what happened and she needs redress of some sort.

Has the property been re-let to someone else since or is it empty?[/QUOTE] The property was re-let within weeks of reposession.

The biggest problem has been the fact that Aberdeen City Council will not provide information regarding their 'informant' even although we can prove that everything she claimed was false.

Hope this helps

Roofless - refers to lack of hair!!!

[mystery1]

Re: Help wanted - unlawful eviction scotland

Well if you want to use the procedures involved in the links i posted you only get 6 months which would be Wednesday. From my very brief reading on it it looks like you'd only get her an offer of a new place to stay which seems like a waste of time if she has a house.

I am unsure if there are any allowances in this for her possessions and any penalty on the council. I also don't know if she'd be able to go to court outwith the 6 months for compensation (i suspect yes but it wouldn't be using those laws). The redress against the complainer depends on the circumstances and perhaps a course of conduct rather than 1 complaint. Have you lodged a grievance with the council ?

M1

[Roofless]

Re: Help wanted - unlawful eviction scotland

Hi mystery1

thank you so much for the links
I will go read and hopefully find a solution or at least know where to go next.


cheers
Roofless

[Roofless]

Re: Help wanted - unlawful eviction scotland

We have informed the Council of the illegal actions of the Housing Officer. The fact that he himself sold some of my partners furniture (theft) suggests he had a vested interest in the eviction. We have also made the Council aware that the 'reasonable grounds for eviction under abandonment' did not exist = they were fabricated.

[SpringerSpaniel]

Re: Help wanted - unlawful eviction scotland

You could also ask your MP to refer this to the Local Government Ombudsman, wwhihc has powers to award compensation.

I woudl suggest the theft of possessoins be reported to the police.

[Roofless]

Re: Help wanted - unlawful eviction scotland

LATEST UPDATE

Hi everyone and a special thanks to all who posted - in particular. Links were a great help.
Its strange how things can work out - we found that the 28 days between notices had not been complied with! Its now in the hands of solicitor.
So immediate solution is an incompetent procedural fault in paperwork!
All of the other stuff will come to light during the Damages preparation. Also have police looking into things now. (They were very reluctant to DO anything but I threatened a letter to Scottish Government regarding inactivity of police even when you provide them with proof positive).
Will keep you guys posted as things progress - and thanks again for the help!!!!


Roofless

[CleverClogs]

Re: Help wanted - unlawful eviction scotland

Should we pass information regarding theft and fraud to the Police?

Did Sweaty Betty run a chip shop on the Spital?

Is Aberdeen built of granite?

[CleverClogs]

Re: Help wanted - unlawful eviction scotland

You could also ask your MP to refer this to the Local Government Ombudsman, wwhihc has powers to award compensation.

The LGO only operates in England.

Scotland has the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman - link - which operates in much the same way.

[Roofless]

Re: Help wanted - unlawful eviction scotland

Did Sweaty Betty run a chip shop on the Spital?

Is Aberdeen built of granite?

You have no idea how reluctant they are to DO ANYTHING against Council!!!!
We have even informed Leader of ACC and Lord Provost of Aberdeen - not even the courtesy of an acknowledgement!

Can only get better from here on in. :tinysmile_kiss_t4:

Roofless

[Roofless]

Re: Help wanted - unlawful eviction scotland

Hi All,

latest update on the situation is as follows;

Solicitor we engaged contacted ACC. 2 weeks later withdraws their services and says unable to help!

We decided to raise a court action ourselves. Writ served and first Court date set as 25/9/2013.

Next hearing end October. Cant give details as yet since case is ongoing.

I will update again once case has been dealt with. Thanks to all you guys for the encouragement and advice. Your the Beagles Knees!!


If anyone can help with the following it would be greatly appreciated......

Q1. If a Notice claims to be served under a piece of legislation, but does not conform with the provisions of that legislation, can the legislations stated Time Bar apply????

Q2. If a piece of legislation has within it a section that applies to a particular 'class' of persons, and that section is (in effect) a Statutory Obligation, is there a need to reference the Prescription and Limitation Act (Scotland) 1973 and the relevant section within it, even although the action is clearly within the time limit?????

Although I have already convinced myself of the answer to Q1 - i would appreciate confirmation from an independant source.

Q2 is the tricky one - so any help would be great.

Thanks again LegalBeagles!!
Roofless

[VGkK]

Re: Help wanted - unlawful eviction scotland

Would be curious to see how the case ended?