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This is my first post on Legal Beagles. I don't know if this is the best forum, bust anyway, here goes.
It concerns a letter I haven’t even got yet, but I’m so sick with worry that I want to ask people’s thoughts now, rather than just stew in anxiety, as I have ever since I got the post office card saying a special delivery letter is waiting for me at the sorting office. I can’t get it until tomorrow, but I’m pretty sure it concerns a letter I sent a few days ago.
Here is the background, and I’ll be as brief as I can. I’m a pensioner living in a housing association property, and because of problems I’d been having with my HA and also a couple of neighbours, I’d sent my HA about 30 letters in the last two years. Many were repetitions of previous letters because I just wasn’t getting anywhere with my HA and felt I had to be persistent. Despite the fact that all these letters were polite and unthreatening, and none were vexatious (ie: my claims were always supported by evidence), last year my HA applied for an injunction under the 2014 Antisocial Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act to limit my correspondence to one letter every two months. I was very dismayed at this, as nothing I had written in those letters could possibly be termed antisocial behaviour by any stretch of the imagination, and so I was determined to defend the case.
The direct-access barrister I engaged told me he believed I had done nothing that breached the 2014 Act, and that though the HA had a right to apply for this injunction, it would not be successful. But when I told him I had had so much trouble with this HA that I was desperate to move to another housing provider, he said that even if I won the case, the very fact that it came to Court could prejudice a future landlord against me. He recommended mediation, and I very reluctantly agreed to this.
I told the barrister that what I wanted most of all from mediation was to discuss various false allegations that had been made against me and clear my name. A campaign of malicious allegations had been waged against me by a couple of neighbours since 2014 which had caused me to been seen quite wrongly as a troublesome tenant, and I wanted mediation to clear the air, and reset the clock back to before that time, when I was well respected by everyone where I lived.
All the injunction application had been demanding was that I should limit my letters to the HA to one every couple of months, and I had decided on mediation on the assumption that this was all the HA would be asking, but just two days before the meeting, I got something called a position statement from the HA, via email, which was asking for all sorts of other things - things I’d never have agreed to. Nevertheless, I went to the meeting anyway.
In part of the meeting, we were all together, the HA’s housing officer, the HA’s solicitor, my barrister and myself. We were invited to state our case, and I went first. I was as honest and open as I could be. But then when the housing officer spoke, he misled everyone present in a number of serious ways, misrepresenting me as an antisocial person. I felt as if I’d just thrown my money away. I tried to protest, but was told to wait until he’d finished. But before I could speak, my barrister made a long speech. He must have known how this housing officer’s account totally contradicted my own, but for some reason, he never challenged him about this. Then we were sent out for lunch, and in the afternoon, I got no further opportunity to voice my concerns about what the housing officer had said.
I was finally given the settlement agreement at 5.10pm, after the meeting should have finished. My barrister didn’t even explain it to me – he just gave it to me to read and sign. He never even told me it was a Tomlin order – I only found that out several days afterwards. Almost every clause in the agreement was something I didn’t want to put my name to, but we had already run out of time, I knew the HA had already rescheduled the date for the antisocial behaviour injunction trial in case there was no agreement, I’d spent most of my life savings on the mediation and had no more left to spend on legal representation, and I just could not face being dragged into Court accused of being an antisocial person. My barrister had already told me he thought it was a really good result, so I felt it useless to argue, and I thought that if I did, it would mean the meeting having to re-convene on another day, and I couldn't afford that, as this one day had used up most of my savings. I should add here that I suffer from severe clinical depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders, and my mental state was at rock bottom that day. So I signed, feeling there was no realistic alternative. I then fell into a deep depression, which has stayed with me since.
This housing officer’s disingenuous behaviour in the meeting, when I had been so open and forthright, rankled so much that a month later I wrote a short letter telling him how dismayed I was about this. I was immediately contacted by my barrister, who said the HA had told him about my letter, and that my choosing to send it had been ‘unfortunate’.
Perhaps I should have just left it there, but the feeling of being so unfairly treated preyed on my mind, and so a few days ago, I wrote to the HA’s solicitor, the one who had been present at the meeting, detailing the statements this housing officer had made, and telling the solicitor just why they were misleading. I stressed how I had gone there in good faith, willing to spend nearly all my savings to get an honest resolution to all this, and how depressed I was at how things had turned out. I ended the letter by saying that although I had abided by the terms of the agreement since I’d signed it, I felt I had effective signed it against my will, for the reasons I have outlined above. In the letter, I explained that the reason I’d waited several months before writing was that this business had made me so depressed, I had been unable to do so until then.
I thought this letter was so reasonable, and so justified, that it could not breach the Tomlin Order. However, I’d become so depressed about the order that I’ve developed a fear of even looking at it, so I didn’t check. It was only yesterday, after that getting post office card, that I remembered one particular clause. I’m paraphrasing here, but the clause was to the effect that both sides agreed that all outstanding disputes between us were now settled and would not be pursued any further. I can now see how my letter might have breached that clause.
That’s the background, and now I’m wondering just how much trouble I could be in. This letter is probably about the Tomlin order, and if I’m very lucky, it might be just a stern warning not to breach it again (if I have indeed breached it). But my HA is notorious for its bullying ways, and it’s possible that it’s thought, “This is just what we need to stamp on this tenant good and hard”.
So I’d be grateful for any thoughts. Would it be likely that a Court would allow my HA to act for breach of the order if the defendant hasn’t had a warning first? (and I haven't - just that email from my barrister) . The antisocial behaviour injunction application was stayed because I’d signed the agreement – would a breach only allow the HA to lift that stay and go ahead with that injunction application, or could it impose additional penalties?
One other consideration here is that the antisocial behaviour injunction was to limit me to one letter to the HA every couple of months, and from the beginning of last August until now I have only written one letter to the HA, last October (the one I mentioned above). If because of a breach my HA restored its application, would a Court be likely to say, “Why do you think you need it, when he doesn’t seem to be writing to you anymore?”
I think what I need most of all is advice on anything I can do to persuade the HA to give me a second chance, if the news is bad tomorrow. Any advice would be very welcome. Sorry this post has been so long.
This is my first post on Legal Beagles. I don't know if this is the best forum, bust anyway, here goes.
It concerns a letter I haven’t even got yet, but I’m so sick with worry that I want to ask people’s thoughts now, rather than just stew in anxiety, as I have ever since I got the post office card saying a special delivery letter is waiting for me at the sorting office. I can’t get it until tomorrow, but I’m pretty sure it concerns a letter I sent a few days ago.
Here is the background, and I’ll be as brief as I can. I’m a pensioner living in a housing association property, and because of problems I’d been having with my HA and also a couple of neighbours, I’d sent my HA about 30 letters in the last two years. Many were repetitions of previous letters because I just wasn’t getting anywhere with my HA and felt I had to be persistent. Despite the fact that all these letters were polite and unthreatening, and none were vexatious (ie: my claims were always supported by evidence), last year my HA applied for an injunction under the 2014 Antisocial Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act to limit my correspondence to one letter every two months. I was very dismayed at this, as nothing I had written in those letters could possibly be termed antisocial behaviour by any stretch of the imagination, and so I was determined to defend the case.
The direct-access barrister I engaged told me he believed I had done nothing that breached the 2014 Act, and that though the HA had a right to apply for this injunction, it would not be successful. But when I told him I had had so much trouble with this HA that I was desperate to move to another housing provider, he said that even if I won the case, the very fact that it came to Court could prejudice a future landlord against me. He recommended mediation, and I very reluctantly agreed to this.
I told the barrister that what I wanted most of all from mediation was to discuss various false allegations that had been made against me and clear my name. A campaign of malicious allegations had been waged against me by a couple of neighbours since 2014 which had caused me to been seen quite wrongly as a troublesome tenant, and I wanted mediation to clear the air, and reset the clock back to before that time, when I was well respected by everyone where I lived.
All the injunction application had been demanding was that I should limit my letters to the HA to one every couple of months, and I had decided on mediation on the assumption that this was all the HA would be asking, but just two days before the meeting, I got something called a position statement from the HA, via email, which was asking for all sorts of other things - things I’d never have agreed to. Nevertheless, I went to the meeting anyway.
In part of the meeting, we were all together, the HA’s housing officer, the HA’s solicitor, my barrister and myself. We were invited to state our case, and I went first. I was as honest and open as I could be. But then when the housing officer spoke, he misled everyone present in a number of serious ways, misrepresenting me as an antisocial person. I felt as if I’d just thrown my money away. I tried to protest, but was told to wait until he’d finished. But before I could speak, my barrister made a long speech. He must have known how this housing officer’s account totally contradicted my own, but for some reason, he never challenged him about this. Then we were sent out for lunch, and in the afternoon, I got no further opportunity to voice my concerns about what the housing officer had said.
I was finally given the settlement agreement at 5.10pm, after the meeting should have finished. My barrister didn’t even explain it to me – he just gave it to me to read and sign. He never even told me it was a Tomlin order – I only found that out several days afterwards. Almost every clause in the agreement was something I didn’t want to put my name to, but we had already run out of time, I knew the HA had already rescheduled the date for the antisocial behaviour injunction trial in case there was no agreement, I’d spent most of my life savings on the mediation and had no more left to spend on legal representation, and I just could not face being dragged into Court accused of being an antisocial person. My barrister had already told me he thought it was a really good result, so I felt it useless to argue, and I thought that if I did, it would mean the meeting having to re-convene on another day, and I couldn't afford that, as this one day had used up most of my savings. I should add here that I suffer from severe clinical depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders, and my mental state was at rock bottom that day. So I signed, feeling there was no realistic alternative. I then fell into a deep depression, which has stayed with me since.
This housing officer’s disingenuous behaviour in the meeting, when I had been so open and forthright, rankled so much that a month later I wrote a short letter telling him how dismayed I was about this. I was immediately contacted by my barrister, who said the HA had told him about my letter, and that my choosing to send it had been ‘unfortunate’.
Perhaps I should have just left it there, but the feeling of being so unfairly treated preyed on my mind, and so a few days ago, I wrote to the HA’s solicitor, the one who had been present at the meeting, detailing the statements this housing officer had made, and telling the solicitor just why they were misleading. I stressed how I had gone there in good faith, willing to spend nearly all my savings to get an honest resolution to all this, and how depressed I was at how things had turned out. I ended the letter by saying that although I had abided by the terms of the agreement since I’d signed it, I felt I had effective signed it against my will, for the reasons I have outlined above. In the letter, I explained that the reason I’d waited several months before writing was that this business had made me so depressed, I had been unable to do so until then.
I thought this letter was so reasonable, and so justified, that it could not breach the Tomlin Order. However, I’d become so depressed about the order that I’ve developed a fear of even looking at it, so I didn’t check. It was only yesterday, after that getting post office card, that I remembered one particular clause. I’m paraphrasing here, but the clause was to the effect that both sides agreed that all outstanding disputes between us were now settled and would not be pursued any further. I can now see how my letter might have breached that clause.
That’s the background, and now I’m wondering just how much trouble I could be in. This letter is probably about the Tomlin order, and if I’m very lucky, it might be just a stern warning not to breach it again (if I have indeed breached it). But my HA is notorious for its bullying ways, and it’s possible that it’s thought, “This is just what we need to stamp on this tenant good and hard”.
So I’d be grateful for any thoughts. Would it be likely that a Court would allow my HA to act for breach of the order if the defendant hasn’t had a warning first? (and I haven't - just that email from my barrister) . The antisocial behaviour injunction application was stayed because I’d signed the agreement – would a breach only allow the HA to lift that stay and go ahead with that injunction application, or could it impose additional penalties?
One other consideration here is that the antisocial behaviour injunction was to limit me to one letter to the HA every couple of months, and from the beginning of last August until now I have only written one letter to the HA, last October (the one I mentioned above). If because of a breach my HA restored its application, would a Court be likely to say, “Why do you think you need it, when he doesn’t seem to be writing to you anymore?”
I think what I need most of all is advice on anything I can do to persuade the HA to give me a second chance, if the news is bad tomorrow. Any advice would be very welcome. Sorry this post has been so long.
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