CHAC prevents court bailiffs from evicting family
CHAC Case study
Chloe’s story
Chloe faced an immediate threat of eviction when her income fell during the Covid-19 pandemic and she found herself unable to meet the terms of an earlier court order.
Chloe had a secure Canterbury City Council tenancy and lived with her non-dependant daughter. She was employed and her income was supplemented by Universal Credit. Previously, in June 2019, we had assisted Chloe in court and secured the suspension of a bailiffs’ warrant for possession. A court order issued at the time required Chloe to pay her current rent plus £30 each week towards rent arrears of just over £2,300.
Chloe kept to this court order and her rent arrears fell to just over £1,000. But, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Chloe’s income from employment dropped and her rent arrears began to increase again.
By the time Chloe contacted us in April 2021, her rent arrears had risen to over £1,900 and the Council was threatening to apply to Canterbury County Court for an immediate eviction by the bailiffs.
How CHAC helped
After reviewing Chloe’s financial circumstances, we made a realistic offer to the Council for Chloe to pay her rent in full plus £80 towards her rent arrears each month. This offer was refused. The Council insisted Chloe clear all her rent arrears and court costs. The Council’s position was very firm - an eviction by the court bailiffs was to be secured as soon as possible.
We advised Chloe to pay what we had offered. Chloe agreed to make weekly payments and said she would try to pay more. In the end, Chloe not only paid £80 towards her rent arrears each month as proposed, but also paid more from the time that she first contacted us.
At the time (and prior to 31 May 2021), the Government’s restrictions on evictions meant the court was unable to evict Chloe unless her rent arrears exceeded more than six months’ rent. We advised Chloe that if the Council were to write to the court to request an eviction by the court bailiffs, either the court would refuse, or we would apply to court to stop the eviction as her rent arrears (including court costs) amounted to less than six months’ rent.
Chloe continued to pay as much as she could and rapidly reduced her rent arrears to £1,600 in just over two months. In view of this, at the end of June, Chloe agreed to increase her rent repayment offer to £100 towards her rent arrears each month.
The outcome
We negotiated with the Income Recovery Manager in the Council’s Legal Department and secured their (reluctant) agreement not to request an appointment for Chloe’s eviction by the court bailiffs.
CHAC was allowed to apply to the court to vary Chloe’s court order to an order suspending the warrant for possession. This was on condition that Chloe pay her current rent plus £100 towards her rent arrears each month. We sent Chloe’s N244 (application notice) to Canterbury County Court with the claimant’s (Council’s) consent to this variation and the court varied her order. After this, Chloe kept to the court order and was able to clear all her rent arrears. She is now paying off her court costs.
Although Chloe’s N244 cost £50 (she was not entitled to any reduction in this court fee), she has avoided the stress of getting a date for the court bailiffs to evict her. She has also avoided incurring additional court costs which would have amounted to at least £121 (for the warrant fee).