Benefits Claimant Council and Legal Advice

Tenants who are claiming benefits are more likely to be advised to stay put, for they cannot be evicted until the Landlord obtains a court order and then appoints a Bailiff.
 
You are going to have to accept they have an agenda your job is to now manage risk and make the best out of a bad situation; What is their motivation -  Scenarios
Nowadays there is a huge amount of resources and services that are readily available to tenants. Amongst these are Shelter, Legal Aid, Councils themselves, and Citizens Advice that are able and willing to assist the tenant’s “plight”. They have staff who are familiar with Tenant Landlord Law and will happily inform the tenants of their rights.
 
We appreciate eviction can be stresssful but stay clear of any companies who promised they can speed this process up (there is no magic bullet there is no faster way just the right way) . Tenant Eviction is governed by Civil Proceedure (legal process) ABC it cant be made faster. Simply follow our guides and it will be done as swiftly as permitted by your local county court   

Councils Homeless Unit and Officers Advice as follows

Benefit tenants are often aware of their rights and given unlimited free advice by people in housing circles or Legal Aid. It does not take such tenants long to be empowered with the knowledge of possession law. Tenants are simply told to stay put and informed:

In the vast majority of cases, we find the following occurs.

Tenants are always informed that they should NOT vacate prior to the Bailiffs. If they do so the tenant is deemed to have surrendered the tenancy voluntarily and the council are NOT obliged to house them.
  • The Tenant will be told that the Council is unable to place them on the Housing List until the Landlord serves Notice.
  • The Landlord then serves the Notice upon the Tenant.
  • At this point the Tenant will be re-assured that there is nothing to be concerned about, as the Landlord now needs to obtain a court order. Some councils even write letters to the Landlord informing them of the Tenants right to remain in the property
  • The council may even assist the tenant in filing a defence citing tenant hardship or disrepair, or request a suspended possession order due to the fact the landlord is not suffering any loss; for benefits being are paid directly to the landlord
  • In rare cases an application to court can have the effect of speeding up a Benefits claim.
  • After the Landlord has obtained a Court Order then the Tenant waits to receive the news of the Bailiff’s date.
  • Where a Tenant is considered a non-qualifying candidate e.g. failure to pay rent, or Council properties are unavailable, then the Tenant may receive a Deposit to start a new Tenancy with a different Landlord.
  • If the Tenant leaves before the Bailiffs visit, then it is determined that they have surrendered the tenancy voluntarily and in which case, the Council are not obliged to house them. This means the Tenants simply stay put until the end,
In our experience of Landlords evicting Tenants claiming benefits, our advice is that unfortunately, you will have to go right through to the end of the Eviction process.
 
The reason for this is very simple - If the Tenant has dependents (children) the council have a duty to provide housing for them. If I put them in a B&B its going to cost a fotune - If I leave them with the Landlord [their problem] then it is cheaper than B&B (sad harsh but this is the reality of evicting Tenants the only time this differs is where the Tenant is top of housing priority risk - which are vulnerable persons or imminent risk of homelessness Bailiffs are coming)

NO WIN NO FEE SUE YOUR LANDLORD MERCHANTS

In some cases, eviction is further delayed because innocent mistakes the Landlord has made are exploited for the tenants' benefit. Sometimes Tenants are incited to make accusations – such as the property is in disrepair, harassment, non-compliance with deposit protection process etc. In such circumstance, evictions may become a complicated court case and eviction can be delayed for months In this section we include possible steps that you can take to improve your situation to resolve rent arrears problems and to achieve a successful eviction.
 
You MUIST be very careful in these scenarios and preference given to eviction via Section 21 process see Compare Eviction Notices . This is because Section 21 has fewer defence mechanisms where they can obtain legal aid