Judge threatens to throw us out of court because we took 11 months to instruct Bailiffs!

Judge threatens to throw us out of court because we took 11 months to instruct Bailiffs!

11:13 AM, 12th January 2016, About 8 years ago 13

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Our tenants owes us in excess of £5000 in unpaid rent.I am the law

Is 11 months from possession date too long to instruct bailiffs?

We used the accelerated possession procedure to get a possession order, which was granted January 2015. The tenant then attempted to start paying the rent, so we held off instructing the bailiffs in the hope they could sort it out (Everyone Deserves a Second Chance), or so we thought. The tenant continued to accrue arrears, albeit at a much slower pace, so in December 2015 we instructed the county bailiffs to carry out a warrant, which was due to take place last week. The tenant got an emergency hearing the day before the eviction for an extension, supposedly due to not having enough notice.

IS 11 MONTHS NOT ENOUGH??

The judge wasn’t interested in the fact the tenant hadn’t paid the rent, so he gave us a choice.
Option 1: Grant the extension then wait another month before having to re-instruct bailiffs (We challenged this, at which point he provided Option 2):
Option 2: I will throw the case out of court completely – on the basis that 11 months have passed and you have taken rent from the tenant, thereby creating a new tenancy, which will invalidate the possession order you currently have in place.

We were disgusted by the approach the judge had taken but were forced to accept option 1 for obvious reasons.

Has anyone else every had such an experience?
Does this have any legal foundation?

Thanks in advance
Ross


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Comments

JohnCaversham

9:21 AM, 19th January 2016, About 8 years ago

Is there a system of recourse for cases like this when a Judge gets it wrong ie can he/she be held to account ? I'm sure you can write and complain but is there something where the Judge is forced to note they've got it wrong and that they have to do better next time-
Otherwise whats the point of a judicial system that's variable and incorrect?

Charles King - Barrister-At-Law

12:24 PM, 19th January 2016, About 8 years ago

No. You can complain about a judge if they are rude, racist or lazy, etc, through the judicial complaints system, but otherwise the system of recourse against a judge who is wrong is appealing to another judge, which is not very satisfactory in this situation (see my first comment on this thread). As to your question about 'what's the point...' I leave that hanging for other people to muse on. After 20 years at the Bar I regularly find myself wondering the very same thing, I'm sorry to say.

Rob Crawford

13:17 PM, 19th January 2016, About 8 years ago

I'm not so sure the judge is wrong! The 11 months wait is not relevant, it's what you did during the 11 months. You got a possession order but decided not to act on it. You gave the tenant a "second" chance! As the new tenancy is no longer relevant a new tenancy has been formed and you have accepted payment for this. As such you will have to served a new section 8/21 and seek a new possession order if the tenant does not vacate at he end of the notice period. I will now put my flack jacket on!

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