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Rent Arrears and a County Court Judgement (UK)
mr-razzcocks
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Registered User regular
Back in June, I lost my job and left the house I was sharing. I owed around £1500 in rent arrears, with the full intention of paying it off once I found another job. Since I left, the two people I was sharing with have both moved as well, and one of them informed me that she had received an email from the housing agency we were renting through saying that my debt would be written off if we gave up our deposit on the house, which, as you can imagine, was a massive weight off my mind.
However, yesterday, I received a letter from the owner of the house (who, I might add, I have had no contact with, ever, even for the two years I was living in his house), telling me that the housing agency had informed him of my arrears, and if he did not hear from me, he would issue a county court claim against me.
Am I fucked here? Is the housing agency at fault, or the owner of the house? Will I end up with no choice but to pay the debt to him in installments? What are my rights here?
However, yesterday, I received a letter from the owner of the house (who, I might add, I have had no contact with, ever, even for the two years I was living in his house), telling me that the housing agency had informed him of my arrears, and if he did not hear from me, he would issue a county court claim against me.
Am I fucked here? Is the housing agency at fault, or the owner of the house? Will I end up with no choice but to pay the debt to him in installments? What are my rights here?
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Contact the guy and explain the situation, then talk to the housing agency that told you the debt was written off. Issuing proceedings is usually a last resort. If you're at least in discussion with the guy he should hold off. Plus, if you do get a summons, being able to show that you were making a good-faith effort to resolve the situation (as you were unaware you still owed them money) can count in your favour.
It should be -- at least, it is in the US. Contracts don't take much to be binding, and in this case the housing agency contacted the individual proposing to do X if the individual did Y. The individual agreed and forfeited his deposit. Therefore the housing agency should uphold their end of the contract.
Realistically the housing agency should also be unable to reneg on the contract or attempt to render it void, as both parties appeared to act in good faith and with the intent of completing the contract. Unless contract law is significantly different in the UK (doubtful, although some nuances might exist), the above should apply pretty well.
But I am not a lawyer -- I'm just in the middle of a law class. What I wrote above is essentially just textbook stuff. It should still be useful, but the OP definitely should not just sit on his hands.
Quick procedural point. The County Court system is a lot more flexible than people think it is.
If you get a summons, you can still sort it out without going to court, If you don't sort it out and the court issues judgement in default against you, it doesn't go on the register (and thus affect your credit rating) if you pay within thirty days, or if you successfully petition the court to set it aside (you can do this if you can show that you intend to defend the matter or come to some accommodation, but are/were being prevented from doing so by something reasonably outside your control).
The point is, you are not fucked if the court becomes involved unless you do absolutely nothing.