The Citizens Advice service helps people resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing free, independent and confidential advice, and by influencing policymakers.
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Forgotten victims of repossession crisis – joint campaign launched |
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27-03-2009 Four leading housing charities today launched a joint campaign to win better protection for tenants who face sudden homelessness because their landlord is repossessed. Shelter, Citizens Advice, Crisis and the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) are raising the alarm over growing numbers of private tenants who face eviction with little or no warning, and through no fault of their own, because their landlord has defaulted on mortgage payments and the lender has taken possession of the property. The organisations are calling for a change in the law which would mean courts would have the power to defer the possession to allow the tenant to find other suitable accommodation. As the law stands, most tenants whose landlords are repossessed have none of the legal rights that usually protect tenants from losing their homes without notice. Advisers report seeing cases where the first the tenant knows about the situation is when they come home to find bailiffs in their home. In some cases their belongings have been put out on the street and the locks have been changed. In other cases they have no or very limited access to their things, including personal and valuable items. In one case a family with nowhere to go had to sleep in a car before moving into overcrowded and temporary emergency hostel accommodation a long distance from the children’s schools. Shelter, Citizens Advice, Crisis and CIH have today written to MPs urging them to sign an Early Day Motion calling for changes to the law to tackle the problem. They estimate that thousands of tenants in the private rented sector could be at risk of losing their homes in this way and are warning that urgent government action is needed to avoid a potential crisis. Leslie Morphy, Chief Executive of Crisis, said:
Citizens Advice Chief Executive David Harker said:
Shelter chief executive Adam Sampson said:
Sarah Webb, Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Chief Executive said:
Members of the joint campaign are calling for the law to be changed to give courts the discretion to take into account the circumstances of sitting tenants where an outright possession order is granted, and defer possession for a limited period of time. They say more also needs to be done to make tenants aware of possession proceedings by ensuring that notices clearly marked to the tenant are sent to the property by the courts, in addition to the notice currently sent to ‘The Occupier’ by the mortgage lender. The campaigners say these notices should include information for tenants about their rights and where they can go for further advice. Cases seen recently by Citizens Advice Bureaux and Shelter include:A Surrey CAB reported the case of a lone parent with two children who had been renting a property for 10 months. She came back from a holiday to find that the locks had been changed and there was a notice announcing that a possession order had been made. After a two hour wait, a representative from the lenders turned up and let her in under supervision for ten minutes to collect a few necessary possessions, including her son's GCSE work. The client and her children had been left very upset. She had to make repeated visits to the lender asking for access and for information about when she would be allowed to collect the rest of her possessions. They proved unhelpful and told her they were 'unable to contact the necessary person'. A single male pensioner called into a Shelter drop-in session. He had had no rent arrears during the 4 years of his Assured Shorthold Tenancy. The man was aware that the landlord had mortgage arrears problems and had recently received a letter from the lender’s solicitor informing him of a possession hearing in approximately 2 weeks time. He could not find any alternative private rented properties and was considering a homelessness application. One Shelter Housing Aid Centre gave advice to a couple with two teenage children. They had bought their house through right-to-buy, but later found that they could not keep up with mortgage repayments when the interest rates rose. They subsequently sold the house to a sale and rent back operator, and had been letting the property from this SRB landlord for about 2 years. The couple had not seen their landlord in over a year and had no way of contacting him. They were totally unaware of the possession proceedings until they opened a letter informing them that the hearing date had been set for two weeks time. A CAB client living in Staffordshire and suffering from cancer first heard of his landlady’s repossession when he received a Notice of Eviction from the Bailiffs. He was assured by his landlady not to worry as it was all being sorted out. This was untrue as the bailiffs then came in, evicted the client and changed the locks before he could remove his possessions and essential medication. What the law says:If a lender has started proceedings against a tenant's landlord, the lender is required to send notice of the possession hearing, addressed to ‘The Occupier’, at least 14 days prior to the hearing. From 6 April 2009, the lender must send a notice to the property within five days of receiving notification of the date of the court hearing. However the notification letter will still be addressed solely to ‘the Occupier’. Tenants who moved in after the mortgage was taken out generally have no rights to stay in the property once it has been repossessed. A lender will be able to take action to have any occupier evicted as part of the action to repossess the property. Advice for tenants:
Joint briefing:Additional notes to editors:Crisis is the national charity for single homeless people. We are dedicated to ending homelessness by delivering life-changing services and campaigning for change. Our innovative education, employment, housing and well-being services address individual needs and help people to transform their lives. We are determined campaigners, working to prevent people from becoming homeless and advocating solutions informed by research and our direct experience. We have ambitious plans for the future and are committed to help more people in more places across the UK. We know we won’t end homelessness overnight or on our own. But we take a lead, collaborate with others and, together, make change happen. For more, see The Citizens Advice service is a network of independent charities that helps people resolve their money, legal and other problems by providing free, independent, confidential, and impartial information and advice, and by influencing policymakers. Most Citizens Advice service staff are trained volunteers, working at around 3,200 service outlets across England and Wales. Last year (2007/08) they dealt with 5.54 million problems of all kinds. For more information see www.citizensadvice.org.uk and Shelter helps 170,000 people a year fight for their rights, get back on their feet, and find and keep a home. We also tackle the root causes of Britain's housing crisis by campaigning for new laws, policies and solutions. Further information at The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) is the professional body for people involved in housing and communities. We are a registered charity and not-for-profit organisation. We have a diverse and growing membership of over 22,000 – both in the public and private sectors – living and working in over 20 countries on five continents across the world. Our members work for local authorities, housing associations, Arms Length Management Organisations, Government bodies, educational establishments and the private sector. Many tenants and residents are also members. We exist to maximise the contribution that housing professionals make to the wellbeing of communities. Further information is available at: Notes to editors:
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