Ground 8 Rent Arrears claims – “at the date of the hearing” means just that. It doesn’t mean in the days before.
I’ve been a County Court Advocate for over 9 years now. Most of the cases I deal with at Court is in relation to residential possession cases and in most of them, I am acting for the Landlord. Most of the cases I deal with at Court are for clients who only instruct me to attend the hearing, i.e. in those cases, I receive a set of papers a few days before the hearing and I have to do my best to represent who I am instructed to act.
In some instances of course, I deal with the case from start to finish so I know the case inside and out.
Over those years, I have come across a common misconception when dealing with residential possession cases that are brought on Ground 8 of Schedule 2 Housing Act 1988. The common misconception relates to what is required to be proved, in relation to rent arrears, by the landlord Claimant at the hearing.
In order to gain a mandatory possession order of a residential property under Ground 8, the landlord Claimant is required to meet (amongst other things) Ground 8 which says:
Ground 8
Both at the date of the service of the notice under section 8 of this Act relating to the proceedings for possession and at the date of the hearing—
(a)if rent is payable weekly or fortnightly, at least eight weeks’ rent is unpaid;
(b)if rent is payable monthly, at least two months’ rent is unpaid;
(c)if rent is payable quarterly, at least one quarter’s rent is more than three months in arrears; and
(d)if rent is payable yearly, at least three months’ rent is more than three months in arrears;
and for the purpose of this ground “rent” means rent lawfully due from the tenant.
As can be seen, Ground 8 refers to rent that is unpaid, commonly referred to as ‘in arrears’. The requirement is clear:
Both:
- At the date of service of the notice under Section 8; AND
- At the date of the hearing
there must be so much (depending on how the rent is payable) rent unpaid.
Part of my job as an advocate is to make contact with the landlord or the letting agent prior to the hearing. I regularly call the landlord or agent a day or 2 before the hearing. This call is do a few things:
- Introduce myself
- Arrange a meeting time and place
- Go through the paperwork and evidence
- Ensure that the landlord or agent brings to Court the relevant information and evidence to help prove their case.
- Answer any questions about the case and put the landlord or agent at ease about the procedure, etc.
One of the pieces of information / evidence I need a landlord or agent to bring to Court is confirmation of the level of unpaid rent at the date of the hearing. This information is normally presented in a rent schedule. When I ask for this information, the most common responses from the landlord or agent are:
“Well the arrears today are ……”
“Can I email you the rent schedule today”
In many cases, I also see landlords or agents produce witness statements telling the Court what the arrears are at the date of the witness statement.
For a Ground 8 claim, the amount of unpaid rent a few days before the hearing (or even at the date of the witness statement) is not relevant. Ground 8 states “at the date of the hearing”.
What this requires in practice, is for the landlord or agent to check their accounts on the day of the hearing and confirm the amount of unpaid rent at the day of the hearing (ideally by way of an up-to-date rent schedule checked and printed on the day of the hearing).
The amount of unpaid rent for a Ground 8 claim is the amount that was unpaid ‘At the date of service of the notice’ and ‘at the date of the hearing’. Ground 8 does not refer at all to the amount unpaid a couple of days before the hearing.
Over my years of doing this job, I have seen many cases where the tenant makes a payment of rent shortly before the hearing (between the date of the witness statement; or the call and the date of the hearing). This means that the information given to me over the phone or in the witness statement is no longer correct. Of course, I have also seen many cases where no payment is made and so the information remains correct.
I have also seen cases fail because the information on the level of unpaid rent ‘at the date of the hearing’ is not up to date. In those cases, the information given to the Court was at least 2 days old (and some being 2-3 weeks old).
It is therefore important that landlords and agents know what they need to prove and be prepared to prove it. If you are ever instructing a Court advocate to attend a hearing for a Ground 8 claim, make sure you take the steps to update the advocate on the day of the hearing, even if it is to tell them there is no change to the information given.
Services of Philip Nam
My services in relation to Court Advocacy for Landlord and Tenant residential possession claims are generally carried out under the instruction and supervision of solicitors with me being identified as a ‘solicitors agent’.
Other legal services and/or other types of advocacy may be available via White Collar (Legal and Admin) Ltd or White Collar Legal CIC (depending on the type of case and/or type of hearing).
Free Initial Consultations can be booked here : [https://lawtap.com/uk/lawyer/philip-nam.html]
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