Hello,
Going through cancer treatment and possession/eviction at the same time!
Don’t want to appear as seeking sympathy just setting the backdrop.
Tenants now in periodic tenancy, generating good income for themselves by listing my property on airbnb but have not paid rent for 7 months and ignored section 21 notice.
Went along with solicitor’s idea of serving section 8 for arrears and breach of contract.
Went to court hearing, 30 minutes before hearing tenants turn up with counter nclaim of disrepair (not true - the property is a serviced block, with its own maintenance team who know nothing about this).
Judge has set another hearing for both parties to bring their evidence.
I’d like to know 1) how to defend these fictitious claims 2) can I serve section 21 again to gain possession.
Thank you in advance to anyone who can offer help.
Why are you paying a solicitor and ignoring their advice? The breach of contract seems the strongest option. Does your agreement with the T allow for sublet?
How to defend against fictitious claims? Evidence.
A judge will see up to 10 cases a day over a number of days. He can only decide on what’s in front of them and his knowledge that people lie / shade the truth. Get pics of the AirBnB ad. Get the maintenance records. Get any communication from the T about “disrepair” and when it was reported.
Suppose the key question is how can “disrepair” affect T’s who were not occupying the place as they had sub-let.
And check your tenancy agreement about subletting.
Also may be worrh getting intouch with the maintainancr team and asking them for any dicumentation or a statement from.a SV saying they have not completed anybrepairs at the property and/or they have done any ROUTINE maintenance