A friend of mine is on the verge of being evicted from her tenancy property because another tenant has filed complaint after complaint against her resulting in the landlord and a judge deciding that she is in the wrong. There is no evidence to back any of these claims up and indeed she was out on a few of the occasions that she was deemed to be causing trouble but because the other tenant is an old woman (but really vindictive!) everybody is taking her side of the story saying that that old woman has no reason to lie. Surely they must require proof to take such an action rather than just one person's word over another's? Is there anything she can do?
Optional Information: System of Law: England-and-Wales Already Tried: My friend has spoken to her solicitor but they seem to think that the "lady is old" is a watertight case and she has no comeback which I find just shocking.
Thanks for your question. Please remember to rate my answer SMILEY FACE OR ABOVE so that I am credited for my time.Has there been an order for possession?Was there a trial?
There has been an order for posession. There have been 32 complaints made against my friend and despite being able to prove on at least two of the occasions that she was not around at the alleged time of the harassment she was told that the complainant must just have got the time and date wrong. The complainant has not been able to prove any of the supposed events and has not been asked to. She has made a "list" of them which proves nothing other than she can write fiction.
Was there a full trial?
According to my friend there was no trial or anything, the landlord and the old lady making the complaints just put it towards a judge somehow and they made the decision to rule in their favour. To give some more background info, my friend and the old woman did used to co-exist quite well to a certain degree where my friend would clean for the lady and wheel her around town in a wheelchair whilst the old lady loaned my friend some money for a TV a year or two ago. However, they were never really friends and the old lady got rather bitter when my friend stopped wanting to be at her beck and call all the time and that is really when the trouble began and she started making complaints to the landlord.
The only thing your friend can do is appeal the order.For this they would need to show:a) there has been an error in law, orb) there has been an error in procedure, orc) the decision made was one which no reasonable Judge could have made.I assume permission to appeal was not asked for at the hearing.As such your friend will need to complete an appeal form and ask for an appeal on the papers.If this is granted, it will go to an oral appeal hearing.If permission is not granted on the papers your friend can ask for an oral permission hearing.If refused then that is the end of the matter.If granted the appeal will be heard. If that appeal is refused then that is the end.The appeal form can be found at:http://england.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/58131/N161_Appellants_notice.pdf Please remember to click *** SMILEY FACE *** or above so that I am credited for my time. Thank you. Important: If you feel the need to rate as one of the lower two scores, it counts as negative feedback so please reply to me via the REPLY with any further questions you may have. I will be happy to assist you further.
Experience: Called to the Bar in 2007
I'm just following up with you to see how everything is going. Did my answer help?UK-Justice