Eviction busters

Lisa O’Brien, Harrow

Lisa O’Brien started at Harrow in July 2002. Before that, she had sold advertising space for several TV companies after doing a business studies degree. She lives in Wembley, north-west London.

Success so far In 2003/4, 129 people came for help and 81 cases were closed without the council accepting them as homeless. To build on this, a second officer started in June.

Why did this job appeal? “I’d been made redundant two or three times and I wanted to work in local government because it’s more secure.”

Proudest achievement “A private tenant came to me because she had a possession order. She was getting housing benefit but there was a shortfall in her rent she couldn’t make up. She also said the property was in disrepair – bed bugs, broken furniture and a leaking boiler – and she had paid a deposit and felt the landlady was cheating her.

“She said part of the reason she paid rent late was that she was expected to pay rent every month but received housing benefit payments of less than a month’s rent 13 times a year, and struggled to make up the difference.

“The landlady said the deposit had been used to pay for rent arrears; it turned out a previous joint tenant had authorised her to use the deposit. So I agreed with my manager that the deposit could be paid from our funds.

“I asked the landlady whether she’d keep the tenant if she had regular payments, and she said she would. The tenant said she was happy for benefit payments to go directly to the landlady.

“The landlady agreed to do the repairs if we could get an increase in her rent. We all went round the property and I had to decide what was reasonable: for instance, the tenant wanted new carpets but I thought that was unreasonable because the landlady offered to have them professionally cleaned.

“The rent office put the new rent at more than the landlady had charged previously. This was covered by a new benefit assessment so the tenant and landlady were both happy. The whole process took two months.

“Before my post existed, we only acted once people had a writ from the bailiffs. Tackling the situation when we get the first notice requiring possession gives us up to six months more. If we hadn’t acted, this tenant could have presented as homeless.

“I’m proud of this case because it was a real challenge negotiating between the landlady and tenant – there was ill feeling between them – but I prevented eviction.”

Teresa Hunt, Torbay

Before becoming housing advice (prevention) officer for Torbay council in Devon, Teresa Hunt was a Citizens Advice vounteer in Torbay and Exeter, where she received specialist training in debt and legal advice. She started her current job in January 2003.

Success so far Between April and June this year, Hunt dealt with 143 cases, of which 119 were prevented from becoming homeless. The council is recruiting for two more staff.

Why did this job appeal? “I wanted to move from voluntary to paid work and this involved court work and welfare benefits, things I had done before.”

Proudest achievement “I used to give advice on benefits and debt for Citizens Advice in Exeter. There, every Tuesday the court had possession hearings and there was a duty rota of solicitors and someone from Citizens Advice with legal training to represent people. For possession proceedings, the vast majority of people turn up without solicitors because legal aid often doesn’t cover court representation.

“In Torbay, though, hearings went on any day and there were no duty solicitors. So I suggested a similar system to Exeter’s and they agreed to a six-month trial.

“The other day, a couple turned up at court with a summons for possession for mortgage arrears of about £2000. I had a short time to find out how much they borrowed, how much their instalments were, what the value of the home was and if they’d negotiated anything with the lender.

“It came out that they’d spoken to their building society and it had suggested they pay the arrears back at £250 a month on top of their current monthly payment, in order to suspend a possession order.
“Building societies aren’t supposed to recommend people make such high payments when the length of the loan allows them to pay less over longer. If you get a suspended possession order and then break the terms of that order even for one month, the building society could ask for possession.

“They were planning to scrape it together from her new job, but I said, what if the washing machine breaks, or when interest rates go up? The mortgage had 18 years left, so there was no reason they couldn’t pay it back over that period at £50 a month. I went into court and argued that £250 a month was too much. The judge agreed that £50 was a fair repayment.

“Although I do a range of homelessness prevention work as well, I’m particularly proud of the court system. Setting it up was a challenge but the court has been so pleased with it, they’ve asked me to carry on and have started a duty rota of solicitors to help out as well.”

Sarah Hatt, Kerrier

Kerrier, which is in Cornwall, took on Sarah Hatt in March 2003 on a temporary contract for four months. She then left, to manage doctors’ accommodation for a hospital, but returned in January. She had previously worked for Hastoe Housing Association as a housing officer.

Success so far Hatt has dealt with about 50 successful cases.

Why did this job appeal? “When I relocated here from Greater London, I looked at homelessness and housing advice jobs because I wanted to help people and do something constructive with them.”

Proudest achievement “A family were going to be evicted for arrears. They were private tenants. The home was in a good condition when they moved in but they had done lots of redecoration, and not to a particularly good standard.

“They came to us as soon as the notice had been served. Housing here is in such short supply that they could have been in temporary accommodation for three years.
“I spoke to the landlord at great length and he put his issues in writing: the tenants hadn’t replaced plaster that came off when they removed wallpaper, for example, there was a considerable amount of rubbish in the garden and they had removed a Cornish dry stone wall and replaced it with breeze blocks. Their arrears were £500. The landlord was adamant he wanted them out.

“I set up a meeting of him and the family. It was a bit frosty: the landlord wanted his money and his property in a decent condition and the tenants were stressed.

“The landlord explained that this was an investment for him and he was happy for them to live there if they didn’t destroy it. I said it wasn’t unreasonable to ask for the rubbish to be removed, and pointed out that it could be a danger to their children.

“Once they could see the landlord’s side, and understood they could stay in the property, the tenants agreed to remove the rubbish and re-decorate to the original condition.

“We had four meetings, and the new tenancy wasn’t issued until the agreement was carried out. It took them three weeks to remove all the rubbish in their van, and two months to redecorate.

“They also promised to pay off the rent arrears, although we contributed about 80% of it. This was almost a year ago, and there have been no problems since.

“If we hadn’t intervened, I’m sure the family would have been homeless. It might have been classed as intentional and we would have had to tell social services because there were children involved.”

Maggie Orr, Broxtowe

Maggie Orr joined Broxtowe, in Nottinghamshire, in November 2003. Before taking the job she did a degree in social policy after working in a variety of administrative and customer service jobs.

Success so far Between April and June 2003, there were 56 homelessness decisions; for the same period in 2004, there were 29. Now, the team is expanding: a second homelessness prevention officer started on 4 October.

Why did this job appeal? “My degree looked at issues such as welfare rights and social housing, which I found very interesting. This seemed like something to get your teeth into.”

Proudest achievement “A few months ago I saw a chap who had had a joint council tenancy with his girlfriend. He was under 25 and was becoming increasingly ill with lymphoma, a type of cancer. His girlfriend had asked him to leave and because of his illness, he felt that to go was the easiest thing to do. So he was sleeping on friends’ sofas and having regular chemotherapy at the hospital.
“Had he not been ill, we’d have told him he had as much right as his partner to the tenancy and it would have meant a legal battle. We would have advised him not to make himself voluntarily homeless.

“But I was concerned about his health – he could have been terminally ill and if he was, he shouldn’t have to be worrying about where he was going to live.

“I racked my brains on how to help. It quickly became apparent he didn’t have the energy he needed to search for private properties.

“After a few weeks, he saw a council property that was available near to his mum. I went to the allocations officer in control of the council’s waiting list and explained his situation.

“She came back to me the following day and said she’d consider him for the property; then, about four weeks after first coming to see me, he moved into the flat.

“Only last week this young man came up to me and I didn’t recognise him because he looked so well. All his hair had grown back and he was a picture of health.

“Before my post existed, we could have taken a homelessness application from him and he would have had to go into temporary accommodation – at best, a hostel, at worst a B&B. He could have been there alone, with no cooking facilities, for some weeks.

“I’m proud of this case because I managed to explain to the allocations officer why this situation was unusual.”

Hannah Field, Isle of Wight

Hannah Field started at Isle of Wight council in January 2003. She had previously worked as a housing officer for Isle of Wight Housing Association for five years.

Success so far Between September 2003 and September 2004, 133 people were prevented from presenting as homeless, 60 of them using a rent deposit scheme. Only 66 were not saved from homelessness.

Why did this job appeal? “I’d been in my old job five years and fancied a change. I still wanted to work in housing and this was a new position that seemed exciting.”

Proudest achievement “One woman who was renting privately came in because she’d been served with an eviction notice for rent arrears of £1000. She was a single parent and had gone off work sick with depression, but hadn’t started claiming income support so the housing benefit office hadn’t processed her change and she couldn’t pay the rent. I don’t think she and her landlord were really communicating.

“The day after she came in, I phoned the landlord, explained the situation and asked if he could reconsider the notice if we talked to the tenant. He said he wanted benefit paid to him rather than to the tenant.

“I spoke to the tenant and she agreed to tell the housing benefit office that she wanted payments to be go to the landlord.

“I made sure she knew who to contact and our team liaised with the housing benefit team about the benefit change. We’ve got a housing benefit liaison officer who’s in touch with the benefit team daily and made sure they knew when she went onto income support.

“I drew up a draft repayment agreement for the arrears and the rent not covered by benefit the same day I spoke to the landlord and sent it to him. He wanted weekly payments, but the tenant said she was paid fortnightly, so we agreed that the payments would be fortnightly.

“After three weeks they both signed an agreement that he would not evict her if she made regular payments of £10 a fortnight towards rent and £40 towards arrears. She was sure she could find the money, as she had a son who could help.

“After six months, I checked with the landlord to see if payments had been received, and they had. After a year we got a letter from the landlord to say the arrears had been paid.

“I’m particularly proud of this case because it’s a common problem that the tenant might not have kept to a repayment agreement and the landlord might have just had enough, but we don’t manage to work that kind of thing out very often. I feel like I did something to help.” HT