Leading Dorset law firm Coles Miller has helped a landlord to regain possession of her house after defeating a difficult tenant’s ‘debt breathing space’ claim.
The landlord wished to evict the tenant from her house, an investment property in Dorset. She served a ‘no fault’ Section 21 notice under the Housing Act 1988.
But the tenant refused to leave the property, claiming that that he was protected by the Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space Moratorium and Mental Health Crisis Moratorium) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020.
The regulations – which came into force on 4 May 2021 – allow an individual to instruct a financial adviser to obtain a 60-day moratorium to prevent any actions on qualifying debts.
During this breathing space, you cannot (with regard to qualifying debts):
- hold a hearing
- make or serve an order or warrant, writ of control, writ of execution or judgment summons
- instruct an enforcement agent to serve an order, warrant, writ of control, writ of execution or judgment summons.
But the moratorium does not prevent a court or tribunal from sending notices or correspondence to a debtor in relation to actions or proceedings that are not subject to the regulations.
Coles Miller Debt Recovery Manager Eric Holt said: “The tenant tried to use the debt breathing space as a way to delay the bailiffs from evicting him – but this did not prevent the Section 21 claim from continuing because it was not related to a debt.”
For more information, contact Debt Recovery Manager Eric Holt at Coles Miller’s Poole office: (01202 673011), eholt@coles-miller.co.uk, www.coles-miller.co.uk