Eviction

 

Eviction

 

Before I start, there are some things I need to tell you. The photos for this initial article were taken using my Samsung Galaxy A35. They might not look exciting, but they are some of the last actions I took when leaving the property. I will not be using any names, the address at the time of the eviction or any companies involved. I do this because the important thing here is the experience we had, which I detail from my own point of view. Please note that nothing in this article should be taken any other way than that of one persons experience, observations and thoughts regarding an extremely difficult situation. This is the story behind those pictures.

At the time this all began, we were a whisker away from having lived in Street for eight years, having moved in on 2^nd July 2018. We had received an email from our letting agent explaining that they needed to return the deposit they held. Initially we could not understand what was happening. Andrea, my wife got the emails and decided to ask why they needed to return the deposit and the reason it needed to be done so urgently.

The reply from the letting agent was that landlords were doing it for all long-term tenants. My wife even had a conversation with the agent about the situation and of ending the tenancy. She was told that there was nothing to worry about. This seemed to allay our fears, and we allowed the return of the deposit, feeling quite good that we finally had a little bit of cash to pay off a few debts and such like. However, we were lulled into a false sense of security and not prepared for what was about to come less than two weeks later.  

It is worth noting here that the UK Government had placed new legislation in place to help protect renters’ rights. This new legislation was due to come into force on 1^st May 2026.

So, fast forward nearly two weeks and it was fast approaching the end of April, the 29^th in fact. It was a Wednesday, and it had been a nice warm day, and we had just finished an afternoon with our community group (The story of that group and what happened during this time is a whole different story, although I may allude to some aspects of that during this story). I had also just had an assessment with the Somerset Talking Therapies service for the stress and depression I had been experiencing.

As we walked through the door, I picked up the post from the doormat. There was nothing special there, except one that had a handwritten address with note, By Hand, written in the corner. These kinds of letters always filled me with anxiety, relating to an incident just after we moved in, receiving a similar letter from our letting agent, but that’s another story. After such a nice day, I was not prepared for what I read after opening the letter. Just two days, in fact it was less than two days, before the Government’s new legislation kicked in, the letter came from a local solicitor and notified us that we were being served with a section 21, otherwise known as a no-fault eviction. Within twenty-four hours we received this eviction notice a total of three times, by hand, normal post and courier.

We were stunned, but it suddenly clicked as to why the letting agent had been so insistent that they return our deposit. So, not only did we now have two months to figure out what to do, but we also had the realisation that our letting agent had probably lied to us as to the reason for returning the deposit. Had the deposit not been returned, at that time, the Section 21 would have then been illegal. So, they must have known only too well the reason for returning it and had chosen to be deceitful instead. That deceit seemed to hurt more than the thought of the eviction. I say this as eviction is something a landlord can do, as owner of the property. However, being deceived by someone, in this case the letting agent, is a personal choice on their part. But, I leave you to make of that situation what you will.

This began the difficult process of contacting the local council, Citizens Advice Bureau and so on in an effort to see what could be done to secure new housing. We knew that the only avenue open to us was Social Housing as we had no money to buy or to private rent as the price of private renting had escalated considerably in the last eight years.

So, we contacted the Council and explained the situation and registered on their homelessness list. We were advised that we would be able to stay in the property beyond the date given in the eviction notice. At which time the landlord would be required to apply to the courts to enforce the eviction.

So, for the next couple of months we continued to live, almost normally, except that we had to apply for houses on Homefinder, but we were so low on the list it seemed almost pointless. We also began to do a little packing and sorting of things, getting rid of that which we decided we could live without or was no longer needed. Probably a good thing too, otherwise it would not have all fitted in the storage unit we would need later.

 The end of those two months came around a lot quicker than we thought, and it was only within a few days of that date that court papers dropped through the door. Now, we were not surprised by this happening as it was expected as part of the process. It is not nice to think that you are now officially considered as homeless. What did upset us was the fact that as part of the documents the solicitor had sent to the court was an email that had been sent to them by the letting agent that accused my wife of verbal abuse against a gas engineer who had been to our house to perform a gas safety test. I will not go into too much detail about this except to say that was not what happened. My wife had simply asked the engineer what we were signing for when we signed on his tablet. She was upset as on the previous visit, a year ago, my wife had signed to say the engineer had been to the property.  When we obtained a copy of that previous document, her signature appeared in a box indicating the document had been received. But my wife had not signed a document to say that, and we had not received that document until after the section 21 as served.

Following all this we then had to find a way of mounting a defence. However, although we went to the Citizens Advice Bureau and they referred us to the local solicitor who deals with these cases, which I think was Law Works, we never received a reply and so were resigned to having to mount our own defence. The only way we were able to do this was to Chat GPT to assist us.

Although we did this ourselves and hand delivered it to the court, we still had to leave and pay the fees for the pleasure of doing so. The only thing in our favour was that we were given the maximum period of time, six weeks to vacate. Just vacating the property cost us in excess of £1000 in court costs and having a deep clean performed on the property. This does not include the cost of storage and moving, which will likely cost in excess of £1000 and that is if only myself, my wife and son do the moving, which we have done so far. It is not easy when two of you suffer from Fibromyalgia.

That brings me to the present day. It is now approaching the end of October, and we have been in the local Travel Lodge for around six weeks now. The old house we were living in is still empty, just as we left it. It is not easy having three adults living together in a single room. We do our best, but it is difficult.

Trying to feed yourselves in this situation is also very difficult and we found out very quickly that you simply cannot eat out for two or three meals a day, it becomes very expensive. Not having your own personal space is very hard too. There are welfare checks from the hotel staff and just yesterday the hotel manager did the “welfare check” and said to me that the side, or desk as he calls it, was a bit messy. My wife challenged him regarding this as we realised how much his comment affected us. When challenged he said it was to do with Health and Safety. He also views the small area we have to be a desk. However, that desk is a storage area and food preparation area, among other things. He has no idea of how it is to live the way we are having to do. Three people trying to live as you would in a three-bedroom house with reduced belongings, little room, no way of cooking a meal, little space to do any kind of food prep and no personal space. Although we do plan to make a complaint. Despite this, we are very grateful that the council have been able to provide this for us, and to the hotel staff who clean and change the bed clothes each week.

The only silver lining here is that as we were packing up to leave our previous home, we were offered a property. However, the keys to that property did not go back to the housing association until 21^st September. We are still waiting to view it but do know that a new bathroom and kitchen will be installed. We also hope that we can move in prior to another month of storage costs needing to be paid. We also have a good friend of mine to thank for reduced storage costs as he works for a storage company and secured us a friends and family discount, for which we are hugely thankful.

So, that is as much as I can write about the situation to date. It is a very difficult situation, especially so with what we have going on in the background, some of which I am unable to talk about and some of which will be a story for another time.

I hope you have found this to be informative in some way. It is probably quite an abridged version of events as there are many details I could expand on and be a lot more open and frank about our treatment by the letting agent. But I think it is best for me to leave it there and move onto more interesting and, hopefully, uplifting stories.

Till next time I want to leave you with this inspirational Quote:

Don’t be afraid to start over,

It’s a new chance to Create what you want.

And enjoy what you deserve.

 

 

 

This document, in its entirety, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced in any way without prior written permission of the author. © Behind The Picture 2026