Saturday, June 27, 2020

Declan is still waiting for a response from Peabody to his Stage One complaint. I cannot resume a volunteer position I held in the community for four years in a destabilised tenancy under the threat to life of a 'no fault' Section 21 eviction notice

DAY 42 IN A WEEKLY PERIODIC TENANCY
SUBJECT TO A 'NO FAULT' SECTION 21 NOTICE
MAYOR OF LONDON RSI PROPERTY

14/04/20

With the background as provided above, the Heaveys now are facing an eviction notice from their landlord, Peabody Trust housing association. The tenancy is a flat, which falls under the Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative. Pardoning my intrusion into English law, but in fairness there does not appear to be any reason for the eviction, relying apparently entirely on the discretion of the landlord.

Joseph R. Carvalko, Esq., American lawyer (full letter here)

Our Church and State website has no less than 59 Nobel Laureates on it despite the never-ending assault on our email; see paragraph 2 under "Church and State" on this blog's sidebar (updated today).
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The Mayor of London is Sadiq Khan. We live in one of the Mayor's Rough Sleepers Initiative (RSI) designated properties and have no legal protection against a 'no fault' Section 21 eviction notice so long as we do not sign the appalling new fixed-term tenancy offered. Unless or until we sign a new fixed-term tenancy, our tenancy continues on a weekly periodic basis.



The Central London County Court is based at the Royal Courts of Justice. The hearing of the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's application to have Declan's claim struck out before Senior Circuit Judge Marc Dight CBE has been adjourned to a date to be fixed.

Claimant: Declan Heavey
Defendant: St Mungo's

What the issue in these court proceedings boils down to is whether the court will decide that Declan and I should live in a destabilised tenancy that inhibits our ability to exercise our rights and poses a threat to his life, simply because the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's Tenancy Sustainment Team in North London (TST North) will not even take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of theirs. The court must surely find that this is not proportionate and lawful.

3 April: Declan's claim against the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's before Senior Circuit Judge Marc Dight CBE has been adjourned to a date to be fixed. St Mungo's TST is still unwilling to even take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of theirs (WITH UPDATE 08/06/20)

On 15 June Declan submitted a stage one complaint to our landlord, Peabody, about their appalling new terms of tenancy without prejudice to any future court proceedings.* We are currently living in a weekly periodic tenancy under the threat to life of a 'no fault' Section 21 eviction notice. This has destabilised our tenancy and inhibits our ability to exercise our rights. For example, I cannot resume a volunteer position I held in the community for four years. Declan is also forced to maintain a suspension on his voluntary work in the community. Paragraph 4 reads:

"There is too much pressure and uncertainty for us to be even able to volunteer in the community. In addition to holding down two part-time jobs, we are battling St Mungo's (in court) and Peabody to stabilise our tenancy under the threat to life of a 'no fault' Section 21 eviction notice. Last week I had to deal with both Newham Benefits Service and Peabody because our weekly rent transactions have not been appearing in your customers' portal since 18 May (the day after our fixed-term tenancy ended). This level of pressure and uncertainty is not only unfair to us, but also is unfair to the community centre my wife has been volunteering in since June 2016."

A few hours after Declan submitted his complaint to Peabody, I discovered that there were no weekly transactions showing on our rent account since 26 August 2019. It had been since 18 May of this year. I then thought that this problem had been resolved on 19 June (one month and one day later), but I have subsequently filed a screenshot showing that last Monday's rent debit only appeared on the account on Thursday (three days later). Only on 24 June did Newham Benefits Service provide Declan with a notification decision letter concerning a new decision on his housing benefit which came into effect three weeks previous to the day. Declan sent them a reminder about this on 11 June. We couldn't have imagined this start to our periodic tenancy and remain braced for what's next. This email from Peabody was about the problems with our rent transactions which Declan had just been informed were due to an ongoing technical issue with their customers' portal:

On Fri, 12 Jun 2020 at 11:07, CEO & MPCouncillor Enquiries wrote:
Good Morning

Thank you for your emails sent today, 12th June to Brendan, our CEO. I appreciate you also letting us know that your query has been answered by our Customer Hub Team.

I will make a note of your contact with us, but I will not be passing it on to be addressed further as you have received this response.

Yours Sincerely

Chelsey Smith | sent on behalf of CEO | Brendan Sarsfield

12 June: Threat to life: What are the chances that Peabody will serve us a 'no fault' Section 21 eviction notice sooner rather than later? We have had no weekly rent transactions showing since the day after our fixed-term tenancy ended on 17 May due to an ongoing technical issue with their customers' portal.

On Tuesday, the legal representative for St Mungo's seriously threatened Declan with bankruptcy. In my previous blog post, I reveal that St Mungo's outrageously want us to pay £3,407.50 in legal fees that they have clocked up before their application hearing date has even been fixed. In their application for strike out, they don't explain why they are not willing to vouch over the phone that we are clients of the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's Tenancy Sustainment Team in North London (TST North). In fact, they have managed to clock up these exorbitant legal fees without even mentioning this phone call in their application. This is the email from the legal representative for St Mungo's that menacingly threatened Declan with bankruptcy (link added):

On Tue, 23 Jun 2020 at 14:40, Nick McKnight wrote:
Dear Sir

I hereby attach, by way of service, my client's costs statement in this matter.

Yours faithfully

Nick McKnight
Partner
Batchelors Solicitors

24 June: The Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's has never provided the Court or Declan with an explanation for why they will not vouch over the phone that we are clients of theirs. But they outrageously want us to pay over £3,000 in legal fees that they have clocked up before their application hearing date has even been fixed

_____________________________

* Declan's Stage 1 complaint against Peabody was referred straight to CEO Brendan Sarfield's personal communications team. It was the same Chelsey Smith above that informed him on 18 June that his complaint would be responded to within 10 working days of his complaint or his case officer (Sonia Palfrey) would advise him when he could expect to receive a reply. Yesterday was working day 10 and he has heard nothing back from anyone at all about this complaint.

Last month Declan prepared his pleadings against Peabody for filing with the court without further notice. In our current weekly periodic tenancy, we are making a calculated decision on a daily basis as to whether or not Declan will file these pleadings on the day.

Claimant: Declan Heavey
Defendant: Peabody

Brief details of claim

Since 17 May 2014, the Claimant has been living in a Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative (RSI) property that is owned by the Defendant. The Defendant has twice renewed the Claimant's tenancy like for like as requested. On 27 April 2020, the Defendant asserted in relation to the third renewal of the tenancy on 17 May 2020 that "the terms are the same and a like for like as requested". The Defendant further affirmed on 27 May 2020 that it will not be making any substantive changes to the tenancy on offer. The Claimant avers that the tenancy offered is not remotely a like-for-like agreement. He further contends that the Defendant's insistence that it has offered a tenancy "like for like as requested" confers an obligation on it to produce such a document. Instead, the Defendant has falsely accused the Claimant of not signing a like-for-like agreement. The Defendant's reply to the Claimant's pre-action letter dated 4 May 2020 is in effect a reiteration of its former and current position. Consequently, the Claimant has no legal protection from a 'no fault' eviction in a weekly periodic tenancy. This has destabilised his tenancy, inhibits his and his wife's ability to exercise their rights, and poses a threat to his life. The Claimant therefore makes an application to the court for a declaration that the Defendant has acted unlawfully and in dereliction of its duty. The Claimant seeks damages for distress and costs.

29 May: Threat to life: Declan has beefed up these full pleadings against Peabody to make clear that their conduct has destabilised our tenancy, inhibits our ability to exercise our rights, and poses a threat to his life. We are in a flat that falls under the Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative (WITH UPDATE 08/06/20)
Comparative screenshots

27/04/20

I can confirm the terms are the same and a like for like as requested and there is an agreed decision by Peabody, TST Mongo’s [sic] and Clearing House about the ongoing tenancy.

From Peabody Care & Support services

Peabody continues to insist that we have been offered like-for-like terms. Really? Their new clause 24 from section D, by no means our only concern, could force any RSI tenant into declaring bankruptcy in any number of scenarios.

Our existing tenancy specifies one month's notice or four weeks' rent when we want to end the tenancy:

The tenancy on offer states that if we do not give Peabody one month's notice before we want to move out, or they do not explicitly accept a surrender of our tenancy in writing after we have given them a month's notice, we will remain liable for rent and service charges until the end of the fixed term:


Like for like? More comparative screenshots:

3 May: Peabody: The appalling terms of tenancy on offer. Today Declan is working on a pre-action letter to Peabody CEO Brendan Sarsfield under the Human Rights Act 1998 (WITH UPDATE 08/06/20)

Who can say that Declan does not have opposition?

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Headquarters in Gogarburn. The RBS owns National Westminster Bank (NatWest).


Declan currently has the Royal Bank of Scotland (along with NatWest Bank) before the Financial Ombudsman for the cancellation of a standing order on the Network for Church Monitoring business account without his knowledge or consent. And this after he received £100 compensation from the RBS in recognition of his time, travel costs and inconvenience in setting up this and another standing order on 12 February. He has been waiting since 25 February for NatWest to confirm who subsequently cancelled the standing order and why his salary wasn't paid. His salary continues to be paid online by quick transfer from the business account to his personal account.

15 May: Royal Bank of Scotland: Despite his earlier dealings with the RBS Executive Response Team, Declan has been waiting almost three months to learn from Natwest Bank who cancelled a standing order on the Network for Church Monitoring business account without his knowledge or consent (Financial Ombudsman case ref. PNX-3576860-D6B8)



From My Picks

14/08/19

I have looked at the long correspondence regarding your tenancy and clearly you have made a powerful case for the unconscionable behavior of the agency in control of your tenancy.

Donald A. Collins
Founder, International Services Assistance Fund


Declan taught PE in Glenstal Abbey, one of Ireland's top schools.

2 June: In the Matter of: Mr. and Mrs. Declan Heavey. Declan receives a character reference from America for the court and this blog that completely and utterly discredits the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's smear documentation against him in particular. We are in a flat that falls under the Mayor's Rough Sleepers Initiative

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at 9:14 am