A couple were forced to wait longer than necessary for an unwanted tenant to leave their property.
What happened
Mr and Mrs S took their tenant to court because they failed to pay rent. A judge ordered the tenant to leave the property by a specified date or face formal eviction. The judge also ordered the tenant to pay the outstanding rent. Unfortunately, HMCTS issued an incorrect court order that suggested that the tenant could remain in the property if he made arrangements to pay the outstanding rent. Although Mr and Mrs S successfully challenged the incorrect court order, the time taken to do so meant that the tenant stayed in the couple's property for longer than should have been necessary.
What we found
HMCTS's error in issuing the incorrect court order caused stress and inconvenience to Mr and Mrs S. Furthermore, at first HMCTS did not handle the couple's complaint about what had happened properly. However, by the time the complaint came to us, HMCTS had acknowledged its mistakes and apologised to Mr and Mrs S. HMCTS had also paid the couple about £750 for the stress and inconvenience they had suffered.
Because we were satisfied that HMCTS had taken reasonable steps to put right the mistake it had made, we did not uphold Mr and Mrs S's complaint.
HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS)
UK
Did not apologise properly or do enough to put things right
Not applicable