I can’t give advice on people’s specific problems on this blog, I’m afraid. Your situation is not straightforward. I strongly suggest that you contact a specialist housing solicitor - try the link at the top right of this site if you are entitled to legal aid (you can check if you are at that link).

However, I will say this. If the rent account is in credit, your landlord cannot evict you by relying on the suspended possession order for rent arrears. So they cannot ‘kick you out on a seconds notice’ for that reason. (There may be other issues involved. I can’t tell from what you say). There is legislation under way at the moment that may change your situation in the next year.

I would be very, very surprised if a CAB had actually told you to withhold rent. If they did, it was very bad advice indeed. If they were going to give you this bad advice, they should in any case have told you to save up the unpaid rent so you could pay it when needed.

I can’t tell whether you actually would have had a disrepair counterclaim to the possession claim - without more details on what the repair problems were, I don’t know whether you would have had grounds.

Again, I strongly suggest you get advice from a housing specialist solicitor, who can look at all the relevant documents.

I also can’t advise because you haven’t given me enough information or the right kind of information.

I strongly recommend that you contact a legal aid housing solicitor or advice centre, because this is a complex area, not straightforward at all. Call the Community Legal Service on 0845 345 4345 for advice and contact details for solicitors in your area - or use the link to the CLS at the top right of my blog.

However, I can make some general comments. First, a tolerated trespasser is a Council or Housing Association tenant who had a suspended possession order made against them and either didn’t keep to the terms of the order or, if the order was made between 2001 and mid 2006, just because the order was made, even if the tenant followed the payments set out in the order exactly. The tenant becomes a tolerated trespasser from the date of possession in the Court order, regardless of whether anyone realised it at the time.

Being a tolerated trespasser means the tenancy has ended. However, if the landlord moves to evict the ex-tenant, the tenant can usually apply to the court to have the eviction suspended.

The tenant can also apply to the court to make changes to the original possession order to revive the tenancy as if it hadn’t ended. When and how this can be done is complicated - you need advice from a solicitor, but it is easiest if it is done before all the rent arrears and the court costs are paid.

Being a tolerated trespasser means that most of the rights of a tenancy do not exist - for repairs, for transfers, right to buy and so on. So it is important. It also means the landlord can get a warrant of eviction without having to go through a claim for possession and a court hearing first.

You suggest ‘not paying’. You need to be aware that if your fiancee and her household, including you, are evicted because of unpaid rent, arrears or court costs from the possession order, she (and possibly you) will probably be classed as ‘intentionally homeless’ by the council and they will very likely NOT rehouse the household.

Again, from what I can make out of your situation, it is very important that you get full advice from a housing solicitor or an advice centre with specialist housing advisors. This is a complicated and changing area of law, and it is very easy to end up in a worse position by trying to do the right thing, if you don’t get advice.