What it means when you serve an eviction notice
The life of a landlord is not just collecting the rent at the end of every month with no problems. Sometimes you can run into difficulties with your tenants that are unresolvable and you are faced with having to serve them an eviction notice. There are many rules that you must follow as a landlord to avoid being accused of an illegal eviction or harassment. The last thing you want is to step out of line and have to deal with a legal battle. Let us help you reclaim your property within the rules of the law.
There are some very strict procedures you need to follow if you want to evict your tenants from your property and it can heavily depend on the type of tenancy agreement you have signed. If your tenants owe you rent you can make a possessions claim online and take court action to repossess a property. You need a Government Gateway ID and you can submit a report online. You will need to pay £100 for the court fee. For more info visit this website.
There are a series of procedures you have to go through before tenants will be removed from your home and it is important you follow the rules. You cannot just expect your tenants to leave immediately and the steps you need to take are based on the type of contract you have with your tenants:
Assured Shorthold Tenancies (ASTs)
An AST is a periodic tenancy that usually runs on a week-by-week basis or a month-by-month basis with no fixed end date.
You need to issue them with a ‘notice to quit’ first and if your tenants don’t leave by the date on this notice then you follow up with a ‘notice of intention to seek possession’. This second notice notifies your tenants that you will take them to court if they don’t leave.
If your tenants still refuse to leave then you need to apply to the court for a possession order that allows you to take possession of the property. If your tenants still don’t leave with the possession order you can apply for a warrant for eviction. The bailiffs can then remove your tenants from your property.
A fixed-term AST
If you have entered into a fixed-term AST then you need to give your tenants notice of their eviction first. If they refuse to leave after you issue them with an eviction notice then you follow the same procedure above for an AST.
Excluded Tenancies or Licenses
An excluded tenancy or license is when you have a lodger living in your home, with whom you share rooms. This type of tenant has less protection from eviction than other tenants.
You only need to give this type of tenant a reasonable notice to quit which basically means the length of the rental payment period. So if you rent the room to them on a weekly basis, they have a week to leave your home. You do not need to give them a written notice to quit and after the reasonable period has passed you can change the locks. You must return their possessions, however, to stay within the eyes of the law. If you don’t follow this protocol, you council can take actions against you.
Other types of tenancies:
If your tenancy began before February 27, 1997 then you may be apart of an assured or regulated tenancy. These tenants have a lot of protection from eviction and you will have to follow different rules for their eviction. You can find more information here.
Going through court proceedings for an eviction can be a stressful experience and your fate is very much in the hands of the judge. If you have not followed through on any of the above rules, you can risk the judge allowing your tenants to stay in your home. You will have to start the whole process from scratch if you do this.
Have you ever had to deal with evicting a tenants/tenants? What was your experience like? Was it a long, drawn out process?
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