Eviction advice and recommendations?

Having been thru the process recently it is likely your tenant will ignore this. You need to ensure the notice is served by hand, email and recorded delivery. You need to ensure that you supply all the legal compliance documentation and that this is up to date and check that the deposit has been correctly set up. Dont try to offer financial inducement to leave. My tenant produced false medical reasons for not leaving on the due date – so be aware that tenants will try every which way to stay. Really you must make sure all the legal and compliance documentation is spot on and unfortunately whilst its frustrating you have to go with the time frame. If the tenancy is 6 months rolling it will be a shorter period if they have signed up to a 1 year contract it will be longer!

Reply to the comment left by Jill Lucas at 28/11/2022 – 12:57
Make sure the epc is in date and you have supplied the deposit information. I have got one from the last lockdown, claims mental health, but can keep the kids but not pay rent. Council payed arrears if she could stay 6mths now wont move out. Section 21 not worth it, you feel like stop morgage payments to see how quick

They could got her out.

Go to Court to evict, but your paperwork must be completely accurate with no errors. It costs £355. You need to make 3 copies of all your paperwork, 1 for the court, 1 for the tenant and 1 for you. Triple check all your dates and I hope you have proof of posting of the Sectio 21. Last time I did this it took about 4 to 6 weeks for the judge to order the eviction. If he still does not go, you will need to arrange bailiffs which is an extra £120 I think and this will take a further 4 to 6 weeks, but could be sooner depending on where you live. The judge will order the tenant to pay your costs.

You can do all this yourself, but get someone to check your Court application to make sure it is all in order. I have done this myself several times and been successful every time.

I achieved a rent arrears eviction in July 2021, but it took 16 months. The tenant did not communicate and used various tricks and delaying tactics. You can’t speed up the process, but you can ensure you get it right, by using a specialist. I used The Landlord Group (Julian Meek), and can recommend them highly.

I used Legal for Landlords and they were very good. A friend is currently using Landlord Action and finding them to be hard to get hold of.

Surely your solicitor could help with this. I hope they’re a housing specialist and not just a jack of all trades.

I have historically prepared my own court applications, whether S8’s or S21’s and have always double checked and taken every effort to ensure that the applications are totally correct. However, because of the somewhat irrational nature of the Tenants in this given case I decided to use an eviction “specialists” – Landlord Action who’s tag line is “Speed and Accuracy” and, despite there being a considerable debt decided to opt for the accelerated no fault S21 route.
The original S21 was issued early October while I was out of the country for a period of time, however on my return I requested and was provided with a copy of that document and noticed the Tenants names had a spelling mistake, I contacted the person allocated to my case at LA and was informed a replacement would be issued. A replacement S21 was issued late October, however, on Tuesday this week I noticed a statement in the S21 that left the date on which the formal legal action could commence could be 6 months and not 2 months from the serving of the notice. I immediately tried to contact the allocated person at LA and, finally heard back yesterday. It would appear that, once again this is an error on their part.
I fully realise and accept that we all make mistakes, however, it would appear that they either don’t have any processes in place to check documentation being sent out or are failing to even self check the documentation being issued.
Whilst we have discussed the potential way forward, it is far from ideal given that we now also have to “get up and running” with the new Welsh Renting Homes legislation.
I have to state that I now have very little faith in LA and the services they provide. I only hope that they will now ensure that they issue paperwork that is free from errors and that it is in full compliance with the new Welsh legislation.
I cannot help but think, that had I – as has been the norm to date – pursued this action myself, I would now be preparing the documentation as relative for the court instead of being totally frustrated by what is now a charade.

Unfortunately the level of competence that now exists in the UK has sunk so much that the old saying applies now more than ever…If you want something doing do it yourself.