Eviction Process in Brief

Eviction Process in Brief

14:48 PM, 29th May 2017, About 7 years ago 17

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For most landlords evicting a tenant is a daunting experience, the whole process leaves landlords often confused and baffled by the process.

Gone are the days when landlords could simply write a letter giving the date that they require the property, however most landlords still make this mistake.

In accordance with the Housing Act 2004 landlords will need to serve the tenant with 2 months written notice namely a Section 21 under mandatory grounds.

If the tenant is in 8 weeks or more rent arrears or displays anti social behaviour the landlord can serve notice with a Section 8 under discretionary grounds, the notice period that should be given to the tenant is 14 days.

A section 21 is used when you want to evict a tenant either at the end of the fixed term or when using a break clause to regain possession of your property, to serve a Section 21 notice you do not to give grounds for ending the tenancy agreement.

If your property is being rented under an Assured Shorthold Tenancy and you are a landlord trying to regain possession of your property it is necessary to serve a Section 21 notice.

Under the Deregulation Act 2015 a Section 21 notice only has a lifespan of 6 months and can not be served before 4 months of the tenancy has elapsed.

When the section 21 expires in the event the tenant does not vacate you can apply to the Courts for an Accelerated Possession Procedure, meaning most cases are dealt without the need of a court hearing, this costs £355.00 (Court fee)

The Court will then write to the tenant (defendant) giving them 14 days to defend the proceedings, depending on the tenants defence for example the defendant did not agree with the dates on the notice, or the landlord did not have a licence.

If a hearing is requested both sides are given the opportunity to put the case forward in front of the judge, at this point the judge will determine whether possession should be granted.

If the Court award you possession they will write to the tenant and provide them with a vacation date, if this date elapses and the tenant still does not vacate you will have to appoint Court bailiff, this at a cost of £121.00 (Court fee)

If you have any questions regarding this process, please feel free to contact a member of our helpful team.

I hope this information has been useful.

Contact Sherrelle for offline Universal Credit advice

Sherrelle is an independent consultant and is recommended by Property118 for landlords who require professional advice and assistance in regards to dealing with Universal credit related matters


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Comments

Sarah Quinlan

12:47 PM, 31st May 2017, About 7 years ago

Hi there
Thanks for this. I've started the trace process with http://www.dcbltd.com. Just to clarify, I got a county court judgment against the tenant for rent arrears and costs on 16/11/15 as well as possession, but are you saying I have to go through the county court process again, or can I now go to enforcement of the £ claim? I had to enforce the possession claim with (High Court) bailiffs, but they let him walk out with all his goods which I thought was madness at the time but nothing I could do.

Mandy Thomson

13:28 PM, 31st May 2017, About 7 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Sarah Quinlan" at "31/05/2017 - 12:47":

I was assuming you hadn't yet won a judgement. The next stage then is to enforce your order. If necessary the debtor can be summoned to declare his/her income and assets in court under oath, then there are several methods to recover the debt, including attachment of earnings (where installments are paid at source from the debtor's wages) or seizure of goods. Details of how to do this can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/enforce-a-judgment

CARIDON LANDLORD SOLUTIONS

13:48 PM, 31st May 2017, About 7 years ago

Thank you Mandy for your input.
I agree with Mandy once you have a Judgement the next step is to enforce the order you may be able to apply for attachments of earnings.

Sarah Quinlan

14:40 PM, 31st May 2017, About 7 years ago

Great, thanks for your advice both. The blighter is/was self employed (though he received regular work from his Co) so i think an attachment of earnings won't work - as I understand it the courts don't like to give an attachment when income is potentially variable? The guy is getting away with murder - he left his wife with 2 young kids after some domestic violence (I found out about that much later) and avoids his responsibilities despite being well paid (I saw his bank statements before he moved in). Mighty irritating

Jan Martin

14:56 PM, 31st May 2017, About 7 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Sarah Quinlan" at "31/05/2017 - 14:40":

Sorry to hear that your ex tenant is self employed as this does make it very difficult to get an attachment of earnings. Many landlords avoid renting to self employed because of this difficulty. Another way to deal with self employment is a really good checked out guarantor or better still a good size deposit .
But to sort out your present situation . When you get the trace results send the team in as there may be a nice car to be had or the debtor may even pay up . You never know .

CARIDON LANDLORD SOLUTIONS

14:57 PM, 31st May 2017, About 7 years ago

Dear Sarah,

Please feel free to give our office a call if you need further advice.

Chris @ Possession Friend

22:37 PM, 2nd June 2017, About 7 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Sherrelle Collman" at "30/05/2017 - 15:36":

Section 41 of the De-Reg Act says ;
Sections 30 - 40 DON'T Apply in Wales.

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