How do you evict a tenant in £3,000 rent arrears?

I would use an eviction specialist. Section 21 if it’s available or Section 8 if it is not.

Given the potential risk that S21 could be abolished before you get to Court, Section 8 might be the wiser choice.

X2, eviction specialist

I would 100% use an eviction specialist to avoid any further issues or unnecessary stress for you. As you have found out the hard way, even a minor error in your paperwork will work against you.

I feel your pain. We have had a tenant in our property not paying any rent for almost a year now. We used an eviction expert which has cost us fifteen hundred pounds but the money we paid them did not stretch as far as getting the bailiffs sorted which we are having to do ourselves. We are now awaiting the bailiffs, this is exactly what the tenant wants as Birmingham city council has told her to stay put until she is literally turfed out. We have found absolutely no proper concise instructions on a government site to help a layperson handle any of this themselves. We are in our seventies and will be glad to get out of the PRS. We pay for membership to the NRLA and we think they should use our membership money to challenge the councils who give this advice to these rogue tenants not to leave until the bailiffs get them out because I’m sure it is not government directive.

I’m sorry to say that if you’re “not too good with complex issues”, you should get out of the landlord game. Its full of complexity and the tenant can see that you dont fully understand what you’re doing and is exploiting it.

If you have already have a court possession order, why did you try to get another one instead of just applying for a warrant and bailiffs? They’re valid for 6 years.

As has been said, use an eviction specialist.

Mohammed,

Sorry to hear your story.
You have a possession order already you said. Apply to the Bailiffs of the court for a “Warrant of Possession” (Form N325). It’s quite a simple form to fill out, but best get an eviction specialist to do it for you.
Depending on where you live, you will get a date some weeks from now of when the bailiffs can enter the property and get possession.

Mohammed, we can help ;
[email protected]

The courts are painfully slow and everything takes so long. The form N325 for Warrant of Possession is taking up to twenty weeks to action. God knows what it’s going to be like once Section 21 has been abolished.

Is the tenant still paying the original rent?

If so, the shortfall between the old (£600) and the new (£900) ie the £300 has to equal a minimum of 2 months arrears ie £1,800 which the £3,000 obviously does.
Serve a s21 AND a s8 citing ALL the applicable Grounds of the 17 listed.

Have they challenged the rent increase via Rent Tribunal? If so then in England you generally cannot evict a tenant without following the proper legal procedures.

Mohammed,

Don’t try and deal with this yourself. There are professional scammers out there, plus, tenants get free legal advice, and help to ‘stay put’ and the council will tell them to stay put. Don’t try and fight this yourself… get in help, use an evicition specialist. Put the costs down on your tax form as a legitimate business expense (legal fees).

I have a friend who put out an ad and got over 100 applicants. He chose the wrong one, and had 10 months of no rent and he took her to court. She left suddenly on her own so he’s cancelling the court, but he’s out of pocket by thousands too. The difference is his tenant is a professional scammer. He found out she’s done it before at least twice… in your case… your tenants sound like they’re not about to go anywhere as they know ‘their rights’… so you can’t afford to put a single dot wrong. Get a professional. Get the paperwork done properly and good luck.