Legal eviction?

At the minute we do tend to advise our clients that tenants who are waiting for council accommodation will need to be taken to court as it will need to go through the bailiffs before the council is likely to rehouse them

We normally suggest a court waiting time is about 12 weeks and bailiffs on average are around 6 or 8 weeks depending on where about in the country you are

Send me a message if you are in need of any help with this

I have had a couple of experiences with this and Georgia is absolutely correct. No matter what the council say they have no interest or urgency in rehoming a tenant until it is absolutely their problem.
If you can serve a section 8 I would do so immediately. The council will probably come back to you and say that you need to fill their forms in. I found myself bouncing around and being delayed until I stood my ground and pointed out the section 8 notice was nothing to do with the council and was in fact a legal document between myself and the tenant. At this point I made it very clear that as a professional landlord all costs / arrears / damages would be pursued resulting in a CCJ if payment wasn’t made.
The CCJ is a great tool in this situation as councils realise that person is then potentially a long term problem for them.
Once you make it clear to a council that you won’t play their games and you are serious then it will happen quite quickly.
Just to add some balance to this comment so I don’t sound like a heartless “slumlord”.
The property in question was due to be sold, I actually pushed the sale back by 2 months for the council to sort him out so he wouldn’t be homeless.
They off course did nothing, then when it got to the eleventh hour they offered him an atrocious hotel room for a week while they sorted a property out for him. Attic room in an old hotel, middle of the heatwave with no air conditioning for him and his young son.
I then paid for a travel lodge for him for the week to get him somewhere clean and air conditioned to sleep.
I ended up being out of pocket and of course no thanks from anybody including the tenant, but I can sleep at night.

Unless the tenant is a special needs/urgent case for rehousing let them know that you will not give them a good reference for housing dept. And that they will likely spend a minimum of 2 years in temporary housing/hostel/hotel before even a glance at council/HA property. Tell them to speak to council and ask how long they will have to wait to be rehomed after the baliffs turn up, and what is provided for emergency housing. Remind them that they are still obligated to pay rent until the day they move out and you will chase them for this (plus interest and court costs) for the next 6 years, plus any damages not covered by deposit. Remind them that that if they fail to remove themselves on the court appointed date, they will have to pay the costs for the possession order, baliffs fees and your solictors fees, which, if they refuse to pay, will end up with them having a CCJ which will affect their ability to rent again in the PRS while they sit in their mouldy hostel waiting years for a council flat.
Give them a good dose of reality…its amazing what this can achieve.

Reply to the comment left by Raz at 08/02/2023 – 12:18
In my experience, the main thing is to act quickly by issuing notices to tenants as soon as the conditions are met. You can always withdraw a notice, but if you haven’t issued it, you can’t take legal action. Obviously make sure you are compliant with right to rent leaflets, EPA, EICR, deposit and gas certificate requirements or you won’t be able to take legal action.

My top tip is, when you apply for the eviction order, ask for permission to take it to the high court. That means you can use private bailiffs and they are very fast. As others have said, I too have found that councils advise tenants to ignore court eviction orders and to stay until the bailiffs make them leave.

Depends on where the property is.
My local court is taking 6 weeks from application for a Possession Order and that is with a hearing in front of a judge!
Application for Bailiffs Order is taking 1 week.

Ring your local court.

If the property was/is to be your main residence, and only asking, why did you not serve a s8 ground 1 as this a mandatory ground for possession?

Reply to the comment left by Judith Wordsworth at 08/02/2023 – 13:17
Ground one can only be used if the property was previously her main residence and is only a mandatory ground if notice of its potential use was given prior to commencement of the tenancy, otherwise it is dependant on the court considering it to be just and equitable to dispense with the requirement for prior notice.

I agree that its use should be considered if those requirements are met.

A S21 is NOTICE to quit only – tenant does not have to comply.

Then need to seek possession order from court.

Tenant still does not need to comply with possession order – if they don’t bailiffs need to be instructed.

Sorry to hear that Kristy, some tenants are horrible nowadays, it happened to me too. Never trust any words they say, or even in writing. Just look for an eviction company/S21, S8 expert/ solicitor to handle the case. Keep all the invoices and think about CCJ / MCOL later on. I wish there is an underground bad tenant list, so all the LL can be aware. Good luck!

Reply to the comment left by JW at 08/02/2023 – 20:12
There is a bad tenant list – very visible.

Called CCJ

Reply to the comment left by Judith Wordsworth at 08/02/2023 – 13:17
Thanks Judith
The property was once my main residence but the tenant had not been given specific prior notice of this . She has been served a section 8 as part of the accelerated possession proceedure, I just wondered what the time scales are like as the agent is very vague on how long it might take.