How do I evict a tenant to regain possession of my property?

March 2, 2022
|In Property, LITIGATION
|By admin

If there are tenants in your property and you need to evict because of rent arrears, nuisance or for personal reasons to move back in to the Property or to sell it. Chan Neill Solicitors are able to assist to regain possession of your property from preparing the relevant notice, and if necessary, issue possession proceedings, provide representation at court and instructing bailiffs.

 

The Procedure of the Eviction Process

Firstly, we will need to know what type of tenancy that you have with your tenant.  In most cases, the tenancy is as assured shorthold tenancies.  We would check whether the tenant is on a fixed term tenancy or periodic (rolling month to month)

 

There is a three stage process to evicting tenants:

 

  • Notice
  • Issue court proceedings to obtain an order for possession
  • Bailiffs

 

1) Which Notice: Section 21 or Section 8 notice?

 

Subject to the type of tenancy that you have with your tenant and the reason you want to evict your tenant will depend upon which notice would be most suitable for your personal circumstances.

 

Whilst these notices are independent of each other and served for separate reasons, they provide the same result- we recover your property back.

 

Section 21 notice

 

Section 21 is a no fault basis whereby you are not compelled to provide reasons for eviction.  A Section 21 notice is usually served when the tenancy is coming to the end of the fixed term or if the fixed term has expired (periodic tenancy).

 

There are a number of requirements that you must comply with first before a valid Section 21 notice can be served on the tenants, these are:

 

  • An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
  • How to Rent Booklet, this guide must be given to a tenant at the start of any new tenancy
  • A Gas Safety Certificate

 

If a deposit was taken, then this must be protected within the requirement period. Failing to protect the deposit on time (within 30 days of receipt) will invalid the Section 21 notice.

 

A Section 21 cannot be served because the tenant has raised any housing disrepair issue.

 

The notice period for a Section 21 is 2 months.

 

Section 8 notice

 

A Section 8 notice is used where the tenant has breached the terms of the tenancy.  The notice must state the grounds that you are seeking possession of the property.  Landlords usually use the Section 8 procedure where a tenant is in rental arrears.

 

The notice period for Section 8 can be between 2 weeks to two months, depending on the terms of the tenancy / grounds.

 

2) Issuing Proceedings to obtain Possession order

 

In the event that the Tenant does not vacate the property after receipt of the notice, the next stage is to issue possession proceedings.

 

We can prepare the possession claim form on your behalf and issue it at the Court.  Depending on which grounds you are seeking possession, we can then determine whether we can apply for possession via the accelerated route or the standard route for you.

 

3) BAILIFFS

 

If we are successful in obtaining an Order for Possession and the tenants still refuses to vacate the property, we can seek recovery of the property for you with the help of bailiffs.

 

Should you wish to discuss any of the matters talked about above or if you wish to look to instruct us, please contact us. Our team speak English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian etc. Our offices are in Mayfair and the city should you wish to see us in person.