How To Evict Your UK Tenants!? No Fights, No Loses!

by Bob N. Manager

If you are a new landlord, I can bet that sooner or later you will have to evict a tenant out. We all don't want to do it, and we all don't want to be treated that way! However, business is business, and if you are not winning from that property it is not worth it!

In order to remove your tenants correctly first you have to be sure of the reason why you want them out.

Why Do You Want Them Out

They owe you rent – You can follow a standard procedure for eviction, or use an even smarter way to get your rent. “Managed Payments”, but your tenant must be using “Universal Credit” or “Housing Benefit”. You can then demand the payments to be made directly to you.

If you don't have any payments to be done in your favor you can kick them out with “accelerated possession order”. In some cases, if the paperwork is not filled right, there may be a court hearing. This rarely happens, and even after the hearing, your possession order will probably be issued. If your tenants are in a difficult position, the court may give them extra time to leave (6 months).

Bare in mind that if you do not follow the correct procedure you could find yourself guilty of harassing or illegally evicting your tenants. And that is a NO NO! For instance, if you are located in Northen Ireland you have to follow a different path.

They broke some agreed upon rules – In that case you can consider handing tham a Section 8 notice.

Assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs)

Could be two types:

-Periodic – They don't have an end of term date. Those agreements renew themselves every week or every month, according the period on which you collect the rent.

-Fixed-term tenancies – These run for a set amount of time, one year, two years, etc.

Most contracts between tenants and landlords are following ASTs and it is better to do things like that. It can save you a lot of headbanging afterwards.

In that case you can remove your tenants by handing them a Section 21 or Section 8 notice.

The idea is that if your fixed period has ended you can simply want possession of the property back, and that is done with Section 21. However, if the agreed period has not yet passed, but your tenants have broken the rules that you agreed upon, you can hand them a Section 8 notice.

There are ,of course, some things you have to keep in mind. In order for you to properly implement Section 21, your tenants deposit must be protected under the deposit protection scheme, and you have to give them minimum two months of time to move out. That is two months after the initial period that you agreed upon. You can also write a notice that is covering the agreed period. For instance, if your agreed period has three months left you can write a notice that matches the end of that period.

How to give your tenants that notice for Section 21

If your tenants moved in after 1^st of October 2015 you have to fill in this form. If that is not your case you can write a notice yourself. You just have to explain that you are resting your reasons on Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988.

After you give your tenants that notice you have to be able to prove that! You can fill in one more form that could be found here or just write “Served by (your name) on (date)” right on your notice.

There is a third way. If you don't even want to see your tenants or you are simply not capable of going there, you can send someone to give the notice. There are businesses providing that service and they even give you a certification that you can use in court.

If your tenants refuse to move out of your property after the notice, things get a bit complicated... You can then use the accelerated possession procedure. You would need to fill in a form, and post it with your tenancy agreement to the court. You will also have to pay 355 pounds. Sad, right?

If your tenants still doesn't want to leave, you will have to bring out the big guns. Request a bailiff to evict them, filling this form.

Giving them Section 8 Notice

Keep in mind that you can do that if your tenants broke a rule agreed upon in your first arrangements. You would have to fill in a form and specify the rule that your tenants broke. They will have a period between two weeks and two months to leave your property. If they don't do that, you will have the right to apply for a possession order in court.

Standard Possession Orders

If your tenants are constantly a bit behind with the rent. You can use this service to file possession claims online. It will cost you 325 pounds! Keep in mind that this is an option only if you live in Wales or England. Otherwise, you will have to file the order in person.

Almost a Full Time Job

This entire procedure could take away a lot of your free time, not to mention some court expenses (the judge can make your tenants pay the court in some cases). It is truly unpleasant to evict people out of your premises, but you are giving the property for rent. It is a business after all. And if you are not winning anything out of your property, what is the reason of keeping tenants in. They could be great people and all, but they have agreed to pay a price and if they stop you have to evict them as soon as possible. You have to turn that flat into an income right away! In most cases, your tenants won't be happy to leave and the condition of your property is questionable. Sometimes it is cheaper to pay for end of tenancy cleaning, than to chase your tenants in court. That way you will have a ready for a tenant's property that you can put out on the market right away. It will cut your losses to a minimum.