FAQs

Not unless they leave voluntarily at the end of the tenancy. You must serve the correct notice and if the tenant does not leave when the notice expires, you will need to start a claim for possession at the local court. It is an offence under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 to evict tenants without a court order, even if the tenancy has ended and the tenant has stopped paying rent. If they do not leave the property by the date stated in the court order, you will need to instruct a court appointed bailiff to evict them. You should not take any steps to remove the tenant yourself. By doing so you could leave yourself open to criminal charges.

It depends how much rent is outstanding. If there are at least 2 month's rent owing at the time you issue the claim and at the date of the hearing, the court has to make an order for possession. If there is less than that due, but the tenant has always been late in paying the rent, you may be able to get your property back, but only at the court's discretion. You might not get the property back if the tenant pays the arrears before the hearing. You will need to serve a notice telling the tenant you intend to start proceedings, and then issue the claim once the notice expires .

You need to make sure you have served a notice before the end of the fixed term of the tenancy, giving no less than 2 months notice, expiring at the end of a period of the tenancy and telling the tenant that the tenancy will end after the notice expires. If they don't leave, you will need to issue a claim for possession when the notice has expired. Provided your notice requiring possession was correct and served in time, you should get an order for possession of your property. The quickest way is to use the Accelerated Possession procedure which is faster than mainstream possession proceedings. Provided all paperwork is in order, you can ask for an order for possession without a hearing.

If the tenant has remained in the property after the fixed term expired, they now have a 'periodic' Assured Shorthold Tenancy, which continues on the same terms as the original written agreement. Provided you have a written Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement, and you want to get possession of the house or flat quickly, you may be able to use the Accelerated possession procedure as described above. You need to give the tenant at least two months' notice, to expire on the day before the rent is due, no less than 2 months after the notice is served. You will not be able to recover the rent arrears using this procedure, but you can still sue your tenant for any arrears in a separate debt claim.

Alternatively you can issue a notice based upon the rent arrears as described above. This will allow you to try and recover the arrears and the 2 month notice period is replaced with a period of just 14 days. However, this procedure requires a court hearing and so will not necessarily be quicker than when a 2 month notice period has been given. Also, if the tenant pays or reduces the rent arrears before the hearing, you are not guaranteed to get an order for possession

In some cases, yes. Many local authorities will regard a tenant who has left the previous accommodation without an order for possession as having made themselves voluntarily homeless. In some circumstances the council will not rehouse them as a priority or at all. If your tenant has no other option than rehousing by the council, they will usually be advised to wait until you have obtained a court order and a Bailiff has been appointed to evict them, before approaching the council again for accommodation.

Not without the tenant's express agreement, preferably in writing. For all deposits taken after 6 April 2007 from assured shorthold tenants, (the vast majority of short residential tenancies are assured shortholds), you need to ensure that you comply with government regulations on safeguarding deposits. That means sending the money to one of the scheme administrators or joining one of the insurance based schemes where the landlord keeps the deposit but pays a premium to insure it. You must also tell your tenant within 30 days of taking the deposit which scheme their deposit is registered with and supply information about the scheme. If you can't agree how much the tenant is entitled to get back at the end of the tenancy, the schemes offer a dispute resolution service to decide how much the landlord can retain .

There is legislation that requires any deposit paid by a Tenant in respect of an Assured Shorthold Tenancy to be registered with a deposit protection scheme. If the deposit is not registered within a certain time period the Landlord will have to repay it in full irrespective of any damage to the property before they can seek possession at the end of the tenancy. The Landlord would also face potential financial sanctions if proceedings were issued by the Tenant.

There is legislation that requires any deposit paid by a Tenant in respect of an Assured Shorthold Tenancy to be registered with a deposit protection scheme. If the deposit is not registered within a certain time period the Landlord will have to repay it in full irrespective of any damage to the property before they can seek possession at the end of the tenancy. The Landlord would also face potential financial sanctions if proceedings were issued by the Tenant.

You will need to issue a claim for possession, get a court order and if necessary, an appointment with the bailiff. The claim will be against the trespassers by name or if you don't know their identities, against 'persons unknown'. There are particular rules for service of claims against trespassers. You may be able to get a quick appointment with the bailiff to evict the trespassers if there are good reasons, for example, the trespassers are causing a nuisance or a danger.

No, not immediately. The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 changed the procedures freeholders need to comply with before they can forfeit a leasehold property. Before you can serve the Notice to Forfeit, for unpaid service charge or any other breach of lease, you now need to get a finding from a court or Leasehold Valuation tribunal that the tenant is in breach. Without that finding, unless the tenant admits the breach, you cannot start forfeiture proceedings. There are a raft of requirements with which a freeholder must comply, affecting, amongst other things: service charges, statements of account of service charges and consulting leaseholders about services supplied for the property. Failure to consult may mean you can only recover a very small sum, set by statute, even if you have spent thousands on works.

Yes. The leaseholder has the right to ask the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT) to assess the charges being made and make a ruling as to whether the service charge is payable and if so the amount, who it is payable to and by which date. If the tenant has admitted the money is payable then no application can be made. The freeholder may also ask the LVT to assess whether a charge, or a proposed charge, is reasonable. This is a useful provision for the freeholder who may be faced with a leaseholder who withholds payment but is slow in making an application to have the dispute determined .

This depends on whether the lease requires leaseholders to contribute to the costs of the work you have done. Even if the Lease does provide for this, you need to make sure that you comply with the consultation requirements.