Tenancy Eviction

A repossession notice can be served by landlords planning to end an AST in advance or following the end of the fixed term. To end an AST legally following the conclusion of the fixed term, landlords are duty-bound by the Housing Act to serve a tenancy eviction document giving the tenant a minimum of two months notice.

When a landlord needs to issue a tenancy eviction letter because perhaps their tenant is over 2 months behind with the rent; the landlord should employ a section 8 notice specifying rental arrears as the grounds for repossession.

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Tenancy Eviction

he issuing of a notice by virtue of section 8 allows a landlord to get back their rent arrears and possibly their court expenses.
However a tenant may consider defending the repossession request, following the serving of the tenancy eviction letter and once arrangements are made to go to court. Therefore landlords need to bear a few points in mind as their tenant might be successful in postponing the repossession proceedings if;

• The paperwork the landlord produces at the court is unsound. There are many reasons why the possession notice served on the tenant is deemed erroneous. Reasons are that the wrong format has been employed; the notice had details such as dates incorrect; or the notice quoted a section 8 repossession ground and the landlord consequently cites a another ground when in court. (On the other hand, since the 1996 Housing Act came into play, courts now have discretion to agree to repossession, even though a landlord may not have served a perfect notice for possession.)

• The landlord started the court proceedings sooner than they are permitted to by law.

• A tenant never received the repossession notice before the landlord began court proceedings. A court can still make a possession order even when a landlord did not serve a notice on the tenant in advance; but the tenant can argue that it would be unfair for them to be thrown out without notice.

• Where the landlord is pursuing outstanding rent the tenant might not have to pay some of the owed rent if the landlord in turn owes the tenant money. Maybe the tenant was not provided with a refund when they had previously overpaid rent, the tenant could then counter sue the landlord but even still this may not stop the tenant from having a repossession order being issued against them.

• The landlord has not demonstrated the section 8 ground that they are citing.

• A condition has not been demonstrated. For instance, in the case of grounds nine through seventeen the landlord has not shown that it is judicious for the court to grant a repossession order.

Tenancy Eviction

The consequence could be that court proceedings are delayed to give the tenant time to keep to the part of the tenancy agreement that has been broken; such as failure to pay their rent. Then again the possession order may be deferred so that it will only come into play should the tenant breach a stipulated promise with their landlord.