Tenant Eviction Process

If as a landlord you are looking to remove tenants from your rental dwelling, you need to adhere to a legal tenant eviction process as stipulated by law which means you must first serve an eviction notice on your tenant.

Section 21 Tenant Eviction Process

When a landlord needs a rental dwelling vacated by the tenant quickly, and they are happy to forgo any outstanding rent, landlords should use the tenant eviction process "by virtue of section 21" in the Housing Act. The section 21 notices are a speedy way to achieve repossession of a rental dwelling, and are a precondition to the accelerated possession procedure. The key point to remember if as a landlord you use the section 21 method is that a court cannot issue any orders for outstanding rent and this will need to be resolved via a different route.

Click Here To Use The Section 21 Notice Creator

When a landlord does not arrange the signing of a new fixed term agreement when a fixed term tenancy comes to a conclusion, the tenancy will become a periodic tenancy automatically. Landlords do not always need a reason to evict a tenant once it has become a periodic tenancy as landlords may then use the tenant eviction process for terminating an AST , which allows a landlord to end an AST without an explanation. The rules on the amount of notice a landlord is required to give a tenant depends on the circumstances; for example if the landlord is citing a section 8 ground, such as outstanding rent, the timespan (either fourteen days or two months ) of the notice hinges on the ground that the landlord is citing.

When using the shorthold ground, a landlord can only do so if their tenants' deposit has been secured in a deposit protection scheme, additionally the notice served must:

• Be given in writing
• Lapse on the final day of a rental period
• Stipulate the relevant clauses in section 21 of the 1988 Housing Act.
• Provide the longer of; two months or the amount of time between rental payments.

Landlords can serve notice such as this at any point before the conclusion of the fixed term but this notice cannot run out before the finish of the fixed term; additionally when this notice is served prior to the conclusion of the fixed term, the timespan of the notice can be as little as 2 calendar months, and doesn't have to lapse on the final date of a rental period.

Tenant Eviction Process in the Court

If the tenant does not move out of the rental dwelling by the date stated in the notice, a landlord will then need go by way of a court to get a repossession order. Should the tenants still not vacate, the landlord may then request that the court grants an eviction warrant and the court can then coordinate the eviction of the tenants by court bailiffs. In this situation, the landlord can also claim from the tenant any expenses resulting from the court action.