Jump to content

BAd tenant


The Nipper

Recommended Posts

You have my sympathy. We are first time landlords who are about to evict our tenant (at last) The tenant has to be two months in arrears to evict on grounds of arrears. We did not want to be that much out of pocket (and more, by the time you actually get them out) so opted for eviction under section 21 with the Accelerated Possession Procedure which you can use if you have an assured shorthold tenancy agreement. It is vital that all procedures and paperwork for serving notice are done correctly. We found a lawyer who did a one-off consultation to check that notice was worded correctly and to tell us how to fill out claim form N5B. This form is available from your local court or can be downloaded from The Court Service website. Sadly, the tenant has the right to appeal for more time (up to 6wk) and even then do not have to budge till you arrange a bailiff. All in all, even using the accelerated procedure, it has taken since the end of Aug to reach the bailiff stage. The only 'costs' we are entitled to is the 150 pound court fee and we are unlikely to get this amount from the tenant unless we go to the Small Claims Court. The first lawyer we were recommended was very expensive and didn't even tell us it is possible to evict on presentation of paperwork alone (ie. no need to pay lawyer to attend court), so shop around and try to find one who will support you in submitting the paperwork yourself. The tenant cannot be evicted before the end of the six month tenancy agreement, which means you can serve notice towards the end of month 4. Of course,if your tenant is badly in arrears, you will want to use section 8, but I have no first hand experience of this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hi there,

I'd suggest together with the normal eviction procedure also put in a Small Claim for the money owed - do it NOW! - well tomorrow morning. This is quite quick and the result is often that the tenants then want to negotiate - the reason being that with a Small Claim they would end up with a County court Judgment and they would have great difficulty renting anywhere else, won't get a mortgage or loan, and even councils don't rehouse people that have made themselves purposely homeless.

The tenants will either move fairly quickly, or negotiate a payment with you - although they might not!

You should add on all your costs.

Hugh

ps have you looked into why they are not paying? Occasionally you just need to talk!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...