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Gain possession of my property after Section 21


darren9659

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I issued a Section 21 to a tenant who was on a AST.She has been at the property for a year but has paid no rent for 9 weeks and refuses to pay rent or move out as the council will not provide a house.Could someone advise on the next step to recover my property and provide a rough timescale

Thanks in advance

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Hi Darren,

Yes you can do it yourself check out on this site and the net to make sure you have issued the section 21 in the correct manner - the most common reason of failure to evict.

Find out where your local court is and get the papers from them or use a solicitor - your choice. Depends how confident you feel.

The twice I have done it I have used a solicitor as there were other issues that needed addressing.

Best of luck.

Mortitia

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Non payment of rent is one of several grounds for eviction in section 8 of the 1988 Housing Act.

As soon as the tenant has 2 FULL months* unpaid, you can serve them with a section 8 notice under grounds 8, 10 & 11. 14 days later, you can apply to the court for a possession order using the Possession Claim Online website for £100 - or do it on paper at the court for £150.

It will take around a month before the hearing takes place, but so long as there is still 2 months unpaid, you will get a guaranteed possession order under ground 8. If some rent has been paid, the judge can consider giving you a possession order under grounds 10 or 11. The judge can order the tenant to repay the missing rent and court costs too. However, with the tenant on benefits the chances of enforcing any such judgement are extremely unlikely.

If the judge grants a possession order, the tenant will be given at least 14 days to go. If the tenant still refuses to go, you will have to employ court bailiffs, which is more expense and time (iirc £95).

By all means consider the section 21 process, but s8 is usually the quickest option.

DO NOT be tempted to use any process other than shown above. to do so will almost certainly be illegal eviction, which is a criminal offence.

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Non payment of rent is one of several grounds for eviction in section 8 of the 1988 Housing Act.

As soon as the tenant has 2 FULL months* unpaid, you can serve them with a section 8 notice under grounds 8, 10 & 11. 14 days later, you can apply to the court for a possession order using the Possession Claim Online website for £100 - or do it on paper at the court for £150.

It will take around a month before the hearing takes place, but so long as there is still 2 months unpaid, you will get a guaranteed possession order under ground 8. If some rent has been paid, the judge can consider giving you a possession order under grounds 10 or 11. The judge can order the tenant to repay the missing rent and court costs too. However, with the tenant on benefits the chances of enforcing any such judgement are extremely unlikely.

If the judge grants a possession order, the tenant will be given at least 14 days to go. If the tenant still refuses to go, you will have to employ court bailiffs, which is more expense and time (iirc £95).

By all means consider the section 21 process, but s8 is usually the quickest option.

DO NOT be tempted to use any process other than shown above. to do so will almost certainly be illegal eviction, which is a criminal offence.

*****************************************************************************

Hi, that reply was great, I have spent a couple of days trying to enlighten myself with all the bulls ######, opps, I mean legal paperwork involved in evicting someone.

But I can not find out if the 2mths non rent bit, is that 2 calender months or 8wks, or does it depend on how you charge them rent.

I also read that you can evict under the terms of your issued lease if they infringe the conditions of a Short Hold Tenancy and only need to give 2 weeks notice?

Thanks

Keith :o

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Hi, that reply was great, I have spent a couple of days trying to enlighten myself with all the bulls ######, opps, I mean legal paperwork involved in evicting someone.

But I can not find out if the 2mths non rent bit, is that 2 calender months or 8wks, or does it depend on how you charge them rent.

2 months is 2 months DUE - so if they miss Novembers Rent, you can issue a s8 as soon as they miss Decembers rent - ie 1 month & 1 day after the original breach.

I also read that you can evict under the terms of your issued lease if they infringe the conditions of a Short Hold Tenancy and only need to give 2 weeks notice?

You can only evict with a court order. What you are talking about are the various grounds for eviction under s8 - you need to give 2 weeks notice before commencing proceedings on most of the grounds (some, like ground 14, you can do immediately)

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Hi, that reply was great, I have spent a couple of days trying to enlighten myself with all the bulls ######, opps, I mean legal paperwork involved in evicting someone.

But I can not find out if the 2mths non rent bit, is that 2 calender months or 8wks, or does it depend on how you charge them rent.

2 months is 2 months DUE - so if they miss Novembers Rent, you can issue a s8 as soon as they miss Decembers rent - ie 1 month & 1 day after the original breach.

I also read that you can evict under the terms of your issued lease if they infringe the conditions of a Short Hold Tenancy and only need to give 2 weeks notice?

You can only evict with a court order. What you are talking about are the various grounds for eviction under s8 - you need to give 2 weeks notice before commencing proceedings on most of the grounds (some, like ground 14, you can do immediately)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sorry, I should have said,

I charge rent on a 4wk cycle, therefor do I give after 8wks no rent a section 8 or sect21 notice?

or do I wait 2 calender months before I give notice?

The lease says rent is payable in 4wk cycles, why, because when we advertise it sounds cheaper

and we opperate in a very competive market here in South Wales.

Ta

Keith Spence

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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sorry, I should have said,

I charge rent on a 4wk cycle, therefor do I give after 8wks no rent a section 8 or sect21 notice?

or do I wait 2 calender months before I give notice?

The lease says rent is payable in 4wk cycles, why, because when we advertise it sounds cheaper

and we opperate in a very competive market here in South Wales.

Ta

Keith Spence

Tricky - the legislation (Shedule 2 of the Housing Act) says:

(a.) if rent is payable weekly or fortnightly, at least eight weeks’ rent is unpaid;

(b.) if rent is payable monthly, at least two months’ rent is unpaid;

It mentions nothing about if rent is payable 4-weekly. I have seen an argument elsewhere that it is not possible to use a s8 with 4-weekly (because it's not in the legislation) but that surely can't be true?

Maybe this is a case where an eviction company might be worth while - well, unless you can get clarification out of them for free :D

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Another opinion is that 4-weekly are considered the same as weekly/fortnightly - and for that matter, 2 monthly would be treated as monthly.

IF that is correct - then 8 weeks would apply. However, if it happens that due to the way the rents fall then 8 weeks and 2 months fall at the same time, then I'd be more confident.

Example...

Rent £400 per 4 weeks.

9 weeks = £900

2 months = £867 (400 x 13 /12)

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Ok, sounds like we are getting into a sticky area, looks like we should amend our lease's to monthly.

Going back to something I mentioned earlier:-

Q) If a tenant breaks the terms of his/her lease

{Typically by not paying their rent or Services on time}

Can I after 14days [2wks] issue a Section 8 for possession?

Do I need to give them notice prior to this?

If Notice required, how long do I wait before taking out a s8?

I gave a tenant recently a Final Demand letter with completed copies of a Sect 8 & s21 that in 5days I would seek a possession order.

Now this tenant had not paid any rent since the end of September, not a penny, yet is now claiming

benifit, which today I managed to convince the Council to stop, as I thought it was fraud?!?

Ta guys

Keith Spenceicon1.gif

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