Tenant Eviction Specialists

Understanding the eviction process

1. Reviewing your property file

The first step for Burys Solicitors is for a member of our experienced legal team to review your property file. The property file includes various documents such as the tenancy agreement and gas safety certificates. If the possession notice has already been submitted, this document would also be reviewed.

Following this review, you are supplied with specific advice about the different routes available and the best course of action. This will allow you to make an informed decision about how to proceed.

2. Submission of the possession notice

Once you have selected your preferred route (Section 8 or Section 21), we can prepare and submit the relevant possession notice to your tenant.

If proceeding down the Section 8 route, your tenant is usually given 2 weeks to vacate the property (starting from when the notice is delivered). This is extended to 2 months if proceeding down the Section 21 route.

3. Section 8 Court Proceedings

Once Court Proceedings are prepared and submitted to the property’s local Court, then a hearing is scheduled. At this hearing, both parties can present their position to the relevant Judge.

Your position as the landlord would be to supply evidence to establish that the relevant ground(s) applies. For example, if the landlord is pursuing an eviction based on rental arrears, then an updated rent schedule would be supplied to the Judge.

We are seeing a significant rise in tenant’s defending eviction action and lodging a counterclaim in response. A typical counterclaim would be to allege housing disrepair and/or a breach of the deposit rules.

It is always aimed to resolve the claim at the first Court hearing, however if this is not possible than there may be multiple hearings before a final decision is made. The duration of the claim will depend on whether your tenant raises a defence and pursues a counterclaim.

4. Section 21 Court Proceedings

This is referred to as the “Accelerated Proceedings” and is designed to avoid the need for a Court hearing.

Once Court Proceedings are prepared and submitted to the property’s local Court, then the tenant is given a deadline to submit any written objections. If there are no written objections, then the claim is reviewed by the relevant Judge and possession order granted.

5. Instruction of bailiffs

A possession order will usually give the tenant two weeks to vacate the property. If the tenant remains in situ at the expiry of this deadline, then you would need to instruct bailiffs to enforce the Court Order.

The bailiffs would schedule an appointment to attend the property and regain possession of your property.

Grounds for evicting a tenant

There are currently two routes to evict your tenant and regain possession of your property.

Section 8

Under the Section 8 process there are different grounds which can be used to evict your tenant. The most common is that the tenant is significant rental arrears (Ground 8), however other grounds include anti-social behaviour (Ground 7A) and the intention for the landlord to move back into the property to reside in (Ground 2).

Select grounds are mandatory and so, if established, the Court must make a possession order in the landlord’s favour. Whereas other grounds are discretionary where the Court will consider all factors and circumstances of the individuals involved.

Section 21

The Section 21 is commonly referred to as the “non-fault” route and is shortly due to be abolished by the Government.

It is referred to as “non-fault” because a landlord does not need any reason to use this process, simply that you wish to regain possession of the property.

To use this process, the landlord must be able to prove that they have complied with all duties and obligations throughout the entire course of the tenancy. Any example being that the tenant was supplied with a copy of the How to Rent guide, ideally at the start of the tenancy.

Documents required for a tenancy eviction

At the start of the process, we ask the landlord to supply various documents for example:

• Copies of all signed tenancy agreements
• Any rent increase notice(s)
• Each annual gas safety certificate starting from the start of the tenancy to date
• Deposit protection certificate
• Rent statement (if pursuing rental arrears)
• Maintenance/ disrepair log

The specific documents needed to assess the property will depend on the unique circumstances. In general, the more information and documents that can be supplied to our legal team, the better understanding we will have of your claim.