Notice of possession wording for tenant in arrears. Please help!

Tiggyspencer

Hi All,

Can anyone point me in the right direction please? I have given tenants notice due to arrears and they are forcing me to take them to court for possession but I need to give them a "Notice of intention to seek possession".

Is there anywhere I can get the correct wording for this notice without paying through the nose! I am already so out of pocket that I will happily take any advice

Thanks in Advance

nikki1520

Google Section 8 and Section 21 Housing Act notices - this should give you standard wordings. Issue both, so if they pay enough rent that your S8 fails, you can still evict under the s21. Theres plenty of guidance on forums like Landlordzone. Anyone with moderate intelligence can do an eviction themselves, but it does take time, and money.

Then pay your court fees, wait for a date, wait for the eviction date, pay for bailiffs, wait, get tenants out eventually, repair tyour house, then move on.

That's a bit of a simple overview, but I'm sure you get the picture - there will be a lot of forking out money, waiting around for other people to do stuff and feeling a little bit annoyed in your immediate future.

Werdnal

Its not just a simple "wording" issue, the notice has to be issued and served to the tenant correctly as this is the document you will apply to court with, and any minor issues will prevent a court order being issued.

Some more information is therefore required:

Is property in England or Wales? Scottish regs are different.
When did tenancy start - exact date?
When did/does fixed term end - exact date?
Was a deposit taken? If so, have you protected it in a scheme and given the tenants the prescribed information from that scheme? Do you have proof when this information was issued to them?
Is rent paid monthly/weekly?
How much exactly is owed?

Sorry for all the questions but it is important to ascertain all the info before anyone can advise you of the process and/or notices you need to use.

If you are applying on rent arrears ground, you use Section 8. This gives 14 days notice you are applying to the court, but tenant must be owing 2 months rent at the time you issue the notice and at the time of the court hearing. This also does not guarantee a possession order.

If you wish to use the guaranteed route, you use Section 21 notice (2 versions depending on whether tenants still in fixed term or now periodic). This will give you possession, but must run for a full 2 months, and cannot come into force until the fixed term ends. You must also have proof you complied with deposit regs above, otherwise this notice is invalid. After the notice expires, you apply to courts - could be another 4-6 weeks on top until your order is granted, then if tenants still refuse to leave, you employ baillifs to evict them - maybe another 4 weeks.

It is often recommended to issue both notices, so if the S8 fails, the S21 is already running in the background to take effect once it (or the fixed term) expires. There are templates and guidance on both notices available here:

http://www.letlink.co.uk/letting-library/library-resources/key-statutes-statutory-extracts-and-forms.html

If you are posting the notices, send 1st class from 2 separate post offices, keeping free proof of posting. DO NOT send via a signed for service as tenant can refuse. Allow 2 days on top of the required notice durations for delivery. If you are hand delivering, you need to use an idependant witness with you as proof you have served the notices if tenants deny receiving them.

If you provide the answers to the questions above, we can advise the dates you need to use on the S21 notice as this is critical if you want the court possession to be successful.

Are tenants looking to be evicted to go for council housing?

Yorkie1

Best advice is to join a national landlords association (joining fee is tax deductible) and use their expertise. If you have difficult tenants then you need all the accurate help you can get.

It_can_get_better

This is how the form should look: (Form 3)

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1997/194/schedule/made

Werdnal

It_can_get_better wrote: »

This is how the form should look: (Form 3)

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1997/194/schedule/made

TBH I wouldn't use any docs on that site as there is a disclaimer at the top:

Status:

This is the original version (as it was originally made). UK Statutory Instruments are not carried in their revised form on this site


and without proper legal knowledge I would suspect it is possible there have been revisions which are not reflected on that site!

The site I linked to earlier is frequently linked to on the LLZ site, and I therefore feel it may be a more appropriate reference.

G_M

It_can_get_better wrote: »

This is how the form should look: (Form 3)

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1997/194/schedule/made

Ignore this.

a) it is the wrong form
b) not enough information has been provided to know which form to use (see Werdnal's post above)