Possession order?

wisecobandit1

To cut a long story short I rented out my house to a family a few years ago. To begin with rent etc was paid on time but the last 12 months have been in constant arrears.
Ive given them the legal 2 months notice which terminates at the beginning of May, however I can forsee theres no intention on them moving out by then as they are under the impression the council will just give them a house in the near future.

Basically its seems I will have to apply to court to get a possession order etc. Im assuming I cant apply for a possession order in advance and have to wait to the official moving out day to expire?
Its got to the point I want the tenants out ASAP due to being in constant arrears for the past year.
Is there anything else I should be doing or should have done to ensure it doesn't get dragged out?

alta

Cash incentive! Always worth a try. Otherwise its the legal route, which can take up to 3 mths, and a few pennies.

Werdnal

You cannot apply to court until the notice you have issued expires. Are you 100% sure your notice is correct? Many notices are invalid and even minor inaccuracies can render your court application useless and you will have to start all over with another 2 months notice!

To help us advise you whether your notice will stand up to court scrutiny, please confirm:

Exact start date of tenancy?
Duration of fixed term?
Was an end date specified?
Did you take a deposit?
Have you protected this in a deposit scheme and issued the tenant the full prescribed information and T&Cs from that scheme, and have you proof you did this within 30 days of receiving the deposit?
How many months arrears exist at the moment?
When was notice "served" on the tenant (exact date) and by what means - post with proof of posting, hand-delivered with witness?
What expiry date was on that notice? - exact wording used please.

If any dates, details etc on the notice are incorrect, you served it to the tenants incorrectly or the deposit is not protected, your S21 is invalid.


By the way, there is no "moving out day" - the notice does not end the tenancy and tenants do not have to leave until you apply for a possession order, so they are legally entitled to stay until you go to court.

tbs624

Werdnal wrote: »

Y
By the way, there is no "moving out day" - the notice does not end the tenancy and tenants do not have to leave until you apply for a possession order, so they are legally entitled to stay until you go to court.

my bolding. Agree with Werdnal's post, with one clarification - Ts are legally entitled to stay until LL actually *obtains* that court order for repossession and that may also involve enforcement action via bailiffs.

If a tenancy deposit for this AST (assumed as s21 mentioned) was received after 6 April 2007 then, as Werdnal flags up, it is vital that the OP has treated the deposit in line with the law and given the T the prescribed info

OP - have you given the T a formal Rent Statement with a request to bring payment up to date? Also served a S8, with appropriate Grounds?

wisecobandit1

Will try an answer questions off the cuff so to speak.
Original tenancy was taken out around june 2011 for 12 months, then renewed for another 6 months which expired this January so since then no contract. These where "agreed shorthold tenancy" agreements.
I posted the "notice to quit" on feb 14th 2012 via special recorded delivery. This was one of those legal type forms you get from the stationers and included a letter about 1 months outstanding arrears to be paid within 7 days etc etc and worded in a polite way.
As far as deposit goes there was none involved and is clear in the initial and renewed contract.
At present arrears stand at a month which has been a continuing case for atleast the last 4 months being 1 month behind.

wisecobandit1

Btw notice to seek possession letter (section 21) was to quit beginning of May therefore giving the "clear" 2 months notice. (was actually 10 weeks)

tbs624

wisecobandit1 wrote: »

Original tenancy was taken out around june 2011 for 12 months, then renewed for another 6 months which expired this January so since then no contract. These where "agreed shorthold tenancy" agreements.

There is a contract - the agreement has now become a statutory periodic tenancy. All the original contract terms apply, except for those on how the tenancy may be "determined". The tenancy periods will operate in monthly "blocks" from the day after the end of the preceding Fixed Term. So if, for example, that FT ended 15th of the month, the tenancy periods now run from 16th of one month to the 15th of the next

wisecobandit1 wrote: »

I posted the "notice to quit" on feb 14th 2012 via special recorded delivery. This was one of those legal type forms you get from the stationers and included a letter about 1 months outstanding arrears to be paid within 7 days etc etc and worded in a polite way.
As far as deposit goes there was none involved and is clear in the initial and renewed contract.
At present arrears stand at a month which has been a continuing case for atleast the last 4 months being 1 month behind.

If you are referring to a S21 Notice, as has already been pointed out in posts 3 and 4 above, this is not an NTQ. NTQs are not applicable to ASTs. Its a no-fault Notice and can be used regardless of the rent situation *but* as already explained the T is not obliged to "quit" on the date you have given on that Notice. It needs to be validly served/dated and properly worded: it should say that you intend to seek possession of the property *after* x date. If the T stays put then you will have no option but to pursue the matter to court.

In the meantime, have you managed to talk to the Ts? Suggested a payment plan to bring the rent payments fully up to date?

Yorkie1

1. What were the actual start and end dates of the most recent fixed term?

2. What expiry date did you put in the s.21 notice?

3. Do you have proof that your notice has been signed for?

G_M

wisecobandit1 wrote: »

Is there anything else I should be doing or should have done to ensure it doesn't get dragged out?

Yes.

Take time to do the research and answer the questions asked!

Exact start date of tenancy?
Duration of fixed term?
Was an end date specified?
How many months arrears exist at the moment?
When was notice "served" on the tenant (exact date) and by what means - post with proof of posting, hand-delivered with witness?
What expiry date was on that notice? - exact wording used please.

For the avoidance of doubt, if you "posted the "notice to quit" on feb 14th 2012" that is not the date it was served. What date was it delivered'?

pinkshoes

Wisecobandit, you need to answer the exact questions answered above to get the help you need.

Evicting tenants is tricky process that has to be done properly, dotting the i's and crossing the t's. One step wrong and it could take months longer.

Did the tenant pay a deposit, and is it protected in one of the deposit protection schemes?

In the mean time, you might want to tell your tenants that unless they pay their rent arrears, you will be notifying the council that they have not being paying their rent, and the council will deem them to have made themselves homeless by non payment of rent, and thus will not rehouse them. If they're after a council house, hopefully this will make them pay up!

dancingfairy

So what notice(s) did you send? S21? Did you also use any others as a backup for persistent late payment or rent/rental arrears? have you sent an uptodate rent statement to them at all?
I'm not sure if you can make it stick if you can't prove it was served correctly (ie if it wasn't signed for etc).
Also not sure where you stand with regards to the deposit as you didn't take one.
Did you have an inventory when the tenants moved in? (not that it will help if you don't have a deposit). Did you obtain a relevant gas safety certificate, conent to let, etc etc. I know these won't help now but beware that you 'tenants' could dob you in to the relevant authorities and also if you do consider renting again in future you will need to make sure you have e verything straight, right from the offset.
df
Edit: unless you've been very lucky,something tells me you might have to reserve the notice If you answer the very precise questions you have been asked the experts can confirm whether you have done everything right (or not).
Best of Luck
Unfortunately it looks like you've been taken advantage of by these relatives
Bear in mind that your steps are as follow:
1) serve correct notice (which may needto be redone)
2) apply to court for hearing
3) have court hearing for possession (which could be a couple of months depending on how busy yourlocal court is).
4) appoint bailiffs.
Then and only then may your tenants decide to leave. Councils often advise tenants that if they leave before the bailiffs arrive then they are making themselves intentionally homeless. Councils shouldn't do this, but they have to prioritise who gets help and this is one way the councils try and keep people out of the system for as long as possible.