Evicting tenant - do I need a court order?

kirkbyinfurnesslad_2

The above poster is spot on.

Just because you issue the S8 notice , doesnt mean anything if they make a certain level of payments.

You are far better issuing a correct S21

theartfullodger

sarah1980 wrote: »

Thanks.......serve the section 8, giving them 2 weeks' notice to move out ....e

Oh dear.

For an AST a notice to quit is invalid & has no effect.

A s8 notice on expiry merely permits landlord to commence court action when tenant can then defend in many ways & , even if indefensible, spin things out.

Madam you have a lot to learn. Please try education, if you think it's expensive try ignorance... (ooppppssss....)

Cheers! Artful, landlord since 2000, made much worse mistakes

silvercar

I would serve a section 21 notice and at any point they owe 2 months rent ("owe" means 1 month in arrears and the second month's rent is due) serve a section 8 notice.

Belt and braces approach, but given that they could pay off enough to make the section 8 invalid on the court date, it is better to be safe.

Anyway they want paperwork to show the council, the more you give them the better.

BigAunty

sarah1980 wrote: »

Anyway, I think the best way forward is to wait until they are 2 months in arrears and serve the section 8, giving them 2 weeks' notice to move out (see! Even though it's not a soap opera!). This seems quicker than serving the section 21 and waiting 2 months while they live rent free. They only have about 2 weeks to go before they are 2 months in arrears anyway.

I'm with Silvercar on the belt and braces approach of S21 and S8. Problem with S8 is that there has to be 2 months rent owing (if the rental period is monthly) at the time of service AND at the court case. Many tenants pay it down under 2 months by the court case to thwart the mandatory judgement for possession (less than that and the judge has discretion).

Also, regarding the playing the social housing game. As others point out, the council may contact the landlord to verify the reason for the eviction and if they find out its through an S8/rent arrears, may deem them to have made themselves intentionally homeless if they could have paid rent but did not.

But if they are in England, for some years now, a local council does not have to give social housing to even those they accept as homeless and in priority need. They can discharge their statutory obligations by offering them a 1 year private tenancy, though of course, they may still give social housing. See the Shelter website for details about how the council treat homelessness applications.

If your tenants are in England and the penny drops that they won't necessarily be catapulted into social housing, what then?

Will they dig in and stay and remain paying the rent as and when they have disposable income rather than prioritising it as their main expense?

Can they find a private landlord if you give an honest reference that they are late payers in arrears? Have you thought about what you will say to their next landlord if they approach you for a reference? If you give a bad one then they may want to stay in your property, where else will they go if the council tell them they won't help them?

CWSmith

First of all, you have my sympathy - I was in exactly the same situation with my tenants - they were fine until their circumstances changed and they went onto HB. Even though their circumstances changed back to normal, they seemed to simply decide that they weren't going to pay the rent any more.

Anyway, you might be lucky with the council. We made certain that the council were fully aware that the tenants (with one child) were going to be evicted, and the council had rehoused them within a week of the S21 being issued.

Good luck.

rpc

jjlandlord wrote: »

They will advise the tenant to stay put until bailiffs evict them in any case... Unfortunately.

While I agree that it happens, it isn't meant to. Various bodies (including the Local Govt Ombudsman) have warned councils about gatekeeping practices several times. Yet some still persist.

If OP's local authority have such gatekeeping practices, that only makes it more important to get the notice right first time. A defective notice that the council refuse can be reissued quickly. If the LL has to go to court before the defect is noticed, the whole process takes a lot longer and costs more.

sarah1980

Thanks all, to answer a few questions:

Arrears are £1263 (so actually more than 2 months now)
Deposit was £495 (protected)
Rent is £530 PCM
There is no gas at the property so no safety cert required
They have 2 kids under 5 so I expect they would be considered a priority as far as social housing is concerned.
Their original AST was for 6 months and thereafter has been extended on a rolling monthly basis. They have now lived there for nearly four years
I am in England, as is the rental property

The info I got on giving them 2 weeks' notice is given here:

https://www.makeurmove.co.uk/page/Guidance-Notes-Section-8

Are people saying this info is incorrect? Because I believe that they are now more than 2 months in arrears so I need only give them 2 weeks notice.

tom9980

someone will need to correct me if i am wrong however i believe the 2 weeks is a period designed to tell the tenant that you will after 2 weeks be taking them to court to seek possession. It does not mean they have to leave in 2 weeks. How quickly you can arrange a court date and paperwork nobody knows but it can take months, which is why a s21 is useful.

kirkbyinfurnesslad_2

Indeed the notice does not mean they have to leave after two, it is simply to give them the time scale after which you can issue possession proceedings

sarah1980

Thanks for clearing that up