How long does it take to evict a tenant?

VJsmum

Long story short, tenant hasn't paid rent since September. We served the section 21 notice to quit, the date for quitting was yesterday.

They are still there. They were hoping the council would rehouse them, the council say they have the right to stay until we evict - that they actually have to be homeless before the council will do anything.

Eviction proceedings have begun but I am unsure how long this will take. Presumably they still don't have to pay the rent in the meantime? Even though it seems they could afford to.

I thought I would be gutted should we have to evict someone. Turns out that I am incredibly angry with them for stealing from us....

Just want them out... Any help or advice gratefully received

Mrs_pbradley936

It can take a few months because you have to have a court order. It is very common for the Council to refuse to act unless and until they have been officially evicted.

Try not to take it personally - it is a business transaction. Just one of the pitfalls of being a landlord and I doubt you will get any more rent from them.

benjus

Is the property in England/Wales? Scottish law is different. Assuming you served the S21 notice correctly and protected their deposit correctly (if you took a deposit), you can now apply to the local county court for a possession order under the accelerated procedure (which does not require a hearing). This will probably take 1-2 months. Then, if the tenants still don't move out, you will have to apply for an eviction order, and then you can ask the court bailiffs to evict them. This will probably take another 1-2 months depending on how busy the court and bailiffs are. A popular alternative to using county court bailiffs is to have the order transferred to the high court, then use a high court enforcement officer (basically a more powerful type of bailiff) to evict. This can be faster than using county court bailiffs. See http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?50166-Enforcement-of-a-Possession-Order-using-the-HCEO-route

You can also take the tenant to court for all the unpaid rent (you can't do this as part of the eviction process if you use the accelerated process, but you can combine them if you use the standard process with a hearing), but you may never actually see any of it unless the tenant has assets or disposable income.

G_M

Why have you not served a S8 Notice - ground 8 rent arrears? Much quicker. See:

* Ending/renewing an AST: what happens when a fixed term ends? How can a LL or tenant end a tenancy? What is a periodic tenancy?

Of course rent is still due till the tenancy ends. You claim a) from their deposit and b) via the courts.

Who served the S21? You? I ask because you seem rather vague about the process, and about letting in general. It is easy to get a S21 wrong and have to go back 2 months and start again:

* what date was it served?
* how was it served?
* what expiry date was on it?
* did the tenants pay a deposit? Exact date paid?
* is it registered? Where? When (exact date). Did you serve the PI? Exact date
* is the tenancy in a fixed term, or periodic? If periodic, is it Statutory or Contractual. What are the tenancy dates? If Contractual, hat is the notice period?

Any of the above can invalidate your S21.

The tenants desire to be re-housed by the council is not your business or concern. The rent arrears are.

Timescales for evicion vary from court to court, both for obtaining the possession order and for getting bailiffs to enforce it. Speak to the court officials. They will advise on the process and timescales (but NOT on legal advice or how to serve a valid S21!)

Use your landlords association for help and advice - you are a member yes? :rotfl:

And see:

Tenancies in Eng/Wales: Guides for landlords and tenants

edit: all the above assumes the tenancy is in Eng/Wales.

Dird

If you want them out sooner you might be able to use higher court instead of county court? Costs more but you could get rental income sooner

[Deleted User]

I am being evicted by my LL (not for rent arrears). Once the S21 notice was up, I was served with a possession order which was up 14 days later (I could have asked for an extension of up to 42 days but I didn't). The LL went for an accelerated Possession so it did happen quickly.

Then the LL went back to court to get a Bailiffs warrant. The date for this (for bailiffs to come round) was set for a month further on.

So I will be evicted on 5th January. The S21 notice ended on 21st September. There was a delay in the LL applying for the Possession order.

I will be paying all the court costs (or rather they will be taken from my deposit).

I have applied for social housing.., even with two autistic children and health problems myself, the council have told me they will not have anything until the 4th or 5th January. So don't expect your tenants to be able to leave any earlier than the date on the bailiffs warrant. If they are in arrears, the council may well not help them at all (or only give them emergency housing for a month) unless they can prove there are reasons for the arrears and they can prove they did everything they could to pay the rent. Whether that will happen is between them and the council.

G_M

........but would be extremely grateful if people asked for advice rather than advise

so you want me to stop advising, dean, and seek advice instead? Any particular topic......?

I_have_spoken

If they're seasoned scammers, easily 6 months maybe more if they can play the 'women is preggers' card.

[Deleted User]

Fine, I will just stop posting on here altogether.

VJsmum

Thanks all

G_M as I said it was long story short.

I am always grateful for help and advice from this forum, over the years it has saved me much money.

It is in the hands of agents and solicitors now, so we shall see.....

G_M

VJsmum wrote: »

Thanks all

G_M as I said it was long story short.

I am always grateful for help and advice from this forum, over the years it has saved me much money.

It is in the hands of agents and solicitors now, so we shall see.....

I hesitate to be over cynical but:

you can trust the agents around 60% to be professional and accurate
you can trust the solicitors around 85% to be professional and accurate

I would check/keep tabs on what they are doing, as any error just rebounds on you.

A good starting point is making sure you know the answers to all the Qs I asked in post 4.