eviction procedure, do I need solicitor?

Viktor221

Hi experts!

I am a landlord in Scotland. My tenant has rent arrears of 8 months and I also intend to sell the property that I am letting. My solicitor has already sent the notice to quit and T6 form, and since the tenant refuses to leave we now need to proceed for the next legal stage (first-tier tribunal).

The fee that my solicitor is asking for is £850 which I think is pretty much the same for other law firms. I am thinking of not using the solicitor and doing this myself. I never had experience of this sort but my solicitor says this will be a very straight forward eviction given the grounds (he of course does not encourage me to do it myself!).

I wanted to see if anyone here had the experience of following legal procedure for eviction directly (i.e. without a solicitor). Do you think it is worth the intended saving of £850 or would you suggest paying this amount (from credit card or loan!) is worth it (reducing risk and effort)?

My solicitor also gave me the option of going for a middle point solution. That is, he will draft the letters for me, for a small fee, and then leave the rest (i.e. sending it and presenting it in the court and the rest) to me.

Any advice and tips here is most appreciated.

Best,

Viktor

Browntoa

I'd pay the solicitor to do it to avoid making a mistake that ends up costing me more money

theartfullodger

Hope it was an AT6 notice, not a T6 form.

I'd use a Scottish specialist landlord/tenant solicitor for the FTT. Your (presumably very nice..) local solicitor might not understand all the wrinkles.

Were the ish dates for both NTQ & AT6 the same, please? (For our English readers yes, correct spelling of "ish").

8 months arrears and you've only just got to approaching the FTT? Why the 5 month delay since you could first have done so?

In your shoes (Assuming this is a SaT and you can prove it was...) I'd evict using s33 notice, less easy for tenant to defend. That your solicitor didn't suggest this is, err, worrying.

When did tenant first move in, please? If you lived there and served relevant notice prior you could you another ground also.

Sal advice line (free to members) very helpful on such matters.

Slàinte mhath!

Viktor221

Thanks both for your advice. So I get it that you do not even recommend the mid way (solicitor writing the draft papers and I doing the rest), you recommend that I leave all to a solicitor?

Dear "theartfullodger", yes if I want a solictor to do it I will certainly go for an expert not the one that I have now! It was AT6 form, sorry, and the ish dates are the same. Well it was 6 months when the letters were served, but anyway, I was hoping that my tenants promise to leave soon would become true (in my dreams now!).


Viktor

G_M

Surely your Landlords Association will guide you through this won't they?