Best way to evict a tenant when they fully agree with and welcome it because she wants council House

SmashedAvacado

AdrianC wrote: »

Well, that knocks this particular situation right on the head.

The landlord doesnt have to agree. I am not sure why you think this is fatal. At least you're aware of the rules now in any event.

AdrianC

But the landlord doesn't intend to seek possession, and efforts to persuade the landlord to allow the tenant to remain would very likely be successful (simply by pointing out that an empty threat of eviction won't give her the keys to a council house tomorrow).

So both halves of that test are a big fat fail.

[Deleted User]

With reference to the post above saying all the tenant needs is to show a S21 notice to be offered somewhere to live I can only assume that area has more social housing available than is available in 95% of areas. MOST areas will not make any attempt to help unless you are vulnerable in some way AND will be homeless through no fault of your own. Many areas also say you have to have lived in the area for some time.

My area did nothing until I went there with the notice the bailiffs gave me. Even with children, I would then have been sent to a single hostel room with shared facilities (but because of health problems I was able to argue against this). Depending on the borough you can be sent completely out of the area.

BUT I am afraid as your niece is still in her fixed term, the council will just say you can't evict her. Even if she waits for the fixed term to be ended, the council will then say she has no priority. Even if all this wasn't true, as has been said before she would be placed in a single room or hotel and not necessarily with people she would want to live next door too and not necessarily in the area she lives in currently.. Sorry but this is true.

And what will you say if the council phones you and asks if there is any way you would reconsider evicting your niece, whom you have no intention of evicting? Most LL's will get some kind of phone call because the council will do almost anything to avoid taking on responsibility for housing someone.

Plus there's a thing called Gatekeeping. This is where the council will say for quite some time 'no we will not house you due to x, y and Z' even when legally they do have a responsibility to do so. Unfortunately your niece will not be in this position.

But look at it from another point of view.., she is lucky enough to live in a property bigger than she needs (certainly bigger than she'd be able to rent), paying a discounted rent, and not being threatened with eviction every time the tenancy needs renewing. She can decorate and make the place feel like new. Its her home. Believe you me, a council place will rarely be that and the process you have to go through to get there (lasting years) is rather unpleasant. Did you know that councils can now place a homeless person in a private rental to remove their duty to house someone?

I'm afraid, as you have gathered getting social housing isn't easy. Your niece is far far better off where she is. If she can't afford the rent, she could consider getting a lodger.

JennyJukes

I would be very careful with pretending to put your house up for sale when you're not - you say you rent out the house through an agency, wouldn't you need to tell them your tenant is being evicted as you are selling the property? What happens then if you don't put the house up for sale then want to rent it out again? You'd probably have to wait several months and be out of pocket yourself until you could pretend you changed your mind and get another tenant in?

I think she can technically go to the council or seek housing advice as the rent is no longer affordable for her. They will advise if housing benefit/element will help cover the rent for her and if not, then they may consider her to be at risk of homelessness.

She would then be looking at several months in temporary accommodation, in which she will have to sell or store any furniture she does have until she receives an offer of permanent property. I don't know how it works where you're at but here if you're homeless you can get housed literally anywhere in the county and you can only refuse this offer on very good grounds (too far from work, hospital appointments, family support for mental health, enemies, abuse etc). When she does receive permanent accommodation, she will again have to accept this unless there is a very good reason and this isn't an easy process to refuse.

I understand that social housing is stable and affordable but it really isn't all that. I was homeless after a relationship breakdown and waited 10 months for a permanent property which I was told was very quick for a 1 bedroom (which is all she will be entitled to). For that 10 months I was in supported accommodation so I had to share facilities with families and there were staff there most of the day meaning they could knock on my door at any point which was quite annoying. In other temporary accommodation you have rules on how many people are allowed in the property and overnight stays too. So it's not as easy and free as having a private let. When I got my offer of permanent accommodation it was in a very rough area but because I didn't have children or an addiction it was difficult to refuse it as it was considered adequately housed. I spent money doing it up just to move out 10 months later due to antisocial behaviour every night. It's not an easy ride.

You may be able to agree to reduce rent and she could still be considered at risk of homelessness but that could take even years until she gets offered permanent property. You could also tell her to not pay her rent for 3 months to which point you can apply to the courts to get her evicted though as someone else previously said, they don't want people to become homeless so they would likely refer her for housing advice who will ask to put a payment plan in place. Not sure how it works when renting from family though.

SmashedAvacado

AdrianC wrote: »

But the landlord doesn't intend to seek possession, and efforts to persuade the landlord to allow the tenant to remain would very likely be successful (simply by pointing out that an empty threat of eviction won't give her the keys to a council house tomorrow).

So both halves of that test are a big fat fail.

I had assumed you knew what possession means? It means getting your property back. it doesnt mean you have to live there

A section 21 notice validly served at the relevant time is not an empty threat. Its a legal process, at the end at which you are required to leave. to enforce your rights you of course need a court order and then execution, but if you look at the actual guidance given to LA's they are not allowed any longer to insist you wait to get thrown out by a bailiff to consider you homeless.

[Deleted User]

They haven't for some time. They still do it though, even when I was being evicted three years ago.

[Deleted User]

SmashedAvacado wrote: »

I had assumed you knew what possession means? It means getting your property back. it doesnt mean you have to live there

A section 21 notice validly served at the relevant time is not an empty threat. Its a legal process, at the end at which you are required to leave. to enforce your rights you of course need a court order and then execution, but if you look at the actual guidance given to LA's they are not allowed any longer to insist you wait to get thrown out by a bailiff to consider you homeless.

Yes the law you quoted says that but have you tried this with a council? I have, walked into the housing office in liverpool with a s21 and they wouldn't even register my details. Told me to come back when evicted. Went to shelters dropin in the CAB office who told me the same but gave advice about discretionary housing payments etc should I get a private let.

theartfullodger

She'll be Intentionally Homeless & thus entitled to less advice and zero chance of social housing as she is making herself homeless by requesting to be evicted. ....

babyblade41

Eviction is difficult when a wrong has been done resulting in section 8 rent arrears .

It took me a year to evict my tenant with courts then bailiff, I did it myself but it is still costly .

Tenant was in receipt of HB and with a new born

After due precess was gone through they went into temp housing on the day bailiffs were sent in and had to stay there for 3 months

They were then offered out of area accommodation which I believe she took to get out of temp housing .

IMO what you are planning to do will be a failure and then make it even harder to get permanent social housing

AdrianC

SmashedAvacado wrote: »

I had assumed you knew what possession means? It means getting your property back. it doesnt mean you have to live there

<sigh> Yes. I know.

And the OP is not going to go to any lengths. He is merely making empty threats because his tenant is under the mistaken belief it's a shoe-in to a nice comfy secure cheap LA tenancy.

Don't. Work. Like. That.

And if the OP tries, he's going to find out.

A section 21 notice validly served at the relevant time is not an empty threat.

I think you might have forgotten about the routine issuing of s21s at the start of fixed-period tenancies, just in case.

Its a legal process, at the end at which you are required to leave

"Required" is a bit strong.
All it is is a legal way of saying "Oh, and btw, if you're still there in two months, I'm going to start to take the steps towards requiring you to leave. And the OP says he has no intention of actually doing that.

to enforce your rights you of course need a court order and then execution, but if you look at the actual guidance given to LA's they are not allowed any longer to insist you wait to get thrown out by a bailiff to consider you homeless.

No, but the guidance you posted requires them to be absolutely certain that would be the inevitable corollary. And, in this case, it isn't,

If an empty threat was all that was required, the housing list would be even longer.