Evicting Tenants: Our Step-by-Step Legal Guide

Fortunately, evicting tenants doesn’t have to be stressful!

Instructing a competent solicitor is easier and more cost-effective than you might think. At Best Solicitors, we have a straight forward fee structure that covers each step of the eviction process.

Assuming your tenant has a legal tenancy agreement in place, the legal procedure to evict your tenant is as follows:

Step 1: Issue a Statutory Notice Seeking Possession

We will discuss with you your requirements and reasons for evicting your tenants. We understand that it is not always because your tenant is being difficult, disruptive, or not paying rent that causes you to need to commence the eviction process.

After discussing matters with you and reviewing your tenancy agreement, we will prepare an appropriate statutory notice and send this to your tenant along with an appropriately worded letter.

Section 21 notice: £75 + VAT (£90) per notice

Section 8 notice: £150 + VAT (£180) per notice

Step 2: Issue Court Proceedings for Possession

If your tenant remains in the property after the notice expires, then the next step is to issue possession proceedings at court to obtain a possession order.

If service of the relevant statutory notice does not resolve matters and your tenant does not leave the property, you must obtain a possession order from the court to regain possession. There are different methods for obtaining a possession order and we will discuss with you which is the most appropriate for your situation. We will then guide you through this process and prepare all the necessary paperwork which must be submitted to the court to obtain the possession order that you need to evict your tenant.

We understand that this can be a stressful situation and therefore we will liaise with your tenant or their legal representatives on your behalf. If necessary, we will also represent you in court.

We will charge a fixed fee to prepare the claim form:

Section 21 claim form £250 plus VAT (£300)

Section 8 claim form (£100plus VAT £120) plus with section 8 claim forms additional court paperwork is required called Particulars of Claim. We charge a fixed fee of £300 plus VAT (total £360) to prepare the Particulars of Claim

Please also note there is a court fee of £355 to issue possession proceedings.

After completing the claim forms we will work on an hourly rates basis, with the exception of instructing a bailiff which will be a fixed charge.

Step 3: Enforcement

If a possession order is granted you will still need to apply for a warrant of eviction and if successful, the warrant will have a date and times when bailiffs can attend the property and evict your tenant.

If your tenant refuses to leave the property after the court has issued a possession order it will be necessary to instruct court bailiffs. We can prepare and submit the necessary paperwork to the court, advise you when an eviction date has been set and let you know if you need to do anything else or make any other arrangements.

Instruction of bailiff £70 plus VAT (£84) plus the applicable court fee.

Evicting Tenants: Important Points to Remember

It is worth noting even if your tenant’s tenancy agreement has expired, they still have what is known as a statutory periodic tenancy and you still need to follow the above steps. If you change the locks before bailiffs enter or before your tenant hands in their keys you are committing unlawful eviction and your tenant can seek an injunction to be re-instated into the property and at the same time sue you for damages for the unlawful eviction at a daily rate. If your tenant does not have a legal tenancy agreement you will still need to give notice, but not a formal notice seeking possession.

The COVID 19 pandemic has made evicting tenants a lengthier process; notice periods for possession have been extended and possession proceedings are currently stayed (suspended) until 31 July 2021. This means even if the court issues your claim for possession it will automatically stay until 31 July 2021. Please also note the stay date keeps getting extended. Possession proceedings initially stayed on 27 March 2020 until 20 September 2020, this date was extended to 29 January 2021 and again to 31 July 2021. It may therefore get extended again closer to the deadline. However, for urgent matters, the court will not stay the proceedings.

If your tenant defends possession proceedings, then court proceedings can be lengthy (years), and expensive. If you are successful in obtaining possession your tenant may be ordered to pay your legal costs. Please note your tenant may simply not have the money to pay your legal costs. If your tenant is legally aided, it is difficult to enforce any costs order against them. In addition, your tenant may not pay the amount due under any order and you would then incur further costs and time in commencing enforcement proceedings.

To save on incurring further costs by issuing proceedings at the court it may be worth asking if your tenant would willingly surrender their tenancy or even offer a financial incentive to leave. If you still wish to start the eviction process before serving your tenant with a Notice Seeking Possession, generally you should have:

Provided your tenant with an Energy Performance Certificate
Provided your tenant with a valid Gas Safety Certificate
Provided your tenant with a How to Rent in England and Wales guidance booklet
Protected the deposit in an authorised deposit protection scheme within 30 days of receiving it
Provided the tenant with the paperwork you would have received from the authorised deposit protection scheme including the deposit protection certificate.

Failure to do so may invalidate your notice. You should be aware of the Equality Act and make enquiries with your tenant to see if they are disabled. Equality Act defences are now commonly being raised. You would need to show that seeking possession is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate objective if your tenant raises an Equality Act defence.

There are several other rules depending on what notice you serve. There are 2 types of notices:

1. Section 8 notice
2. Section 21 notice

Simply put, a section 8 notice requires some fault from your tenant and a section 21 notice is used when there has been no fault from your tenant.

*Correct as at 15/04/2021

For more information on evicting tenants, please contact the friendly Best Solicitors team.

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