Landlord & Tenant Dispute Solicitors North Wales & Cheshire - Legal Expertise for Landlords

Ending a Tenancy & Possession Claims

PSR Solicitors regularly take enquiries from Landlords and provide legal support where they want to terminate a tenancy.

There can be many reasons for this, reasons as simple as an assured shorthold tenancy agreement term coming to its rightful end, to situations where tenants have been found to be mistreating the property or participating in some form of anti-social behaviour.

In light of media coverage surrounding rogue Landlords, it’s fair to say the  Law currently provides strong protection and support for tenants, so it’s important that Landlords, looking to terminate tenancies or evict residents, take specialist legal advice from a qualified Landlord & Tenant Solicitor.

A Landlord cannot expel a tenant from their rented accommodation without first getting approval from the courts in the form of a court order for possession.

Specialist legal opinion should be sought from the team at PSR Solicitors if this scenario applies to you. We can offer the best advice and provide clarity over the options open to you and helping to bring about a swift and cost-effective solution to your situation will always be our prime objective.

For most tenancy agreements there are two main routes for Landlords to consider in order to secure possession of their property:

• Section 8 Notices
• Section 21 Notices

more information can be found below

Section 8 Notices

Where a landlord seeks to regain possession of a residential property before the full term of the tenancy is spent, they can serve a possession notice under the 1988 Housing Act: Section 8.

The Landlord is obliged to set out the reasons which they rely upon to end the tenancy and recover possession of their property.

The 1988 Housing Act sets out 17 potential ‘grounds’ for taking possession of the property. In our experience ‘Ground 8’ tends to be the most prevalent reason for a Landlord seeking possession of a property. Ground 8 obliges the Landlord to provide evidence that, at the date of serving the possession notice and at the date of the court hearing the tenant was 8 weeks or 2 months in arrears of rent.

Our team also find that Landlords of HMO’s (Houses of Multiple-Occupancy) seeking to remove tenants generally must cite Ground 14 regularly as well.

Other Grounds:

• Ground 1: The landlord requires the property in order to use it as their main residence. This ground can only be cited if previous to the property being let, the Landlord did in fact use the property as the main residence.
• Ground 2: The mortgage lender on the property has called in the loan and served notice to foreclose.  For this ‘ground’ to be applicable the mortgage on the property must predate the start of the tenancy.
• Ground 3: The property was previously employed as a holiday let and is now needed to be returned to ‘holiday let’ status.
• Ground 4: The property is being let (or sub-let under agreement) by an educational institution and is now required by students of the educational institution. Prior notice must have been given to the tenants about this possible eventuality at the start of the tenancy agreement
• Ground 5: The property is owned by a religious institution or body and they require possession for a member of their church.
• Ground 6: The landlord wants to redevelop or demolish and reconstruct, all or part of the property. The tenant needs to have refused to continue to reside in the property while work endures for this ‘ground’ to be applicable by the courts. Even where granted, the Landlord (at his own cost) must pay reasonable moving costs for the tenant.
• Ground 7: The current tenant is a ‘tenant heir’ meaning they are not the named tenant on the original tenancy agreement. A section 8 notice must be served by the Landlord within 12 months of the death of the named tenant.
• Ground 9: The tenant has refused to move into alternative and suitable accommodation offered by the Landlord. The landlord is again required to pay all reasonable costs to be incurred for ‘moving’ if possession is granted.
• Ground 10: Rent has not been paid but by no more than 8 weeks in the case of weekly payments, 2 months in the case of monthly payments and 1 quarter in the case of quarterly payments.
• Ground 11: Where the tenant is continuously late with payments or repeatedly fails to pay their rent until prompted by the landlord.
• Ground 12: Any of the terms of the tenancy agreement have been breached.
• Ground 13: The property has fallen into a state of disrepair or become unsafe due to the neglect or mistreatment of the tenant, or the tenants has sublet the property to someone else, who, in-turn has neglected or damaged the property.
• Ground 14: The tenant has been accused of anti-social behaviour or nuisance behaviour by neighbours or other tenants in the property, having received complaints concerning their conduct.
• Ground 15 Items listed on the property inventory have been destroyed, sold, misused, damaged, broken or sold by the tenant or any individual living with them.
• Ground 16: A condition of the property rental enshrined within the tenancy agreement was an obligation on the tenant to be in full-time employment and the tenant is no longer employed.
• Ground 17: The property was let on the basis of false information provided by the tenant or one of their referees/guarantor.

On their part, when served with a Section 8 notice, Tenants often take legal advice and seek legal representation to defend possession claims. Where any possession claim is disputed by the tenant, legal fees and court fees can soon mount up.

Taking early legal advice from expert Landlord & Tenant Dispute Solicitors such as our specialist team at PSR often proves the most cost-effective and intelligent means to ensure you get the best outcome. If the courts find in favour of the tenant, your only option as the Landlord is to start the whole process again incurring more costs.

PSR Solicitors will give you the best, tailored advice for your attempt to regain possession of your property. With our experience and forward-thinking, we will be able to predict as closely as possible, what the tenant's next move may be,  putting contingencies in place to pro-actively deal with their expected countermoves.

We also represent landlords at possession hearings.

Section 21 Notices

As set out in Section 21 of the 1988 Housing Act, Landlords can issue a 2-month possession notice. On the expiration of this 2-month notice period, the Landlord can start proceedings to secure a court order for regaining possession of the property. 

Section 21 notice rules and regulations are different for tenancies which started after 1st October 2015.  The law surrounding Section 21 notices is complex, so our best advice to Landlords is to seek the best legal advice to underpin your attempt to recover possession.

If certain technical and procedural obligations are not met, you could find your Section 21 notice being invalidated.  Landlords who find their possession claim proceedings thrown out of court also run the risk of being told to pay all legal costs incurred by the tenant.

Other Considerations for Landlords

When entering into a new tenancy agreement with a prospective Tenant, a Landlord must consider the following:

Tenancy Agreements

Many landlords neglect the crucial nature of having a robust but fair tenancy agreement drawn up. The Tenancy Agreement is a legally binding agreement between yourself as the Landlord and Tenant as the resident of the property.

This agreement sets out the exact terms of the tenancy, including major terms of the tenancy, such as the period of time the property will be let for, monthly rental cost, limitations on whether the property can be sub-let, and also it can define activities that are allowed or are not allowed to take place within the property etc.

Inventory

landlords are not obliged to make inventories but should always do so especially if they are to have any chance of making valid deductions from deposits for any damage or disrepair caused by tenants.

Tenancy Deposits

Recent changes to the legislation now mean that tenancy deposits must be protected in a government-approved tenancy deposit protection scheme. Registration with one of these schemes must happen within 30 days of receipt of the deposit.

A certificate of the protected deposit with said approved scheme must be provided to the tenant along with the deposit protection scheme leaflet

landlords need to approach deposits with considerable care as any omission or mistakes could leave you facing significant compensation claims.

Gas Safety

Landlords must ensure both gas supply and any gas appliances in the property are subject to annual inspection and certification by an approved gas engineer.

The gas safety certificate must be renewed every year, even if the tenant renting the property stays in situ for several years.

Failing to supply a valid gas safety certificate is accountable under criminal law.

Energy Performance Certificates (EPC's)

Landlords are now obliged by law to provide all incoming tenants with an EPC, with Landlords who fail to do so falling foul of fines and enforcement measures.

A critical piece of legislation means that Landlords cannot serve a Section 21 notice for any tenancies starting after the 1st October 2015, unless and until they have provided their tenants with an EPC.

How to Rent (Checklist for Renting in England & Wales)

Again starting for any tenancies that commenced on or after the 1^st October 2015, Landlords must provide Tenants with an updated version of the ‘How to Rent’ Booklet. Without doing so, it will also not be possible to serve a Section 21.

Inspecting the Property

The Landlord & Tenant Act 1985, Section 11, requires Landlords to undertake repairing obligations. Landlords should also keep a record of inspections of the property for their own due diligence.

Right to Rent

From the 1^st February, 2016 Landlords and property management are obliged to establish a tenant’s right to live in the UK. Failure to do so can result in prosecution.

The Landlord Solicitors at PSR Solicitors can help with any of these matters.

Why Choose PSR Solicitors?