Tenant Eviction FAQs
Generally tenant eviction proceedings under an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) start with either the serving of a Section 8 or a Section 21 Notice Seeking Possession.
The notices have to be filled out correctly, contain specific dates and details, and have very specific wording. Our eviction section notices are solicitor approved and court tested. Our unique system will guide you through a set of simple questions to get the notice correct every time with no stress on your part.
Yes - quickly and simply. As long as you are in possession of basic tenancy information that every landlord will know, and you enter it truthfully and accurately in the simple form fields then you will get a LEGALLY CORRECT notice at a price you won't beat. There are no difficult questions to answer.
Yes - quickly, simply and CORRECTLY at a price you won't beat. Our online system can create the Section 21 notice immediately after you fill out some basic information on the tenancy.
Our guide will help you make the right selection at the outset.
Yes, the Section 8 and Section 21 notices are stored on our system and can be re-created/printed at any date in the future at no cost to you.
Yes, as soon as payment is made and you have completed the simple forms your notices are available immediately. We'll even tell you how to serve your notice in a foolproof manner.
At the end of a written Assured Shorthold Tenancy, your tenant is legally entitled to leave without giving you any notice at all (as long as they are gone by midnight on the last day of the tenancy). However you as the landlord have no such rights to get them out at the end of the tenancy. For you the end date of the tenancy agreement is not the date you can force them to go, but the earliest date that you can start court proceedings to get them out (as long as they do not owe you at least 2 months' in unpaid rent, which is a different story).
There are many other reasons apart from 2 months' rent arrears that you might want a tenant out at the end of the tenancy. For example: it was only ever going to be a short let. You want to move back in yourself. The tenants have upset the neighbours or damaged the property etc.
A tenant will sign anything at move in time, including a receipt for a Section 21 notice. They then cannot deny having received the notice later on. The notice stays in effect until it is rescinded in writing or a new tenancy is issued. You do not have to act on the notice should the tenancy go well. Most importantly, if things do not go well during the first 6 months you can action the notice immediately on the end of the 6 month period rather than serve a notice at the end of the tenancy and have to wait 2 more months to begin court proceedings to recover your property. IMPORTANT: Legally a section 21 cannot be served until the deposit is protected. It would be wise to post date your section 21 (and any form the tenant signs to acknowledge receipt) by 30 days from the move in date.
No! The section 21 and section 8 process is for England and Wales only.
Weekly Section 8 notice are very straightforward whereas weekly Section 21 notices are not. There are too many avenues of complication with notice expiry dates on weekly tenancies - especially if their duration is specified in months and they are of a periodic nature - for our current system to cope with. We are working on a more complex algorithm to cope with weekly Section 21s and we hope to have this ready in the near future.
You should only use them for Assured Shorthold Tenancies, and for the Section 8 only an Assured Shorthld Tenancy that is paid annually, quarterly, monthly, 2 weekly or weekly. If the rent is paid in another timescale (such as 4 weekly, 6 monthly or per University term length) then the judge is likely to reject the notice as the grounds do not cover those time-frames.
The law states that AT LEAST 2 months rent MUST BE UNPAID for tenancy agreements that are paid monthly, and AT LEAST 8 weeks rent MUST BE UNPAID for tenancy agreements that are paid weekly. This does NOT mean you have to wait a full 2 months or 8 weeks. AS LONG AS your tenancy agreement stipulates rent is paid in advance (most do) then rent is legally due on the first day of every rent month (or week), starting from the first day of the tenancy. This means that, for a monthly paying tenancy, more than 2 months' rent is unpaid 1 month and 1 day apart. Let me explain this with an example to make it absolutely clear: Your tenant moves in on the 10th January (his tenancy also starts on that date) and pays you the first month's rent. His next payment is due on the 10th February but he doesn't pay. His next payment is due 10th March but he doesn't pay. 2 months' rent is now unpaid, but the law is that MORE THAN 2 months' rent is unpaid. On the 11th March (presuming he doesn't pay anything) 2 months' and 1 day's worth of rent is unpaid, so you can now serve your Section 8 notice. This is important to understand as it allows you to legally start eviction proceedings based on a Section 8 notice much sooner that if you wait for 2 months to be fully 'in arrears' (i.e. when the 3rd month without payment comes around).
You should only ever post the notice using 1st class mail by going into the Post Office, giving it to the counter clerk and asking for a stamped proof of postage. Using this method your notice will be deemed by the court to have been delivered 2 working days after it was posted, regardless of whether the tenant actually received it then or not and regardless of whether they deny receipt. You must NEVER send your notice by any form of recorded delivery because if the tenant refuses to sign for it then the court will not accept it as delivered and your claim will be thrown out. Hand delivery is also best avoided as it requires witnesses (who may have to attend court) in case the tenant tries to deny receiving it.