How to Obtain Possession of Your Property From a Tenant, a Step by Step Guide by Kristy Ainge

Kristy Ainge, Senior Associate in our Litigation Team, has created this step by step guide to help you obtain possession of your property from a tenant.

Step 1: Serve the tenant with the appropriate Notice.

There are various Notices that you can serve on a tenant to obtain possession of your property. You could serve a Notice to Quit, a Section 8 Notice or a Section 21 Notice. It depends on the type of your tenancy, and the grounds upon which you want your property back. For the purpose of this blog, we will assume its either a Section 21 Notice or a Section 8 Notice.

We will review your tenancy agreement, any guarantor agreement, and any other documents, and draft the appropriate notice on your behalf. If certain steps need to be carried out prior to serving a notice, such as serving some documentation on the tenant, we will advise you about this before serving the notice.

It is vital that you serve the correct, compliant notice. We have seen many occasions where a landlord has served their own notice, waited the notice period to issue proceedings, and then found out their original notice is not compliant and had to instruct us to serve it again, and wait for the notice period to expire once again. This delays the process and can be costly; particularly if the landlord is not receiving rent.

Step 2: Issue proceedings.

If the tenant still refuses to vacate once the notice expires (and the notice period depends on what ground you seek possession), then you must issue proceedings with the Court. You should never enter the property and evict the tenant yourself because you could face a claim against you for unlawful eviction, and end up being ordered to pay thousands of pounds to the tenant in compensation.

Step 3: Attend the court hearing (unless it is an accelerated Section 21).

The tenant has an opportunity to put in a Defence to the claim as to why they aren’t vacating prior to the possession hearing. Most tenants very rarely do this and will seek advice from the lawyer providing free advice at the Court on that day. If the paperwork is in order, and depending on the ground for possession, it’s unlikely the tenant will be able to defend the possession proceedings. If the tenant raises issues about disrepair in the property being the reason that they aren’t paying rent (which they have complained about numerous times to the landlord), then the matter may be relisted and head to trial.

The usual time period for the court granting possession of a property will be 14 days. However, if the tenant can prove to the Judge that they would suffer “exceptional hardship” if possession was granted in 14 days, then the Judge can consider extending this period up to a maximum of 42 days.

Step 4: Enter the property/obtain a Warrant of Possession.

If the tenant has handed the keys back to you or your Estate Agents, then they have given up possession and you can enter the property and change the locks. However, if the tenant has not given you back the keys, then you need to be careful about entering the property. If there is any indication the tenant is still in the property you must not enter.

If that is the case, then you need to apply to the Court for a Warrant of Possession, which means that an appointment is made for a bailiff to attend the property on a fixed date to remove the tenant. You and the tenant will be advised about the date, and you should attend with a locksmith. The bailiff can use reasonable force to evict the tenant.

Once the tenant has left, you can change the locks, and do what you need to do with your property.

If there are items left in the property, you need to take care of disposing of such items and should seek legal advice. Otherwise, you could end up with a claim against you for discarding of an old vintage item worth thousands!