UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hello I have been on another Forum but have not had any luck with good advice.

I have a property with tenants in and require them to leave.

They have spoken with the council who have advised them to stay in the property ,until the bailiffs turn up. The tenants have been good so far but can't afford to go into private rent. They have been in the property since last year, I didn't sign an agreement or take a deposit because they used to be good family friends. I have looked on line and am having difficulties finding a correct agent, so looking at an agent to start the process for me.

any advice would be great or any recommended agents?

thanks

Have you actually issued a valid Section 21 yet? If not, that should be your first move. There's a list of eviction specialists on this site:

http://www.propertyinvestmentproject.co.uk/blog/a-list-of-tenant-eviction-professionals/

I've not had cause to use one so I can't make any personal recommendations.

I believe you will find you are in the doo doo without an agreement in place.  You can only serve a section 21 notice at the end of a fixed term on a Assured Shorthold tenancy agreement.  I too am having to evict tenants also so they can get on the housing list of the local council.

I believe you can put an agreement in place now and once it expires then you can serve a section 21 notice.  They will have to stay in the property and not move out as per the section 21 notice so you will then have to go to court to get them evicted. 


I found this site quite useful.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/gaining-possession-of-a-privately-rented-property-let-on-an-assured-shorthold-tenancy

My experience of agents is that they are rubbish if you cannot do it yourself then phone at least 3 solicitors and get a price. 

The lack of a written agreement isn't necessarily a problem, as long as there's evidence of when the tenancy began and the six month minimum term for an AST has elapsed. What may be a problem, however, is the lack of an EPC, Gas safety certificate and copy of "How to Rent".

Andkay isn't quite right...
If you have no written agreement you can as per Simon'a advice still serve a S21 notice.  The only real difference is that without the written agreement you cannot ask for the accelerated posssesion order and so a court hearing is mandatory.

Simon's doubt on the EPC and Gas Cert is well founded.  Technically the statute doesn't actually say either has to be provided at the start of the tenancy in respect of serving the S21 just they have to be given to the tenant before the s21.

See here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/1646/pdfs/uksi_20151646_en.PDF

You will note there is clearly para 2(2) indicating the time limit on the gas cert doesn't apply
You will also note there is no time specified in para 3 (even though of course a How to Rent document really only makes sense at the start of a tenancy - if you think it makes any sense at all in the first place).
The tricky one is para 2(1)(a) the EPC.  For some reason it only refers to regulation 6(5) of the Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 which in itself does not refer to the EPC being served at the start of the tenancy.
The rest of regulation 6 of the Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 clearly is intending the EPC to be served at the start.  It seems that the legal draugtsman intentionally picks the sub clause and not the entire clause.

Whilst this has not been tested in the appellate courts (so nobody knows) there is an general legal opinion that service of the documents after the start of the tenancy but before the S21 must be permissible otherwise it would mean a S21 could never be served which in effect creates an Assured Tenancy and that could not have been the intention.

Unfortunately it is not clear and as I have written on this forum many times you are at the whim of the lower court judge.

Best of luck