UK Landlord Forum / Life

I wonder if someone on here can advise me of the following prob!
I want to evict a Tenant who has lived in a 3 storey house but, has always been a bad payer. Latterly he is now 4 months in arrears of his rent & has no intention of paying up, always gives 'false' promises of rent but, never does. He now says he cannot pay & therefore we must take the necessary steps to evict him! The trouble is he has been a tenant for 30 years & therefore is Protected but we 'cannot' continue like this with no rent coming in. Would very much appreciate if someone on here with legal knowledge can guide me as to how I can initiate proceedings to now evict him. I live in Exeter is their any Solicitors who would deal with a case like this on my behalf to anyones' knowledge. I have been very lenient with this tenant but, now this has got beyond a joke!!
Thanking You in anticipation of a helpful reply.
AJB

Evicting him is possible, and it will take some time - during which time the tenant will go further and further in to debt.
So the best course of action is to a) get some legal advice and b) consider if it's possible to negotiate a result.

You can only evict the tenant if the tenancy is in its statutory phase (usually they start as a contractual arrangement  - 6 months) and, when that's ended become statutory.
If they started off periodic, you'll need a notice to the tenant to move it to the statutory phase.

Arrears is a discretionary reason for eviction, so you'll have to get a court order to evict.
It's really useful to be seen to be in no rush and not an evil; grasping landlord picking on a poor tenant who happened to fall on hard times.

Document the false promises if you can and see a solicitor.
In theory, your legal costs are added to the debt he owes, but if he has nothing, your chances of seeing money are low.
Just be patient, don't let stress make a bad situation worse.