UK Landlord Forum / Life

hi all.
i served a section 21 on my non paying tenants around 6 months ago but not yet taken them to court to evict. would it be too late now to follow it up, or would it be better to serve another eviction notice?
any advice would be great thankyou

Why?

What changed?

Given the time frames elapsed, I would use a Solicitor.

When the section 21 notice takes effect depends on whether they have:
a fixed term tenancy – for a fixed period of time (for example 6 months or 1 year)
a periodic tenancy – running indefinitely from one rent period to the next (for example from week to week, or month to month)
When a Section 21 notice is valid
For a section 21 notice to be valid, it must be in writing and at least two months long. The notice does not have to be in any special form.
they still do not have to leave when the notice period expires.
To evict you the landlord must take them to court to get a possession order. you can do this any time after the notice period expires. even if they have a fixed-term tenancy, before starting court action you must also wait until the fixed-term has expired, unless there is a 'break clause'. This is a clause that allows you the landlord to end the tenancy early.
you can however pay £500 to private bailiffs and as long as you have been to court and a judgement made on when they should vacate the premises then the bailiffs can go to the high court and evict them that same day

hope that helps ;)Richie

In relation to what Richie says above the process is usually a little longer than that as you require leave under S42 of the County Court Act 1984 to transfer the proceedings from the County Court to the High Court (for enforcement purposes only.)

If you do intend to use an HCEO to get the eviction done quickly you are far better applying for this at the same time as you apply for the possession order. Applications after this have a hit and miss chance of being granted.

Here is some info on the process that's worth reading before commencing for an order for possession: http://thesheriffsoffice.com/articles/residential_repossession_using_section_42

yep that indeed is true