UK Landlord Forum / Life

I am confused and feel a bit silly for not knowing the answer.  As many times as I read it I get confused so I don't want to waste more valuable money on evicting my tenant and from a moral point of view I want to do things in the correct manner.

My tenant has an AST, it was signed on the 13/5/15 he has arrears of thousands, he has wrecked the garden, he has not cleaned or looked after the property in any way shape of form.  I have asked him to clean the house as its dirty (really dirty), empty the garden as he has what looks like a house clearance in the back garden.  He does not pay his rent on time, the arrears are increasing every month (circa £3k).  I served him a section 21 on the 12/11/15 and asked him to vacate on the 13/1/16.  Here lies my confusion.

I was about to use the accelerated possession procedure and then it hit my like a brick, I read that you can't evict whilst the AST is in force, am I correct?  However, I also read that you can if they are damaging your property like I have explained above.  So now I am really confused if I can evict or not.  Can someone please help and guide me on what I can or cant do.

I really appreciate people time, help and understanding, I just want to get my house back before it is truly wrecked.

Thank you and regards,
Paul

You need to state what date your AST terminates.

Apologies.

12 May 2016

Quote from: M3 Evo on February 10, 2016, 03:15:01 PM
Apologies.

12 May 2016

The tenant is under contract until 12 May. You cannot use a section 21 until two months before, which gives them two months notice.

I would foget about section 21. I would get some legal advice about going the section 8 route.  You need grounds.  Non payment of rent sounds the way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_8_Notice

 Most AST agreements have a clause allowing two months notice to be given, however Courts will not allow this notice to be given during the first 6 months. Check your agreement wording.