UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi,

I am in the process of trying to evict my tenants without going through a company. Any advice would be very much appreciated.

sect 21 (a) issued by letting agent on 24/4/12 - expired 28/06/12

Tenant initially stated she would be moving but on expiration of sect 21 stated that she wanted to be rehoused by the council. We were in no rush so left it in the hope that she would move of her own accord. We now need our house back in order to move in ourselves and she is still claiming she wants to be rehoused by council. I spoke to the local council direct and they advised that I take her to court myself.

I have completed forms
-N5B - claim form for possession of property (accelerated procedure)(assured shorthold tenancy)
-N215 - certificate of service - proof to be signed by letting agent re service of sect21
-Have attached tenancy agreement, copy of sect21 and deposit information certificate

A couple of questions:
1) the original tenancy agreement was between myself and 2 tenants - 1 has since moved out following a disagreement between themselves so the remaining tenant signed a new tenancy agreement.
Q4 on N5B asks "was the LL and T the same people at the start of the replacement tenancy agreement as the LL and T at the end of the tenancy which it replaced?"
I have ticked yes as one of the T is still the same - Is this correct?

2) Can anyone tell me what the next steps will be, ie if all the paperwork is in order will I just receive a possession order from the court and then need to find my own bailiffs or do I need to wait for court appointed bailiffs?

Has anyone gone down this route before and can advise me on any possible stumbling blocks, timeframe. I have been made aware that judges will throw it out for the smallest of discrepancies but I am not in a position to pay £'s to a company to do it on my behalf.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

TIA
(apologies for long winded post)

ps tenant has continued to pay rent, though is one month in arrears

Hello Jojo1

I went through eviction process back end of last year - please scroll back and take a look at my postings titles"eviction & possession - thoughts please" and "eviction - advice, tips, info please"

I can't help you on q1 but time frames were (from top of my head) tenants contact ended end July, order of possession end of September, tenants promised to leave 10th Oct so held off from instructing Bailiffs, had a good think (week or so) then instructed high court enforcement - tenants out 21st Oct - had I opted for regular Bailiffs I might still be waiting now!!

A solicitor did my paper work, submitted, liaised etc.  I then dealt with the High court enforcement. 

Good news is that (like my tenants) if they are waiting to be rehoused by council they are unlikely to default on the rent.

Hope this helps you, good luck!

1houselandlord
Many thanks for your reply. Having read your previous post, similar circumstances. Thanks for letting me know re possible timescale. I know all cases will be different. I take it you had to go through the court again to instruct high court enforcement officers.

Would like to hear from someone who has done the paperwork and submitted to court themselves to advise re any possible pitfalls. Still possibly contemplating having a solicitor look at paperwork to save it getting thrown out, depending on cost. 

I did the whole process myself, albeit slowly. Unfortunately I utilised a section 8 and therefore had to attend a court hearing. I did, however, win my case, so I can provide you with the following information:

If your paperwork is correct, you and your T will receive a copy of the possession order. This will state a date by which T must leave the property - assuming that you are using the PCOL system (like I did), and that T still hasn't vacated the property, on the final date a new option will appear on your 'case' online where you will be able to request a county court bailiff (a warrant of possession or something along those lines). You will make a payment for this, somewhere around £100, and the CCB will send you a letter with a date for which the possession is booked.

The most common stumbling block is the date you put on the notice - I still don't understand this, but many solicitors will check the date and advise you as to the validity of your notice, completely free of charge. You'll likely have to provide some scanned documents for this, however.

My first ever eviction with the bailiff is going ahead tomorrow, feel free to check out the thread i just posted as you may have the same questions I have now, a few months down the line. Also try not to stress, most of the process is waiting which you can't do anything about!

Ray,
Thank you so much for your reply. Was losing faith!
I will follow your post with interest. I am getting letting agent to sign notice re serving sect 21 today and then will be popping them in the post along with all forms and exhibits etc. Unable to do PCOL as no rent arrears as such (just one month).

Regards and good luck.

My initial notice was drafted by a solicitor, as it was my first time and I wanted to be sure. It was invalid, but I caught it before submitting. I cross-checked the subsequent one with multiple solicitors and it was fine! Your letting agent should do this perfectly, however. Getting an appt with the bailiff will take about 8 weeks - so be prepared or look into HCEOs if you want things to go quicker. Best of luck with your situation, hope it all goes well. Don't hesitate to PM me if you need advice with anything (even though I'm a beginner myself!), I'll try my best to help.