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tenant eviction

Started by emarsdenpolli, March 06, 2015, 11:48:33 AM

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emarsdenpolli

Hi can anyone advise me of my next move re evicting my tenant? I have issued a section 8 which advised/requested the tenant vacate by 16th March. I have heard nothing from the tenant even though I sent a letter recently asking when they intended to leave. I feel they are going to ignore and sit tight. Whats my next step please? iv been online looking at The Sherriffs office services etc but its very confusing. Can anyone tell me in plain English what I do next? :(

Riptide

http://www.propertyinvestmentproject.co.uk/blog/how-to-evict-tenants/

Step 3 – getting a court order:

Once the Section 8 notice has expired and if the tenant has not paid you the rent due or moved out of your property, you may apply for a hearing at a County Court. For more information on arranging a hearing at a county court, please go to the County Court HMCS page.

Step 4 – get the bailiffs involved

Having won the repossession order in court, most tenants will vacate your property as instructed. However, if they do not, you must arrange for Court Bailiffs to remove your tenant.

Riptide

Have you told them that failure to leave by the end of the section 8 will force your hand into court action and bailiffs which they will be liable for the cost of?

The Sheriffs Office

Apologies if you're confused.

As Riptide says you firstly have to apply for a hearing at the County Court and obtain an 'order for possession'.

It is at point 4 where your options open.

Before making your application for a hearing should enquire as to whether there are any delays with the County Court Bailiffs. Depending on where you are the time in which a CCB can act is anywhere from 4 weeks to 6 months.

If the delay is over 6 weeks, you may want to request that the Judge allows the transfer of enforcement proceedings to the High Court under Section 42 of the County Court Act 1984. If granted, this will allow you to use The Sheriffs Office to evict the tenant, usually within a few days.

A free guide is available for download here: http://thesheriffsoffice.com/resources/tenant-eviction-ebook

If you do have any questions on our service please do not hesitate to contact us.

RickC

With respect, the Sheriffs Office just touting for business all over the forum, there may be a time when you need high court enforcement but this is OTT

Tenants are advised by Councils to ignore and stay until they are evicted, it is the local housing office's way of delaying their obligations, it is nuts for the tenant and the Landlord but that is the way it is.

Simply send or deliver a letter telling them that you will have to take them to Court and it will cost them more, try to encourage them to contact you saying that you want to proceed amicably if they will let you.

You have not even started Court proceedings and this guy wants you to bring in the heavies and circumvent the standard eviction process which is up to 42 days, but in my experience if there are arrears you can get 14 days, just depends on the judge.

The reality is that once you get someone out you want them to pay, if they have no money they have no money, getting a CCJ is all very well but if they have no assets to speak of then what is the point. 

In my opinion these guys just make huge fees at the misery of people.

Follow the proper legal process, if they do not leave in the Court allocated time, then that is the time to consider bailiffs and I mean proper Court bailiffs not these so called high court bailiffs

Push a tenant too far and things can happen

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2270291/Tenant-stabbed-landlord-death-dismembered-body-asked-rent-arrears.html








The Sheriffs Office

Clearly RICKC knows little about what he is talking about.

The use of HCEOs is only required if the normal County Court Bailiffs cannot undertake your eviction in a reasonable time. The process is no different and the Enforcement Agents will be sympathetic to the situation in the same way the CCB is. If the tenant's are vulnerable then there are set policies in place.

As far as 'making huge fees and a misery of people' well that is just nonsense. The fees are dictated by market forces and for us at least are circa £395. This allows for a reasonable profit but certainly not a significant one once everything is factored in.

If you can work with the tenant to ensure they leave when the order is granted then this is clearly the best for everybody.

The services of any enforcement provider should always be used as a last resort.

Ray

Well the issue is that if a tenant is in receipt of housing benefits and has nowhere to move to, the council will not house them up until the point that the tenant receives a letter stating that bailiff action has been taken. So you can send numerous letters/notices, but if a tenant is aware of this fact then they may well just sit there.

If and when they eventually do receive a letter stating that bailiff action has been taken, they may take this to the council immediately to receive emergency housing, or whatever it's called, or they may decide to sit in your property until much closer to the time of the bailiffs visit and then vacate (or not vacate at all and get tossed out) - this is when using a HCEO is much more convenient, as you'll only have to wait (potentially) 48 hours as opposed to (potentially) 6 months for this to happen.

There's also the fact that if the tenant doesn't surrender the property of their own accord and provide you evidence of this, the bailiff is the one who will eventually have to sign off the receipt, when they visit, stating that possession of the property is now yours again. So again using a HCEO would accelerate this procedure.

The problem is that most people don't think to check beforehand how bad the backlog is with the local CCB's (I certainly didn't), and just make an application through the court. Once they learn about HCEO's, they've probably waited so long that they may as well wait another fortnight and not pay ~£400. Otherwise HCEO's can be extremely useful and, in fact, save you money as you'll be able to rent your property out much sooner. I speak from experience, I would be over £1000 in pocket right now if I knew about HCEO's before I had my foul T removed.

Also, you could push your organic grocer too far and he too would dismember you and feed you to his pet turkey. That's one of way of terrifying new landlord into not communicating with tenants who are in arrears - new landlords, be sure to communicate with your tenants, I'm sure most of them aren't chemically imbalanced.

Hippogriff

Agreed. Things go quickly wrong when one side clams-up.

Even if all you're getting is new inventive excuses (as I have experienced to my chagrin) at least the line of communication is open... which has got to better than having the shutters brought down.

Michael

I was in court today, my tenants did not show up so they must now leave in two weeks.

I fancy they will wait for a bailiff's letter to show to the council and then be rehoused.

Can you tell me anything about the bailiff taking cars? When and how?

Thanks,

Michael

TrustedTenant

I Canada the system is similar but slightly more efficient as the government office has the power to issue possession orders and one only has to register that order in court.

The Sheriffs Office

Michael, if you have obtained a combined judgment for possession and the money due then the Bailiff or HCEO can enforce this at the same time.

It would be wise to check with your Court as to the timescales of their own bailiffs as this can be lengthy. We have also heard of Court bailiffs refusing to enforce both aspects of the order at the same time.

If you do use an HCEO then you will have to allow minimum of 7 clear days (approx 12 in practice) for a Notice of Enforcement to be sent for the money. This requirement came in under the Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013. However, this could be served within the 14 day period they have to vacate.

When it comes to seizing and removing cars it will come down to firstly whether the car is on finance and secondly what the value is, at auction in a sale and to the judgment debtor. Have a read of this article:

http://thesheriffsoffice.com//articles/seizure_and_sale_of_motor_vehicles