How do I get possession of my property?

Once a tenancy is underway the landlord at some point may wish to seek possession of the property. The first and most important factor is that any notice for possession should be served in accordance with the terms of the agreement.

How do I get possession of my property?

There are different ways to seek possession of the property depending on whether your tenancy is an Assured Short Tenancy (AST) or common law tenancy. There are two legal ways to secure possession of your property. Either through the tenant surrendering the tenancy or through gaining a court order granting possession.

Gaining possession in accordance with the break clause or at the end of the tenancy.

Assuming your tenancy has a break clause or if you wish to secure possession of the property at the end of tenancy you will need to serve a ‘notice’ on the tenant depending on what type of agreement is in place. There are various guidelines you must follow to ensure notice is served correctly. If you serve notice incorrectly whether it is addressed incorrectly or the appropriate notice period has not been given it may be null and void. In this instance you would need to re-serve the notice from scratch meaning a longer period would have elapsed until you can gain possession.

What notices must I serve?

A Section 21 notice (of the Housing Act 1988) must be served to correctly determine an AST. No reason for needing possession is needed. There are various criteria which need to be satisfied in order for the notice to be served correctly. Should a tenant not vacate, assuming a Section 21 notice has been served and expired the landlord can immediately apply to the court for accelerated possession proceedings.

A Notice to quit can be served to determine a common law tenancy. The notice period of a notice to quit should be no less than one ‘period’. For example if the tenant pays monthly the notice cannot be for less than one month.

Do I need a solicitor to serve these notices for me?

At Morgan Randall as part of our service we will ensure the tenant is served with the correct notice. We are also able to offer this service to tenants not introduced by Morgan Randall. All we require is a copy of the Tenancy Agreement and we can serve this for you. In some circumstances we can even put you in touch with industry expert solicitors to guide you through the process should the tenant not vacate the property.

How do I seek possession of the property if my tenant has breached the tenancy agreement?

If your tenant has breached a clause of the agreement you may be able to gain possession through obtaining a court order. Generally a formal letter is sent to the tenant giving them the opportunity to correct the breach within a reasonable timeframe. If this does not happen, you can serve notice giving the tenant (generally) 14 days to correct the breach. In this notice (served by a solicitor) it will contain details on which grounds the landlord is applying for possession. Once this notice expires, the landlord can apply for a court hearing at the county court. The court will look on you favourably if you have given the tenant reasonable notice in which to correct the breach which will help demonstrate you have made all efforts to prevent court action but are left with no alternative.

How can Morgan Randall help?

We can give guidance based on our training and experience. Depending upon the nature of the situation we may also be able to put you in touch with a firm of solicitors if you are keen to initiate proceedings. We may also be able to organise this on your behalf due to the longstanding relationship we have with our solicitors.

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