If you have rent arrears which you are simply unable to repay your landlord will probably try to take back possession of their property and evict you.

Your landlord cannot simply throw you out of your home. It is against the law for them to try and do so without first following the correct legal procedure. In most cases they will need to apply to the Court for an Eviction Order.

The process that your landlord must follow to evict you from your home differs depending on whether you are renting from a private or a social housing landlord such as a housing association or local authority.

Eviction from privately rented property after the fixed rental period

If you are renting from a private landlord it is likely that you will have signed a Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement. This means that you and your landlord have agreed that you will be allowed to stay in the property for a fixed number of months (normally 6 but it could be longer) after which the agreement can then be extended or renewed.

Given that you have this type of agreement it is relatively easy for your landlord to ask you to leave the property after you have come to the end of the fixed period of your agreement whether you are in arrears with your rent or not using the accelerated possession procedure.

Based on this process your landlord can ask you to leave without any reason as long as you have come to the end of your fixed period of your agreement and they have given you two months notice.

If you refuse to leave the property by the time the notice to leave runs out your landlord will then have to get a court order to evict you. However in most cases the court will automatically grant the Order without having a Hearing. You will then be told to leave the property no longer than 14 days after the Order is granted.

BMD Tip: If you do not leave the property by the date on the eviction notice your landlord is then likely to apply to the court for a warrant of possession and you will be forcibly evicted by bailiffs.

What if eviction means you are going to be homeless?

If as a result of receiving a Court Order to leave the property you are going to be homeless it is possible that your local Council will have to re-house you. If you believe you qualify for Council accommodation you should not move out until the council has confirmed they are going to re-house you in writing. This will stop them from finding you intentionally homeless.

The council does not have to re-house everyone who is homeless. If you are going to be homeless but you do not think the council will have to re-house you can ask the court to delay your eviction on the grounds of exceptional hardship. You can do this by filling in the defence form.

A court does have the power to delay the eviction on hardship grounds but only for a maximum of six weeks (42 days) after the date on the possession order. You would have to prove that leaving by the date on the possession order would cause you exceptional hardship.

Can you request a Court Hearing?

If your private landlord has applied to the court to evict you after the end of the fixed period of your tenancy agreement there will only be a hearing at the Court if you return the defence form arguing that you should not have to leave the property.

A Judge will look at the information you have given and consider whether or not there needs to be a Court Hearing. They will normally only agree to have a Hearing if your landlord has not followed the correct eviction procedure or if you believe that your landlord has put incorrect information on the claim form.

If there is a Hearing then you will have an opportunity to argue your side of the story and make an offer to repay your arrears. In some cases even though they have taken you to court to evict you your landlord may be persuaded to let you stay in the property as long as you agree to pay back the money you owe and you do not fall behind with your rent again.

Eviction from privately rented property during the fixed rental period

Generally speaking if you get into rent arrears during the fixed period of your Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement your landlord will just wait until the fixed-term has come to an end and then use the accelerated possession procedure to evict you.

However if your landlord wants to evict you before the fixed-term has come to an end they will be unable to use the accelerated possession procedure. In these circumstances they will need to use a longer procedure to evict you.

Your landlord will need to give the court a reason why they want evict you. There will probably be a Court Hearing where your landlord will have to prove that it is reasonable to evict you for rent arrears and you will get the chance to put your case to the Judge.

It is possible that you will be allowed to stay in the property if you can prove that you are able to keep up with the rent payments and pay back the arrears that you owe in a sensible period of time.

Will I have to repay my rent arrears if I am evicted?

When your landlord asks the court to give them a possession order on your home they may also ask for a money judgement. This is an ordinary CCJ (County Court Judgement) ordering you to pay the landlord back any arrears you owe them even after you have left the property.

If your landlord is granted a CCJ you are then obliged to start making regular payments towards the debt. If you do not do so the old landlord can then take further legal action against you. This could be an application for an attachment of earnings where the Court would allow money to be deducted from your wages to pay off the debt.

If your landlord gets a CCJ against you, it will affect you credit rating. You may have difficulty getting credit and borrowing money in the future.

The social landlord eviction process

Before trying to take any legal action to evict you a social housing landlord must be able to show that they have followed the pre-action protocol.

Where this protocol has been followed and court action is still necessary the steps that a social housing landlord has to take before starting court action are as follows

– Send you a warning, called a notice of seeking possession or a notice to quit
– Send you court papers
– Get a court order called a possession order
– Get a warrant of possession
– Get a notice of eviction sent to you by the bailiffs.

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