News

Regaining possession of a buy-to-let property

14th November 2022

There can be variety of reasons why someone becomes a landlord; this could be as an investment or because they own a property that they do not need to live in.

There can also be several reasons why a landlord may want to recover possession of their property. They may need a property back to meet their own housing need or for redevelopment, to sell it, or they just no longer want to be a landlord.

Currently a landlord can seek possession without needing to have a particular reason (a ‘no fault’ eviction) by serving a ‘section 21’ notice. The future of this option is uncertain though as there are currently plans under the Renters’ Reform Bill to abolish this route and to bring in other reforms to tenancies.

A landlord may also wish to recover possession because they have a tenant who is in arrears or breaching terms of the tenancy agreement.

Recovering possession of a property by a landlord requires the landlord to give the appropriate notice and then issue court proceedings to obtain an order for possession if the tenant does not leave on expiry of the notice.

Whatever the circumstances, the rules regarding repossession and eviction are complex but our experienced dispute resolution solicitors can assist and can advise you on:

• the grounds on which you can seek a possession order entitling you to carry out an eviction;
• the notice period you need to provide to the tenant to comply with the current rules;
• the form of notice you must give, which will depend on the grounds for possession and the type of tenancy;
• the information to gather in support of your application, which will include an up-to-date rent account for the last two years where possession is sought due to rent arrears;
• the process you will need to go through to obtain and enforce a possession order in the event the tenant refuses to leave on a voluntary basis;
• whether it might be helpful for you and your tenant to attend an independent mediation which, if successful, could negate the need for a possession order to be made;
• how long you are likely to have to wait for the court to make a possession order, where required;
• how much the process is likely to cost; and
• whether there is anything you can do to speed up the eviction process once an order for possession has been made, including transferring the case from the County Court to the High Court to avoid having to wait for a bailiff to become available to assist.

If you are a landlord who wants to regain possession of a rental property in the near future, you can contact Sarah Everton on 01782 525012 for an informal discussion about the situation and your objectives. We have received some excellent feedback from recent clients, one said:

“Sarah has been fantastic, up front and to the point with all matters. A massive thank you from me for all the hardwork and taking all the stress away.”