Evictions

Would you let one of these in to your rented property?

Most experienced landlords will have had bad experiences with tenants’ pets damaging their properties or causing a nuisance with neighbours at some point in the past.

I had a tenant in my early landlord years that had another mouth to feed virtually every time I visited the property. He proudly presented them to me – not just dogs and cats but ferrets, lizards and even a dog fish amongst countless others. It was my experience with him that quickly taught me a few lessons on tenants with pets.

The first thing you’ve got ask yourself is whether or not the property is suited for a particular pet. Is it really appropriate to keep a large (or small ) hound in an upstairs flat? A dog cooped up in there could cause a real nuisance if it kicks off in the middle of the day when your tenant is at work. I won’t allow a pet in a flat. Most of the flats  where we let have shared yards and lazy tenants that allow their dogs to foul this shared space just bring problems to our door with us having to deal with irate neighbours and often we’ve had to work with the council to sort matters out.

Dog owners can really be a problem if they don’t clean up after their animals and can cost you a lot more money if they don’t house train their pet. Dogs left alone in locked rooms can rip up carpets scratching at the door and chew door frames. I’ve had skirting boards rot away because lazy owners allow their dogs to cock their legs in their favourite corner of the room.

It’s not just dogs that can cost you a few quid though. Cats can be a problem too. They love to stretch their claws and pull on them on your furniture and if you have blown vinyl on the walls you’d better have a decorating budget!

So, how can you minimize pet problems?

  1. Decide if your property is appropriate for pets. Does it have its own garden for a dog for example?
  2. Be clear from the outset what your policy is and be very clear with your tenant on the consequences of ignoring clauses in their tenancy agreement and the potential for eviction if they are.
  3. Include in your agreement a clause that says only the pets agreed at the start of the tenancy (if any) are allowed in to the property so none can be added.
  4. If accepting a pet consider the potential additional costs that the regular tenancy deposit might not cover and charge an extra pet deposit.
  5. If you are going to allow pets, consider landlord insurance with additional cover for pets.

Evictions – Compliance with the Law

A leather toe up the behind is not the advised way to evict a tenant

A leather toe up the behind is not the advised way to evict a tenant

Tenants have the right to privacy and as a landlord you can’t just turn up at any time and demand access to the property. You should have a clause in your tenancy agreement telling your tenant that they should give you access with 24 hours notice but even then, strictly speaking, they don’t have to. However, most tenants are reasonable so it is rare that you will have such an obstinate tenant.

It follows that you can’t just turn up one day with a couple of heavies and put the tenant out on the street. This is illegal and you could end up in prison as it is a criminal offence. It is wise to stay within the law and be careful to follow the correct procedure once you have embarked upon a course of action which will hopefully result in you taking back possession of your property. Even the slightest error is likely to result in your possession claim being thrown out by the judge should it ever reach court. This is a disaster, because you could have to go back to square one and serve another notice for possession which could lead to another three months loss of rent. If possible, always back up a Section 8 Notice with a Section 21 Notice in case the wheel falls of with the Section 8 process.

Evicting a tenant is not as difficult as it used to be. It’s a little harder during the fixed term of an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (the most common type these days) but after the fixed term is up and you enter in to what is known as a periodic tenancy, it is simply a matter of serving the correct Notice for Possession; a Section 21 Notice (which is usually enough to get possession back) and then if necessary you can seek an Order for Possession from the court.

A periodic tenancy begins when a fixed tenancy ends. In effect the tenancy agreement becomes a rolling contract with each party able to get out of the contract after giving the requisite notice period (typically one month from the tenant and always two months from the landlord with the notice period commencing on a monthly anniversary date of the tenancy start date (so if the tenancy began on the 9th of a month the notice period must commence on the 9th of a month).

You can serve notice during the first four months of a tenancy but not a Section 21 Notice. You would need to serve a Section 8 Notice which requires you to give grounds for possession. There are 17 grounds for possession given under The Housing Act 1988 (amended 1996). You can serve both notices on a tenant. Say you have served your Section 8 notice at the beginning of month four in the tenancy. This is too early for a Section 21 notice to start but you can still serve it as long as it expires after the last day of the fixed term of the tenancy.

For more details on Section 21 and Section 8 Notices, refer to the guidelines for each in the Document Downloads in your Customer Account Area. Within this area you can also download free copies of these notices.