Who can bring a claim for possession of a residential rental property?

What happens when a residential property has been rented out and you need it back? Our specialist landlord and tenant solicitors look into some key points owners and landlords need to know to bring a claim for residential possession.

Who can bring a claim for residential possession?

The property owner or the landlord can bring a claim for residential possession. If you are the landlord but not the property owner, you should make sure that you have the relevant permission to bring proceedings as part of your agreement with the property owner.

Rent-to-rent scenario

What happens if you rent the property to a company who rents the property out on your behalf, but you need the property back? In this scenario, it is likely that you will need to terminate the agreement with the company you let the property to, and also serve notice on their tenant or occupier. This process can be complex and will depend on the type of agreement as to how it should be terminated.

If you are in this situation, you should seek specialist advice before taking any steps to ensure that the agreements are terminated correctly and that the matter is dealt with sensitively to try to preserve relationships where possible.

Serve a valid notice

The property owner or landlord can bring a claim for possession once they have served a valid notice and that notice has expired. It is important that the correct notice is served based on the type of agreement with the tenant or occupier.

There are three main types of notices:

• Notice to quit
• Section 21 notice
• Section 8 notice

Each notice type has different rules and notice periods to be provided in order for it to be valid. However, please note the new Renters Rights Bill proposes abolishing Section 21 notices. Please check in on our Knowledge Hub for relevant updates on this or subscribe to our mailing list.

Compliance

There may be requirements for the property owner or landlord to have complied with before a valid notice can be served, which will depend on the type of notice.

For Section 21 notices, certain documentation must have been provided to the tenant prior to a Section 21 notice being served, if the tenancy commenced after 1 October 2015. If the tenancy commenced prior to this date, other rules may apply.

One of the key areas of compliance to consider before serving a Section 21 or Section 8 notice, is the deposit. Landlords are required to have protected the deposit and provided prescribed information within 30 days of the deposit having been paid by the tenant. If this was not done, the tenant may have a tenancy deposit claim against the landlord. If the deposit was protected late, or not protected at all, the landlord cannot serve a valid Section 21 notice without first returning the deposit to the tenant. further advice can be provided on this by contacting our specialist property lawyers, on a case-by-case basis.

Bringing residential possession claims

Once the correct notice has been served but the tenant or occupier has not left the property despite it having expired, a claim can be issued by submitting the correct claim paperwork to the court and paying the court fee.

Serving the correct notice and issuing possession proceedings can be a complicated process and can easily be done incorrectly. If you issue a claim based on an invalid notice, the claim will almost certainly fail, and you will have to start the process over again. In this event, there may be an adverse cost risk. For this reason, you should seek advice and assistance with this process.

Summary

The law surrounding residential possession claims is complex and ever-changing. A new Bill has been proposed and is likely to come into effect in the near future, which will again change the residential possession process. This makes it difficult for landlords or property owners to navigate the relevant rules and laws and to understand the steps to be taken to recover possession of their property from tenants.

Our property litigation lawyers are here to help, and to advise on the most time and cost-effective way to recover possession of your property. Advice is tailored on a case-by-case basis.

If you are a landlord in Gloucestershire or your residential property is based in Gloucestershire, and you need to recover possession of a residential property from your tenant or occupier, please don’t hesitate to contact our highly rated team of tenant eviction solicitors.

Our property litigation experts are highly rated and deal with property disputes for a wide range of landlords and tenants.