Overview

You must follow strict procedures if you want your tenants to leave your property.

You may be guilty of harassing or illegally evicting your tenants if you do not follow the correct procedures.

There’s different guidance on:

Procedures for different types of tenancy

The exact procedure will depend on the tenancy agreement and its terms.

Assured shorthold tenancies

The 2 types of assured shorthold tenancies are:

  • ‘periodic’ tenancies - these run week by week or month by month with no fixed end date
  • fixed-term tenancies - these run for a set amount of time

You must follow a set process if your tenants have an assured shorthold tenancy.

  1. Give your tenants a Section 21 notice if you want the property back after a fixed term ends. Give them a Section 8 notice if they’ve broken the terms of the tenancy. Find out how to give Section 21 and Section 8 notices.

  2. Apply to the court for a standard possession order if your tenants do not leave by the date specified on the notice and they owe you rent. You can apply for an accelerated possession order if you’re not claiming any unpaid rent.

  3. Apply for a warrant for possession if your tenants still will not leave - this means bailiffs can remove the tenants from your property.

Excluded tenancies or licences

You do not have to go to court to evict your tenants if they have an excluded tenancy or licence, for example if they live with you.

You only need to give them ‘reasonable notice’ to quit. Reasonable notice usually means the length of the rental payment period, so if your tenants pay rent weekly you can give them one week’s notice. The notice does not have to be in writing.

You can then change the locks on their rooms, even if they still have belongings in there.

Assured and regulated tenancies

If your tenants started their tenancy before 27 February 1997, they might have an assured or regulated tenancy. You’ll then have to follow different rules to evict them and they’ll have increased protection from eviction.

You can get information from Shelter about:

Your tenant owes rent and gets housing benefits

If your tenant owes you rent and claims Universal Credit or Housing Benefit you may be able get the rent paid straight to you instead of evicting them. This is known as ‘managed payments’.

Request managed payments if your tenant is claiming: