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A Practical Guide To Evicting Your Tenants

Here at Askews Legal LLP Solicitors in Coventry, we can help you with possession hearings. If you’ve got your possession order from the Court and you want your tenants out quickly and legally. This practical guide tells you how.

There are generally two ways you can evict your tenants. One is through the County Court, by instructing the county court bailiff and the other is by transferring the matter to the High Court and instructing a High Court Enforcement Officer (HCEO).

County Court Eviction

  1. Once you have an order for possession the court will specify when the tenant should leave the property i.e. 14 days or 28 days from date of order.

 

  1. The Court will send a copy of the order for possession to the tenant. However you may also wish to send a copy to the tenant too.

 

  1. If the tenant does not leave on the date given in the order for possession, it may be necessary for you to enforce the order. To do this you can ask the court for a ‘warrant for possession’. It costs £121 (but please check the correct fee on the Court website as it may change from time to time). You need to complete the N325 Form https://formfinder.hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/n325-eng.pdf and send the same into the appropriate County Court along with the relevant fee.

 

  1. When the court issues a warrant, your tenants will be sent an eviction notice giving a date by which they must leave your property.

 

  1. If the tenant fails to vacate by that date the County Court bailiff will fix a date to attend the property and evict them. The bailiff office will advise you of a time slot when the eviction will take place. They will have a number of evictions to deal with so occasionally there may be a delay.

 

It normally takes between 8 to 12 weeks to get an eviction in the County Court but can be longer during busier times.

High Court Eviction

  1. You can get a faster eviction date from the High Court by applying to have the warrant transferred from the County Court to the High Court. However this is a more expensive route.

 

  1. If this hasn’t already been requested at the possession hearing you will need to make a formal application by completing the N244 Court form https://formfinder.hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/n244-eng.pdf to the County Court which granted the possession order for permission to transfer the case to the High Court for enforcement purposes. There is a fee payable of £100* and the application can be made without notice to the Tenant.

 

  1. Once you have been granted permission to transfer the order for possession to the High Court for enforcement, you can instruct a HCEO (High Court Enforcement Officer) who will begin the transfer up process and obtain the sealed writ of possession. The actual transfer up process is relatively quick and some Courts will issue the writ the same day. Processing times vary depending on the individual Court and its workload. There is a further Court fee of £66* for obtaining the Writ of possession. The HCEO will also charge a fee for enforcing the Writ which you should seek to clarify before instructing.

Note that it is a criminal offence to evict a tenant other than by obtaining a court order for possession in the County Court, and then (if the tenant still fails to vacate) by using the County Court bailiffs. Even asking them to leave if you have not followed the proper procedure can be considered harassment.

Askews Legal LLP Coventry Solicitors has a dedicated team of solicitors who can assist with any landlord and tenant law issues. Get in touch with our team. Call us on 02476 231000.

 

 

* Fees correct at time of writing July 2018. Please check court website for any changes.