Following on from my article “Being Noticed” in which I considered how to correctly serve notice on a tenant, I now consider what to do if your tenant still refuses to leave the property after receiving a Section 8 Notice:

Going to Court

There is now no option but to apply to Court, via a possession claim, to seek the return of your property. During the Court hearing the Judge will decide whether to make a Possession Order.

You may well be wondering what a Possession Order is; essentially it is a Court Order which will confirm on what date you may take back possession of your property.

Your Day In Court

This can be a daunting and stressful time for many facing this situation but this is your chance to set out the circumstances to the Judge and seek recovery of your property.

The Judge has a number of options on the day and may well decide to do one of the following:

1. Make a Possession Order; this is a straightforward Order confirming that the tenants must vacate the property by a specified date e.g. in 14 or 28 days time. The judge will decide what timeframe to allow the tenants depending on all circumstances in the case.

2. Grant a Suspended Possession Order; the tenants will be allowed to stay in the property provided they meet the conditions contained within the Court Order.

3. Adjourn the case; the Judge may request that the matter be adjourned for a number of reasons e.g. further information is required.

4. Dismiss the case; the Judge may dismiss the case entirely for various reasons but most commonly because there is no right to evict or the correct procedure has not been followed when bringing the matter to Court.

5. Money Order; this is where the Judge will Order the tenant to pay the landlord monies which are owed e.g. rent arrears.

6. Make a Possession Order with a Money Order; this is simply what it says it is; a Possession Order with a money judgment attached.

7. Order for costs.

Next Steps

Following on from the Court hearing you will hopefully have the result you were seeking. If a Possession Order was granted then it is a case of waiting the required timeframe for the tenants to leave.

Unfortunately, there are occasions when tenants still will not leave and it is necessary to enforce the Order and seek the help of the Court’s bailiffs. I will consider this final step in my next article.

If you would like our advice and assistance in undertaking the eviction process we would be happy to help. Please do not hesitate to contact the Poole Alcock litigation team on 01270 765325. Alternatively you can visit our Litigation services page here or complete the form linked here and we will call you back.