Residential Possession Claims

Gordons residential possession claims team offer specialist advice to letting agents, individual landlords and investment companies, faced with the prospect of losing money on their investment due to problem tenants that either cannot or will not pay rent.

We provide an effective, results driven service to ensure that tenants are evicted according to the requirements of the law.  The successful removal of a tenant then allows the landlord to pursue new tenancy agreements that will deliver a return on investment.

Stages of possession

In order to obtain possession a landlord can serve a s21 and/or a s8 notice, depending on the circumstances.  Any residential tenancy granted after February 1997 should be an assured shorthold tenancy which means both options are available.

If the tenancy is an assured shorthold tenancy then the landlord does not have to prove any grounds in order to obtain possession.  Therefore it can be almost guaranteed that the landlord will be successful in obtaining possession after the expiry of the fixed term, if the correct notice is served.

The stages involved in this process are as follows:

Stage one - We will review the existing tenancy agreement and arrange for a notice to be served on the tenant.  If the tenant does not vacate the property, the process moves to stage two.

Stage two - We will prepare papers to make a claim to the court for repossession, before making the claim and serving it on the tenant.  If a hearing is necessary then a member of the team will attend.  Following this a 14 day order for possession will usually be granted.

Stage three - If the tenant has still not vacated the premises, we will instruct the court bailiff to evict the landlord's tenant on your behalf.

Fees

Our residential possession service is offered on a staged fixed fee basis so that you know exactly how much money you will have to spend, depending upon what happens during the claim.

For further information about the service and details of our fees, please contact Graeme Davy, Solicitor in Gordons Commercial Litigation department.