My agent, landlord or mortgage lender has asked me to leave my home

Assured shorthold tenancies (AST)

An AST gives a tenant the legal right to live in a property for a period of time such as six months (fixed term tenancy).

It may roll on a week to week or month to month basis (periodic tenancy) following the expiry of the fixed term.

Your landlord can take back their property in certain circumstances without giving any reason, but must follow a legal process.

The landlord or their agents are required to issue you with a two month notice (s21). When this notice ends the landlord must apply to the county court to obtain possession. The possession order will normally be granted if they've served the notice correctly

The eviction process takes approximately three to four months depending how busy the court is.

Section 21 Notice

A Section 21 notice is the form your landlord must give you to start the process to end your AST. This has to be two months’ notice but it’s legal for you to stay in your home after the expiry of the notice.

Your landlord can not give you a section 21 notice during the first four months of your tenancy.

The notice must be on form 6A if your tenancy started or was renewed on or after 1 October 2015.

>The landlord must ensure all the following apply:

• they’ve protected your deposit in a government backed deposit protection scheme within 30 days and provided you with information about the scheme used
• they’ve given you at least two months’ written notice that they want the property back and the date you must leave
• the date you must leave is at least six months after your tenancy began
• you haven’t made a complaint to the council about the living conditions in the property that resulted in the council serving a notice to the landlord (for tenancies starting on or after 1 October 2015)

Additional requirements
If your tenancy started on or after 1 October 2015 your landlord can’t evict you unless they’ve given you:

• a copy of the leaflet ‘How to rent: the checklist for renting in England’
• an energy performance certificate (EPC)
• a gas safety certificate

Once the section 21 notice expires your landlord will have to apply to the courts to obtain possession in order to evict you. Throughout the process you have the rights of an assured shorthold tenant and you need to pay your rent as usual.

Your landlord must start any court action within six months of the service of the notice. The notice becomes invalid if they wait longer than this.

Tenant fees

From 1 June 2019 your landlord or their agent can only charge:

• holding deposit which can’t be more than one week rent
• holding deposit is a payment to a landlord or agent to reserve a property

The landlord or agent can only keep your holding deposit if you:

• fail a right to rent immigration check
• decide not to rent the property
• mislead the landlord or agent

Your landlord or their agent can also charge a fee for the following.

Lost keys or fobs
You can only be charged reasonable costs for a replacement if this is mentioned in your tenancy agreement.

Ending your tenancy early
Your landlord or their agent can charge you if they agree to let you end your fixed term tenancy early or leave without giving notice. The landlord must be able to show that they have suffered reasonable loss.

Late payment of rent
You can only be charged a late payment fee once you’re 14 days late with rent. The late payment fee must be mentioned in your tenancy agreement and your landlord cannot charge you more than 3% APR above the Bank of England base rate.

Changing or assigning your tenancy

Your landlord or their agent can charge you £50 if you want to change a term in your tenancy or assign it to someone else. Your landlord or their agent can only charge above this if they can prove it cost them more.

Renewing your tenancy

You landlord or their agent can only charge for renewing your tenancy if you signed a tenancy agreement before 1 June 2019 which states you have to pay a renewal fee. If your previous tenancy does not state this you cannot be charged.

All other fees are banned. This includes fees for:

• credit and immigration checks
• administration
• referencing

If you’ve paid any fees which are banned, your landlord cannot evict you using a section 21 notice until they have repaid the money back to you.

Notice during the fixed term of the AST

If you are still in the fixed term, your landlord can only ask you to leave if they have a reason or ‘grounds’ for wanting possession.

These grounds are listed in the Housing Act 1988. Examples of the grounds include:

• you’re behind with your rent payments (‘in arrears’)
• you’ve used the property for illegal purposes like selling drugs
• your landlord wants to move back into the property

The notice period they must give varies from two weeks to two months, depending on the grounds they are using.

Once the notice expires your landlord will have to apply to the courts to obtain possession in order to evict you.

Your landlord will need to prove to the courts that they should accept the grounds for possession before they decide whether you have to leave. There will be a court hearing to determine if the landlord has legal grounds to evict you.

Documents for an eviction

Depending on the type of tenancy you have and the circumstances of your eviction, your landlord will need to:

• issue a written notice – Section 21 or Section 8 notice
• hand the notice to you in person or deliver the notice by post, requiring you to sign to say you have received the notice
• once the notice expires your landlord must then apply to the court for a possession order if you do not leave

The court will send you:

• copies of your landlord’s documentation
• claim form for possession
• related paperwork
• a defence form

Once the courts have granted the possession you will receive a copy of the order with the date you must move out. You can appeal the order if you think the judge has made a mistake about the law.

If you do not move out the landlord will need to apply for a warrant of eviction from the court bailiffs to evict you from the property.

Bailiffs

When a landlord is granted a possession order, the court sets a date for you to leave.

If you stay beyond this date, your landlord can ask the court to send a bailiff to evict you. Only court bailiffs can evict you from your home. The court will send you a letter (eviction warrant) to let you know that the bailiffs are coming.

This will give you time to pack your things.

Bailiffs can remove you and your belongings from the property but must not use force.

You may have an excluded tenancy or licence if you:

• live with parents, family and friend
• lodge with your landlord and share rooms with them, like a kitchen or bathroom

You’ll usually have less protection from eviction with this type of agreement.

If you have a tenancy which started between 15 January 1989 and 27 February 1997 then you may have an assured tenancy. You’ll have increased protection from eviction with this type of agreement.

You can find out more at GOV.UK – assured tenancies.

If your tenancy started before 15 January 1989 then it may be a regulated tenancy. You’ll have increased protection from eviction and can apply for a ‘fair rent’.

You can find out more at the GOV.UK – fair rents.

If you are renting a room occupied by other tenants who are not part of your household.

See more information on HMOs and your rights as a tenant.

If your landlord or agent says you've been asked to leave your home because:

• you've failed to keep up with your rent payments and have rent arrears
• your landlord or agent has increased the rent and you are now unable to pay the new full amount

You should make sure that you have claimed ALL entitlements to financial help towards your rent payments. Depending on your circumstances, you may be entitled to:

• Universal Credit
• Housing Benefit
• Discretionary Housing Payment to top up any existing entitlement

If you're already in receipt of Universal Credit or Housing Benefit and are still unable to meet your rent payments every month, you can apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment.

To find out more and apply for any of these, please visit the benefits section of our website.

If you're already claiming these and need to notify a change in your circumstances for Housing Benefit, please complete our change of circumstances form.

Please visit GOV.UK to notify a change in your circumstances for Universal Credit.

If your landlord or agent says you've been asked to leave your home because of your behaviour or failure to keep to the terms of the tenancy.

You should aim to resolve these issues immediately and personally let your landlord or agent know your commitment to change your behaviour. Confirm this in writing to them.

If your landlord or agent wants you to leave the property because they're selling it.

You should contact your landlord or agent to find out if they are looking to sell their property, or they would accept an increase in rent.

You should also start looking for alternative accommodation as soon as possible. You can find out more about finding somewhere to live here.