Tenant Fails to Leave After Giving VALID Notice and Double Rent

If a tenant gives you a notice to quit, they should leave on the date they have specified in the notice. If they fail to leave on that date without your permission, then it is possible to charge them double the rent

View Related Handbook Page

Applying to Court for Possession — Standard Procedure

Only the landlord or their solicitor can sign the court papers. A common reason for possession claims being rejected by the court is that a letting agent signs them. A letting agent can help the landlord draft the paperwork, but they cannot sign on the landlord’s behalf, and they do not have a right to represent the landlord in court in the landlord’s absence. A landlord who is likely to be absent from the UK will need to instruct a solicitor to commence legal action if they wish to be represented in their absence.

Landlord Wants Tenant to Leave

A tenancy of someone's home, starting on or after 28 February 1997, will in most cases be an assured shorthold tenancy. Take advice early if there are any doubts about what type of tenancy is being terminated. The procedures for ending a tenancy are different, depending on the type of tenancy.

Tenant Wants to Leave

A periodic tenant intending to leave must provide a notice to quit in writing. The minimum notice period is four weeks (specified in section 5 of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977). The length of the notice should be at least the length of a rental period (subject to the four-week minimum rule and up to a maximum of six months). This will be a calendar month for a calendar monthly rental in most cases. Where the rent is quarterly, a quarter's notice is required, six-monthly or yearly requires six months' notice. The notice should always expire at the end of a rental payment period or the first day of a new period.