Tenant wont move out! [Note, property is in England]

ashowebbstar

I stumbled across this thread whilst doing a Google search... We have given our tenant sufficient notice to leave. She told us she was not going to leave so the next day we filled in an accelerated procedure, paid and handed it in. We applying mainly on grounds 1 - I have lived in the property before she moved in, it is my only home, my wife is pregnant and we wish to move back in.
Here lies my only fear that comes from reading some of the comments above...
We wrote her a letter (trying to discourage her from staying) saying, we were happy to pay the money to get a court order out, explained about grounds 1 etc.
We then said QUOTE: If you have not left once the date given in the possession order has passed I can and will arrange to have the electricity and water services stopped as soon as possible. While I wait for this to be arranged I will enter and remove all fuses from the fusebox, (cutting off the electricity), disable the water supply to every tap and change the locks to every door. Although this is a criminal offence whilst you are still a tenant, once the possession order is obtained, you will be a trespasser and will have no such protection. QUOTE END.
Was this a mistake? Is what I put true and I can follow up my actions? Will I get into trouble for 'writing' it even if I don't follow it up?
Advice would be appreciated!

The_Conductor

To be honest- you did yourself no favours by threatening to disconnect services. You need to download a copy of the 2004 Residential Tenancies Act, familiarise yourself with the procedures for evicting a tenant, and follow them to the letter of the law. You need to be very very careful not to deviate from the procedures outlined in the act.

In the first instance, and presuming you have the tenancy registered etc- you need to initiate proceedings via the PRTB.

Unfortunately the law as it stands means it could be quite some time before you are given your property back for your own needs, irrespective of whether you have somewhere else to live or not (and indeed, irrespective of whether the tenant continues to pay the rent in the interim or not). The processes and procedures can drag on for protracted periods of time.

not even wrong

ashowebbstar wrote: »

We then said QUOTE: If you have not left once the date given in the possession order has passed I can and will arrange to have the electricity and water services stopped as soon as possible. While I wait for this to be arranged I will enter and remove all fuses from the fusebox, (cutting off the electricity), disable the water supply to every tap and change the locks to every door. Although this is a criminal offence whilst you are still a tenant, once the possession order is obtained, you will be a trespasser and will have no such protection. QUOTE END.
Was this a mistake? Is what I put true and I can follow up my actions? Will I get into trouble for 'writing' it even if I don't follow it up?
Advice would be appreciated!

http://public.prtb.ie/DownloadDocs/Illegal%20Eviction1.pdf

An illegal eviction may occur where a landlord through force, intimidation or otherwise (such as cutting off utilities, changing the locks etc) denies a tenant from accessing a rented dwelling or removes a tenant’s belongings from the dwelling whether or not a valid of Notice of Termination had been served in respect of the tenancy.
...
If a Notice of Termination is not complied with and the tenant overholds, the only recourse is to refer a dispute to the PRTB about the tenant failure to comply with a valid Notice of Termination. The landlord may not take the law into his own hands.

ztoical

ashowebbstar wrote: »

I stumbled across this thread whilst doing a Google search... We have given our tenant sufficient notice to leave. She told us she was not going to leave so the next day we filled in an accelerated procedure, paid and handed it in. We applying mainly on grounds 1 - I have lived in the property before she moved in, it is my only home, my wife is pregnant and we wish to move back in.
Here lies my only fear that comes from reading some of the comments above...
We wrote her a letter (trying to discourage her from staying) saying, we were happy to pay the money to get a court order out, explained about grounds 1 etc.
We then said QUOTE: If you have not left once the date given in the possession order has passed I can and will arrange to have the electricity and water services stopped as soon as possible. While I wait for this to be arranged I will enter and remove all fuses from the fusebox, (cutting off the electricity), disable the water supply to every tap and change the locks to every door. Although this is a criminal offence whilst you are still a tenant, once the possession order is obtained, you will be a trespasser and will have no such protection. QUOTE END.
Was this a mistake? Is what I put true and I can follow up my actions? Will I get into trouble for 'writing' it even if I don't follow it up?
Advice would be appreciated!

Was this a mistake? - Yes huge mistake

Is what I put true and I can follow up my actions? - No it is not true and legally you cannot do what you described. Firstly you can't have any utilities turned off and second you cannot enter the property without the tenants permission.

Will I get into trouble for 'writing' it even if I don't follow it up? - It could as the tenant can present it to the PRTB/police as proof that you have threatened them.

What kind of lease do you with the tenant - is it fixed term or 4 part tenancy? Was it up when you asked them to move out? How long have they been renting the property? When you say you've given them sufficient notice to leave, is it the correct notice as per the law or what you consider sufficient notice? Did you give them the correct notice ie in writing with the stated reason and the date?

ashowebbstar

I gave 2 months notice from when the rent is next due. When this time was up I filled in the forms and paid my £150, this should be processed on Tuesday. When the tenant first said she would not leave I said to her if she did not, I would apply for a court order (which I have). I told her when I got the possession order, if she had not left by the time the court set, then I would ... etc etc as above/below (haven't quite worked out the format of the threads yet!)
Just to make it a bit clearer, here is the letter I sent her in full: (minus names and addresses)

Dear....
You told me on the phone that you will not leave before the 28th December, and that if I want you to leave I will have to get a court order of possession.
Just in case you are not fully aware of what this means, I will explain so that you can make an informed decision.

I am going to apply for possession of the property if you have not left by 28th December.

There are certain ‘mandatory grounds’ (situations where there is no choice) by which the court WILL grant a possession order to me. One of these is ‘Grounds 1’. This is where the landlord wants the house back to live in, having lived in the house before. If it is my main house, which it is, (it is my only house), the court WILL give me a possession order.

If you have not left once the date given in the possession order has passed I can and will arrange to have the electricity and water services stopped as soon as possible. While I wait for this to be arranged I will enter and remove all fuses from the fusebox, (cutting off the electricity), disable the water supply to every tap and change the locks to every door. Although this is a criminal offence whilst you are still a tenant, once the possession order is obtained, you will be a trespasser and will have no such protection.
The cost of this is not enough for us to worry about; we have the money and WILL pay for it if we need to.

If a possession order is served against you may find it difficult to obtain any kind of credit in the future and may also struggle to rent a property from a private landlord in the future.

From ....

Thanks for replying to me!!!

ashowebbstar

sesna wrote: »

Really low quality, stupid contributions on the first 5 pages of this thread, such as getting the guards involved in a civil matter, to ignoring the law and "just telling the tenant to get the f*ck out".

Is that a reference to me?

ashowebbstar

not even wrong wrote: »

http://public.prtb.ie/DownloadDocs/Illegal%20Eviction1.pdf

My letter says 'once the date given in the possession order' not 'Notice of Termination' Reading back though, I see how this appears out of context!

The whole letter is:

Dear....
You told me on the phone that you will not leave before the 28th December, and that if I want you to leave I will have to get a court order of possession.
Just in case you are not fully aware of what this means, I will explain so that you can make an informed decision.

I am going to apply for possession of the property if you have not left by 28th December.

There are certain ‘mandatory grounds’ (situations where there is no choice) by which the court WILL grant a possession order to me. One of these is ‘Grounds 1’. This is where the landlord wants the house back to live in, having lived in the house before. If it is my main house, which it is, (it is my only house), the court WILL give me a possession order.

If you have not left once the date given in the possession order has passed I can and will arrange to have the electricity and water services stopped as soon as possible. While I wait for this to be arranged I will enter and remove all fuses from the fusebox, (cutting off the electricity), disable the water supply to every tap and change the locks to every door. Although this is a criminal offence whilst you are still a tenant, once the possession order is obtained, you will be a trespasser and will have no such protection.
The cost of this is not enough for us to worry about; we have the money and WILL pay for it if we need to.

If a possession order is served against you may find it difficult to obtain any kind of credit in the future and may also struggle to rent a property from a private landlord in the future.

From ....

My question should therefore be re-worded to:

Is this statement true:

Although ... is a criminal offence whilst you are still a tenant, once the possession order is obtained (and the date in the possession order has passed), you will be a trespasser and will have no such protection.

Thanks and sorry for being unclear!

ztoical

ashowebbstar wrote: »

I gave 2 months notice from when the rent is next due.

How did you give the notice....ie was it in writing? Also you still haven't stated what type of tenancy the person has. Do they have a fix term lease and was the lease up? Do they have a 4 part tenancy? How long have they been renting the property? Is the tenancy registered with PTRB? Have you opened a dispute with them - I'm surprised the courts would deal with you if you haven't.

Your 'letter' was frankly way OTT and in parts downright rude...why on earth would you be so abusive towards your tenant? Have they been a troublesome tenant for you? Even if they have it's no excuse to abandon common manners and you'll find if you haven't followed the correct eviction procedure and have given your tenant evidence of abusive threats from you that it may take some time for them to leave either by their own doing or the courts.

pigeonbutler

ashowebbstar wrote: »

I gave 2 months notice from when the rent is next due. When this time was up I filled in the forms and paid my £150, this should be processed on Tuesday. When the tenant first said she would not leave I said to her if she did not, I would apply for a court order (which I have). I told her when I got the possession order, if she had not left by the time the court set, then I would ... etc etc as above/below (haven't quite worked out the format of the threads yet!)
Just to make it a bit clearer, here is the letter I sent her in full: (minus names and addresses)

Dear....
You told me on the phone that you will not leave before the 28th December, and that if I want you to leave I will have to get a court order of possession.
Just in case you are not fully aware of what this means, I will explain so that you can make an informed decision.

I am going to apply for possession of the property if you have not left by 28th December.

There are certain ‘mandatory grounds’ (situations where there is no choice) by which the court WILL grant a possession order to me. One of these is ‘Grounds 1’. This is where the landlord wants the house back to live in, having lived in the house before. If it is my main house, which it is, (it is my only house), the court WILL give me a possession order.

If you have not left once the date given in the possession order has passed I can and will arrange to have the electricity and water services stopped as soon as possible. While I wait for this to be arranged I will enter and remove all fuses from the fusebox, (cutting off the electricity), disable the water supply to every tap and change the locks to every door. Although this is a criminal offence whilst you are still a tenant, once the possession order is obtained, you will be a trespasser and will have no such protection.
The cost of this is not enough for us to worry about; we have the money and WILL pay for it if we need to.

If a possession order is served against you may find it difficult to obtain any kind of credit in the future and may also struggle to rent a property from a private landlord in the future.

From ....

Thanks for replying to me!!!

Is it possible that you're based in UK? And thus operating under a different legal system.

ashowebbstar

:o:o:o:o:o
Sorry guys! I am in England, I did wonder what all this talk of PRTB was, I even went on their website and it still never clicked! I'm really sorry for wasting your time!
:o:o:o:o:o

Victor

Threads split.