At New York State’s Supreme Court a couple had to take their own son to court to evict him from their own home. Christina and Mark Rotondo took their own son to court as a last resort following months of attempts to get him to leave including sending him formal letters. This will resonate with a number of Private landlords who face difficulty with tenants who have been reluctant to move out or refuse to do so.
Unless there has been an agreement between the parties to terminate the tenancy or the tenant giving notice and leaving, a landlord will require to obtain an eviction order from the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber.
A Landlord will require to serve on their tenant with a notice to leave including the day on which they will be entitled to apply to the First Tier Tribunal for an eviction order stating which ground is being used. The period of notice that is required will depend on the period the tenant has lived at the property as well as the ground in which you seek to evict them.
Regardless of the ground if the tenant has lived in the property for less than 6 months then the notice period is 28 days. If the tenant has lived in the property for longer than 6 months the landlord will require to wait 84 days unless they are using one of the conduct grounds.
There are six different conduct grounds in which a landlord can rely upon:
Not occupying let property – this ground is meant to cover cases where the tenant has abandoned the property. The Tribunal has not offered any guidance yet as to what is required in the form of evidence to establish that the tenant is no longer occupying the property. This is deemed as a mandatory ground and if accepted by the Tribunal they must grant the eviction.
Breach of tenancy agreement – When a tenancy condition (other than payment of the rent) has been broken this ground can be used. This a discretionary ground and to rely upon this ground the tribunal must accept it is reasonable to evict if it established that the ground has been breached.
Rent Arrears – If there have been arrears for at least three consecutive months and at least one month’s rent in total is owed on the day of the hearing this can be treated by the tribunal as a mandatory ground. The ground can become discretionary if the rent arrears falls below that equivalent to one months rent. It will not be a mandatory reason if the reason for the arrears is wholly or partly due to a delay or failure of payment of a relevant benefit.
The other conduct grounds are:
Criminal behaviour
Anti-social behaviour
Association with a person who has relevant conviction or engaged in relevant anti-social behaviour.
The non-conduct requirements are split into three categories –
- The property is required for another purpose (the majority of which are mandatory grounds)
- The status of the tenant
- Where there is a legal impediment preventing from a landlord continuing to rent.
If you are facing this problem and would like some advice please click here to contact us online or call 0330 037 4384 to speak to a member of our specialist team. Please be prepared for a lot of publicity if you do try to evict a family member from your own home!
