If a landlord discovers that their tenant does not have the ‘right to rent’ under the Immigration Act of 2014 or who isn’t a relevant national, they must follow the proper legal process to evict a tenant. The new legislation passes more power to landlords, giving them the power to evict tenants who have been found to be in the country illegally.
If the landlord is able to determine that none of the current tenants have the ‘‘right to rent’’ then the following procedure is advised:
- To arrange the surrender of the tenancy by mutual agreement with the relevant party.
- Serve the appropriate Prescribed Notice to all your tenants, along with copies of the Notice of Letting to a Disqualified Person from the Home Office, and give the occupiers at least 28 days’ notice for them to leave.
If the occupiers do not leave by the time their notice period expires, landlords can also:
- Rely on the Notice of Letting to a Disqualified Person to apply to the district registry of a High Court to ask that High Court enforcement officers can evict them for you. Enforcement agencies such as Able Investigations will handle the rest of the eviction once the notice is served. However, you can do also this without a court order for possession under Section 33D of the Immigration Act 2014.
- Or exclude them from the property peacefully after the notice period has expired, for example by changing the locks.
Using a Notice of Letting to a Disqualified Person when it names some of but not all of the occupiers:
- Arrange the surrender of the tenancy by mutual agreement.
- Agree with the disqualified person that they will leave the property - if they are a tenant you can consider reassigning the tenancy to one or more of the remaining non-disqualified occupiers.
For help with evictions in Bristol, call Able Investigations on 0345 366 0000 to speak to a member of our experienced team or fill out our contact form.
Steve Wood is Managing Director of Able Investigations with over 25 years experience in enforcements and investigations. Writer of two books, Steve is a renowned expert on Bailiff Enforcement action, Bailiff Law, traveller removal, tracing techniques and process serving.
