FRISBY & SMALL
SOLICITORS LEICESTER
5 De Montfort Street, Leicester LE1 7GE
72B Main Street, Broughton Astley, Leicester LE9 6RD
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Possession Claims FAQ

Below are some of the questions we are most frequently asked about possession claims and eviction of tenants. Please click on a link to jump to the relevant answer.


Evicting a tenant

Nearly all tenancies that have been created in the past ten years by private landlords are going to be assured shortholds. This is the case even if you never had a written agreement, or you had a home made one.

If you want to get your property back, and the tenant does not agree to leave, you have to go to court to get a possession order. Before you start the court proceedings you have to give the correct notice. You generally have two options.

  1. a two month notice if the tenant is up to date with their rent, or
  2. a two week notice if there are more than two months rent arrears

Follow this with a claim in the local county court.

There are pro's and con's with each route. Contact us for more information.

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How long does it take?

We expect to get a possession order in six to eight weeks from when we start the court claim. If we have to serve a notice then you have to add that notice time on top - you cannot start any claim until the notice has run out.

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Please call us now on 0116 233 5522 or complete the
Online Enquiry form on the right of this page and we will be delighted to help you.

How much does it cost?

Because we have specialised in the law and procedure about residential tenancies, you are able to benefit by getting top-class advice and representation at a competitive cost.

We work a lot with professional letting agencies. If your property is managed by a reputable agent, then we can be fairly sure that the tenancy agreement will be fine, any deposit will be properly held within an authorised scheme, and any notice that has already been served is legally correct. This means that we can deal with your case with some confidence that there are no unseen pitfalls.

But don't be put off if you are managing the property yourself. You give us the papers and we will go through everything with you. We then reassure you that the papers are in order, and we will prepare any notice that is needed, serve it on the tenant, and take it through the process to get a possession order. If you contact us we will be happy to give you our up to date fee for the work you require.

Contact us for a quote.

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Should I send the notice by registered post?

No. Either deliver it yourself or put it in normal first class post. In our experience when tenants are in arrears with rent they often have other money problems,contact Frisby & Small solicitors and collecting unexpected official letters from the post office is not always top priority. But watch the rules for service to make sure your notice is delivered on time. These rules may be in your tenancy agreement, or may (by default) be those set out in section 196 Law of Property Act 1925. The general rule is that putting the notice into the tenant’s hand counts as service on that day; leaving it through their letterbox counts as service the following working day, and posting by first class post counts as service on the second working day.

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Do I need to put the notice in the tenant’s hands?

No. See the answer above

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What if there are two tenants?

You should serve a notice that agrees with the tenancy agreement. So if there are two tenants, then the notice should name them both and be addressed to them both.

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What if I don’t have a written agreement (or I have lost the tenancy agreement)?

That is ok. You will have a shorthold tenancy and can use the “shorthold” ground for possession. But you can’t use the accelerated proceudre. contact Frisby & Small solicitorsYou will need to have a hearing in front of a judge. This will add a couple of weeks to the procedure, and if you are using us then this is in our £525 cost band.

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