An assured short hold tenancy or AST gives a tenant the legal right to live in a property for a specified time. This specified time a tenancy runs for can be a fixed term tenancy of 6 months or a periodic tenancy which rolls on week to week or month to month.
Your tenant has the right to live in your property without being hassled or disturbed by you the landlord. You and other people cannot enter your property as you tenant has the right to have control over their own home.
A landlord cannot interfere with the tenant’s rights to live in their property.
The law states that you as the landlord has the responsibility of keeping the property in good repair. This includes the structure and exterior of the property such as:
Examples are:
Your landlord must also keep the equipment for the supply of gas, electricity, heating, water and sanitation in good repair. The accommodation must have a valid gas safety certificate for any gas appliances in the property.
The equipment for the gas, electricity, heating, water and sanitation must be kept in good repair by the landlord.
The property should have gas safety certificates which are valid for any gas appliances in the property and any furniture which is given by the landlord must be fire proof.
A tenant has the responsibility of certain aspects when it comes to looking after the property. This is all dependant on what the tenancy agreement says in regards to the responsibilities for the upkeep of the property.
The start date of the tenancy The amount of rent and the date it must be paid How and when the rent may be changed If the rent is charged weekly a rent book must be provided The length of any fixed term
You will have to hand this information over to the tenant within 28 days of the request being made by your tenant. They have to make this request in writing.
During a fixed term tenancy a landlord must have a reason to evict a tenant. The reason could be one of the following:
The information will have to be given to the tenant within 28 days of the request being made by the tenant (in writing).
If the landlord wishes to evict a tenant before the fixed term is up he will need to apply to the court for a possession order. Before applying to the court he must first serve the tenants with a correctly written Section 8 Notice specifying the grounds the landlord has for regaining early possession.
The court will not give a possession order unless it is satisfied that a valid reason exists. In some cases the court must also consider whether it is reasonable for the tenant to be evicted.
You as the landlord can serve a notice giving the tenant 2 months to leave the property without having a reason. For further information on serving a section 21 fixed notice visit Landlord Angel.
If a tenancy is periodic or if the fixed term has come to an end and no new fixed tenancy has been arranged, a tenant can be evicted fairly easily.
There is no need for landlords to give a reason to the court but s/he must be able to show that the tenancy is an assured shorthold tenancy and that the correct Section 21 Notice to Quit has been served.
Your tenant cannot be evicted from your property unless the court has given the order for possession. If you the landlord have followed the correct procedure then the court will have no choice but to grant the possession order.
The court has no choice but to make an order to evict assured shorthold tenants if the correct procedure has been followed. It is possible for tenants to get the court to delay the eviction for up to six weeks if they can show they will face exceptional hardship.
If your tenant does not leave during the possession order then you can apply to the court to have them removed physically by bailiffs from your property.
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