Landlords looking to evict their tenants need to take care with their eviction notices.
This is the strong message coming from eviction experts Landlord Action’s recent survey.
Their survey showed that out of the last 200 instructions received – where landlords or their agents had served their own notice – 62% were incorrect.
As Paul Shamplina rightly warns, this can put their whole claim at risk.
For example it can result in
- delays
- the whole claim being rejected (meaning you will have to start again – an expensive option if the tenant is not paying rent), and possibly
- an order for costs being made in the tenant’s favour – for example if the tenant was in receipt of legal aid.
The top reasons found by Landlord Action for incorrect notices were:
1. Incorrect expiry dates
2. Failure to comply with deposit legislation
3. Inaccurate accompanying rent arrears schedules
4. The method of how the notice was served
5. Typing errors on the notice
There is a lot of free information available for landlords and agents, so there is really no excuse for getting it wrong – and Judges will normally be strict. They rightly consider that evicting someone from their home is a very serious matter and they expect landlords to get their paperwork right.
