Landlord Law launches new online guidance for ground 1 evictions

If you are an owner-occupier renting out your home while you are away, or if you require possession of your property because you want to live in it yourself, you get special protection under the Housing Act 1988.

About Ground 1

The protection set out in Ground 1 in Schedule 2 Part 1 of the Housing Act 1988.  This schedule is where the act sets out the ‘grounds’ which landlords can use to recover possession. 

In Part 1, the grounds are ‘mandatory’ grounds where the Judge (if the ground is made out) cannot refuse to make a possession order.

To be able to use Ground 1 landlords must

• Have served a notice, at or before the time the tenancy was created, informing the tenant that possession might be recovered under this ground, and either
• The landlord had lived in the property at some time before the start of the tenancy, as their ‘only or principal home’, or
• They have not previously lived at the property but want it back to live in now, and
• They did not buy the property ‘for money or money’s worth’.

If you satisfy the conditions, and have the paperwork to prove it, then this should be a fairly easy claim to bring. 

Unlike section 21 you will not have to prove compliance with regulations such as the deposit, gas and EPC rules.  So there is less to go wrong.

Using ground 1

For some time, I have been encouraging landlords, where appropriate, to include a Ground 1 notice in their tenancy agreement.  If you would have had trouble complying with the section 21 pre-requisites, it could make the difference between recovering possession or not. 

This is provided for in our Landlord Law tenancy agreements, where a ground 1 notice can be added as an optional extra.

Despite this, very few landlords that I am aware of use this ground, seeming to prefer the more familiar section 21.  Despite all its difficulties. 

In all the 20+ years when I did eviction work, I was never asked to bring ground 1 proceedings, and the Landlord Law’s eviction guide did not include guidance for bringing a ground 1 claim. 

Until now.

The new ground 1 eviction guide

As a result of a request from one of our members, I have now added ‘ground 1’ eviction guidance for landlords and it can be found (if you are a Business Level member) in the Landlord Law eviction guide here.

There are also now instructions on how to create a Ground 1 section 8 notice on the Possession Notices page.

In addition I have updated the main part of the eviction guide by including instructions for a bundle of documents and a frontsheet.  Along with a new Word template.

I added this as it is possible that ground 1 claims could include a fair amount of paperwork so a proper bundle would be a good idea. 

For example, the landlord will need additional documentation about their prior occupation of the property to prove the claim. Or to prove that they will genuinely want to live there after possession has been obtained.

If the claim is challenged, having a well-prepared and paginated bundle of documents (rather than a disorganised pile of papers) could persuade the Judge to hear the claim at the initial hearing rather than adjourn. 

If the case is adjourned, it will invariably be set down several months into the future, causing massive and unwanted delays.

What about the judge’s power to dispense with the initial notice?

Some of you reading this may be saying “Surely the act provides for landlords who have not served the notice, to ask the Judge to dispense with notice?”

That is true, it does.  However, the Judge will only do this if, in their opinion, it is ‘just and equitable to dispense with the requirement of notice’. 

Which effectively makes the ground a discretionary one rather than a mandatory one.

The Landlord Law eviction guide is intended for landlords to use when acting in person.  My view is that it would be unwise for anyone who is not very experienced in eviction work to bring a claim for possession on discretionary grounds without professional legal help.  

Our advice would be for solicitors to be used from the start, and we have a number of recommended firms members can instruct via our member-only forms.

Finding the guide

Business Level members will find the new Ground 1 guidance here. 

Note that if you are a Basic Level member, you can switch your membership. Guidance is available here.

Non-members can read about our eviction service here.