Which possession proceedings?

Company let evictions

Company lets cannot be occupation contracts as  s7 of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016  (the Act) which defines contract holders under the act as ‘individuals’.  This means a living person rather than an artificial person such as a limited company.

Company lets, therefore continue to be governed by the ‘common law’ and the eviction rules in the Act will not apply.  We also use the old terminology of tenancies and tenants.

The eviction procedure for company lets is fairly straightforward (provided the fixed term has ended), and involves serving an old style Notice to Quit and then bringing proceedings based on that.

It is also fairly straightforward to evict tenants during the fixed term on the basis of rent arrears.  If you want to evict for any other reason, you should either wait until the fixed term has ended or, if this is impossible, get legal advice.

If you want to save costs and act in person, the straightforward procedures for evicting after the fixed term has ended and for rent arrears are described in detail in our DIY Eviction Guide.

Members will find the relevant links below.

If the fixed term has ended

Your tenancy should now be a periodic tenancy.  You first need to end this by serving an old style Notice to Quit.

Provided your notice is correct there should not then be any problem in getting your possession order.  However, if the tenant has a claim against you, for example for compensation for disrepair, this may complicate things.

Members will find our possession notices, and guidance on their use  here.

After the notice has been served, you will find the procedure for evicting common law tenancies in the Eviction Guide  here.

If the fixed term has not ended

Check first to see if there is a break clause in your tenancy agreement.  If there is, members can  click here for our FAQ. Then once the tenancy has ended, proceedings can be brought.

If there is no break clause, then you will only be able to evict the tenant if there are serious rent arrears.  You do not need to serve any possession notice, as you will be able to ‘forfeit’ the lease.

You can do this using our  Eviction Guide or you can use solicitors, for example  Landlord Action.

Forfeiture is not straightforward, and again, there could be problems if the tenant has a claim against you.

Fees

You will find the fees for our  recommended solicitors on or via their information pages.  Our Eviction Guide is free to Business Level members.