This is the most common type of court claim that landlords will need to bring.  Manly because, if a landlords needs to recover possession of their property there are only two options: 

• The tenant moving out voluntarily, or
• Using the Court Bailiffs or High Court Enforcement Officers acting under the authority of a Court Order for possession

You need to be careful when bringing this type of claim as it appears deceptively easy.  However even a minor mistake can delay the granting of a possession order for many months and may even mean you have to cancel those proceedings and start again. 

As it can take up to six months to a year or longer to get a possession order, it is important that no mistakes are made! 

Landlord Law has a huge amount of content on possession proceedings which you will find listed here.

If a tenant (or a contract holder in Wales) pays a traditional deposit, this must be protected, and ‘prescribed information’ served within 30 days of payment of the money.  If this is not done, tenants can claim a penalty of up to 3x the deposit money.

However, for the money to be payable, there needs to be a court order.  If landlords are threatened by such a claim, and they are in breach of the deposit rules, they are advised to settle as they will inevitably have an order made against them – the only question in issue is the amount of the penalty award.

We have the following content:

Articles:

• General Guidance on the Service of Documents
• Tenancy Deposit Prescribed Information

FAQ

• What are the penalties for failing to protect a tenancy deposit?

Legal cases:

• Charlambou v. Ng [2014]
• Gladehurst Properties Ltd v Hashemi [2011]
• Khuja v Chowdhury [2015]

These will normally be for compensation due to the poor repair or condition of the property.  For these cases, tenants need to follow the Pre-Action Protocol (the version for Wales is here) unless the claim is brought as part of a defence to a claim for possession. 

Other claims can be brought based on harassment and unlawful eviction and other similar grounds. 

We have a video explaining the basis on which compensation claims are calculated here. 

If your tenants bring a claim for any type of compensation against you, you should always seek legal advice. 

Most landlords will deal with rent arrears by bringing a claim for possession.  However, this is not appropriate if: 

• The landlord is using section 21 (where rent cannot be claimed as part of the claim), or
• The tenants have already moved out.

We discuss money claims in the final part of the Rent Arrears Action Plan (where you will find a suitable letter before action draft).  Make sure before you start that you will be able to enforce your claim if the tenants fail to pay (as many do). 

Many types of claim are brought now, not in the County Court but in the First Tier Tribunal.  For example: 

• Claims for Rent Repayment Orders
• Challenges to rent increases under section 13 rent increase notices
• Appeals against HMO and selective licensing decisions
• Various disputes regarding long leases (not covered on Landlord Law)

We have a training video on using the First Tier tribunal here.