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.
The tenant has the right to live in the property without being hassled or disturbed. The landlord and any other people cannot enter the property as the tenant has the right to have control over their home.
You cannot interfere with the tenant’s rights to live in your property.
The law says your landlord has to keep the structure and exterior of the property in good repair. This includes:
Examples are:
Gas, electricity, heating, water and sanitation must be kept in good repair by you the landlord. Your property should have the relevant gas safety certificates for all the gas appliances in your property and any furniture given by you must be fire proof.
Your tenant has certain responsibilities when it comes to looking after your property.
However this is all dependant on what you have covered in your tenancy agreement in regards to the upkeep of the property by the tenant.
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.
If a tenancy has started after March 1997 a tenant has the right have a statement of the terms of their tenancy from their landlord.
This information must be provided within 28 days of a request being made in writing by a tenant.
During a fixed term tenancy a landlord must have a reason to evict a tenant. The reason could be one of the following:
Rent arrears Tenant is regularly late with the rent Terms of the tenancy have been breached Tenant has allowed the condition of the property to deteriorate Property is being repossessed Tenant has caused nuisance or annoyance of some sort
If the landlord decides to evict the tenant during a fixed term tenancy then it could be for one of the following reasons:
Rent arrears Tenant is regularly late with the rent Terms of the tenancy have been breached Tenant has allowed the condition of the property to deteriorate Property is being repossessed Tenant has caused nuisance or annoyance of some sort
To evict the tenant before a fixed term is up the landlord will need to have applied to the court for a possession order. Before serving a possession order he must first serve the tenants with a section 8 notice specifying the grounds of possession.
Unless a valid reason exists the court will not grant a possession order. The court also has to take into consideration whether it is reasonable for a tenant to be evicted.
A landlord can serve a notice giving the tenant 2 months to leave the property without having a valid reason. For further information on the notice required visit Landlord Angel and look for the section 21 (fixed) page.
If a tenant has a periodic tenancy or the fixed term has ended a tenant can be evicted quite easily. The landlord will have to serve a section 21 (periodic) and provide the court with a copy of the assured shorthold tenancy. For further information on the notice visit Landlord Angel and look for the section 21 (periodic) page.
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 a tenant does not leave even after the possession order has been granted then the landlord can apply to the court to physically remove tenants from a property.
To serve an eviction notice on your tenant in as little as 3 minutes check out Landlord Angel.
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