Welcome to The Guild of Residential Landlords

IMPORTANT BEFORE CONTINUING: If the tenant moved in before March 1997, you may not be able to use this procedure if there is no written tenancy agreement. Therefore, please contact the Guild.

First you need to download the two required forms. N5 is here and N119 is here. Ensure you have both forms ready to complete.

You should also have the section 21 notice available.

Completing the forms

N5

Page 1

In the: Insert name of county court. This must be the court nearest the property. If you are not sure which court this is, click here to search for courts.
Claimant: Insert landlord's name and address
Defendant: Insert all tenants names and tenancy address
Which (includes) ... : Delete "does not include" and the court will complete the hearing date section
Defendants name and address: Insert all names of tenants and tenancy address
Court Fee: "£150.00"
Solicitor's costs: "£0.00"
Total amount: "£150.00"
Issue date: leave blank, court will fill it in

Page 2

Tick "other", and insert following underneath "on [insert date section 21 served] a notice under section 21 Housing Act 1988 was served. The defendant has failed to vacate the property after expiry of the notice."

Then tick No, No, No on bottom three questions

Delete as appropriate, sign, date and insert landlord's name

N119

The numbers below correspond with the paragraph numbers on the form

Name of Court: Insert the name of the court nearest the property
Name of claimant: Insert landlord's name
Name of defendant: Insert tenants names. If too many names to fit, you can put first name then "& others"
1. Insert tenancy address
2. Insert names of all tenants. You can put here any names, even if they are not on tenancy agreement. It is only "to the best of your knowledge"
3. (a): Insert "assured shorthold" then enter date of tenancy. If renewed, enter date of most recent tenancy
3. (b): Insert current rent and delete payment periods as appropriate.
3. (c): Insert daily rate. To calculate use following formula. E.G. £500.00pcm. 500 x 12 = 6000 / 365 = £16.44 daily rent
4. Delete (a) and (b). Under (c) insert the following: "on [insert date section 21 served] a notice under section 21 Housing Act 1988 was served. The defendant has failed to vacate the property after expiry of the notice."
5. Insert "No legal steps taken". DO NOT put anything else here. Many people think this means visits to property, phone calls etc. However it is meaning legal steps.
6. Delete all except "other". Within other, insert "Section 21 notice" then enter the date it was served
7. Only insert here details about Housing Benefit (if any) DO NOT put anything else here, it will only cause arguments at the hearing
8. Leave blank (again it will only cause argument)
9. Delete (b) and line below
10. Leave [optional: If the deposit is protected you can add the following: "(e) The deposit of £xxx (insert amount of deposit) that is held by xxx (insert name and address of where deposit is held) is to be repaid to the claimant landlord in accordance with paragraph 4 or paragraph 6 of Schedule 10 Housing Act 2004."]
11. Tick no
12, 13, 14 & 15: Delete all. Demotion orders are local authorities only
Statement of truth: Delete as appropriate, sign, date and insert name of landlord

Documents to attach

The Civil Procedure Rules state that all documents that you intend to rely on should be attached to the particulars of claim (N119). Therefore, you will need to attach several documents to the claim form. Attach the following documents:

• Attach an additional particulars of claim which will detail the verbal tenancy agreement. An example is given below.
• Attach some sort of evidence of the date the tenancy began. This could be a rent book containing a date for example.
• If deposit has been protected, attach a copy of the deposit
  protection certificate supplied by the scheme administrator. In
  addition attach a copy of the deposit information certificate given to
  the tenant.
• Attach a copy of the section 21 notice
• Attach a copy of the certificate of postage or other proof of service

Example "additional particulars of claim"

In the [insert county court] County Court

Between

Claimant

-and-

Defendant

1  My name is [insert landlord name]. My address is [insert landlord address]. I am the claimant in this case.

2  I am the landlord of the property known as [insert tenancy address]

3  On [insert date of verbal agreement (normally same as commencement date)] the claimant granted an assured shorthold tenancy to the defendant. The core terms of the tenancy are as follows:

Date of agreement [insert date of agreement]
Commencement date of agreement [insert date tenant moved in and paid first period of rent]
Last day of term certain [insert last day of agreed fixed term. If no fixed term, delete this line]
Rent of [insert rent amount] payable in advance every [calendar month / week etc.]
The rent is payable on the [insert date / day rent is payable e.g. 1st day or Monday] of every [insert period of rent e.g. weekly / calendar month]

4  By way of section 19A Housing Act 1988 (as inserted by section 96 Housing Act 1996) this tenancy is an assured shorthold tenancy. No notice was served stating the tenancy was not an assured shorthold tenancy.

5  On [insert date section 21 notice served] the claimant served a notice under section 21 Housing Act 1988. A copy of which is attached. [Attached is also proof of service].

6  The notice has expired prior to these proceedings being commenced and the defendant has failed to vacate.

7  Because there is no evidence of a written tenancy agreement, the claimant is unable to use the "accelerated possession procedure" which is why the claimant is using this standard procedure for possession.

8  It is respectfully submitted that the landlord is entitled to possession of [insert tenancy address] by way of section 21 Housing Act 1988 which reads (as far as appropriate):

21.- Recovery of possession on expiry or termination of assured shorthold tenancy.
(1) Without prejudice to any right of the landlord under an assured shorthold tenancy to recover possession of the dwelling-house let on the tenancy in accordance with Chapter I above, on or after the coming to an end of an assured shorthold tenancy which was a fixed term tenancy, a court shall make an order for possession of the dwelling-house if it is satisfied-
(a) that the assured shorthold tenancy has come to an end and no further assured tenancy (whether shorthold or not) is for the time being in existence, other than [an assured short-hold periodic tenancy (whether statutory or not)]1; and
(b) the landlord or, in the case of joint landlords, at least one of them has given to the tenant not less than two months' notice [in writing ]2 stating that he requires possession of the dwelling-house.
(2) A notice under paragraph (b) of subsection (1) above may be given before or on the day on which the tenancy comes to an end; and that subsection shall have effect notwithstanding that on the coming to an end of the fixed term tenancy a statutory periodic tenancy arises.
(3) Where a court makes an order for possession of a dwelling-house by virtue of subsection (1) above, any statutory periodic tenancy which has arisen on the coming to an end of the assured shorthold tenancy shall end (without further notice and regardless of the period) on the day on which the order takes effect.
(4) Without prejudice to any such right as is referred to in subsection (1) above, a court shall make an order for possession of a dwelling-house let on an assured shorthold tenancy which is a periodic tenancy if the court is satisfied-
(a) that the landlord or, in the case of joint landlords, at least one of them has given to the tenant a notice [in writing ]3 stating that, after a date specified in the notice, being the last day of a period of the tenancy and not earlier than two months after the date the notice was given, possession of the dwelling-house is required by virtue of this section; and
(b) that the date specified in the notice under paragraph (a) above is not earlier than the earliest day on which, apart from section 5(1) above, the tenancy could be brought to an end by a notice to quit given by the landlord on the same date as the notice under paragraph (a) above.

Order being asked for

The claimant claims possession of the dwelling-house

Costs

Statement of truth

All the facts and matters stated in this additional particulars of claim, which are within my own knowledge, are true and any facts or matters in this additional particulars of claim, which are not within my own knowledge, are true to the best of my information and belief.

Signed .........................................................................
Claimant

Dated ...........................................................................

Copies

You will need two copies of "ALL" the documents and claim form for you to retain. One for the court, plus one copy for each named tenant on the tenancy agreement. This is because even though the tenants are at the same address, the court will send one full copy to each tenant.
Normally, about five copies are required in total.

Issuing the form

You need to either post or take the claim form into the court nearest the property. You could ask for a receipt. You will need to pay, usually by cheque. The amount is £150.00 and the cheque should be made payable to HMCS (which stands for Her Majesty's Court Service if you were wondering).

You should hear from the court within 7 days. If you haven't, you should call the court and ask for written confirmation that the claim form has been issued.

Requesting the possession order

Once you have received confirmation, a date will be provided when the hearing will take place. If this date is longer than 8 weeks from the date the court issued the papers to the tenants (the issue date) contact the Guild because the hearing must not be later than 8 weeks from this date. The hearing will not be sooner than 4 weeks from the issue date.

Hearing

You should read this court room guidance that we have produced for rent arrears cases. You should have this available along with "ALL" the original documents in the court. 

You only need prove (a) the tenant is an assured shorthold tenant and (b) the section 21 notice is valid

You should always call us at the very latest one week before the hearing as there could be new case law that might be relevant. You should also call promptly if you receive a defense before the hearing.

The judge can give up to 14 days for the tenant to vacate and this is the normal timescale. The tenant may ask for longer (up to six weeks). Anything longer than 14 days may only be done on "very rare occasions".

If tenant fails to vacate

Should the tenant fail to give up possession by the date ordered, you need to apply to the court bailiff who will remove the tenants from your property.YOU MUST NOT ATTEMPT TO REMOVE THE TENANTS YOURSELF!

Simply fill in this form and send it to the same court as the order was made along with a cheque for £95.00 made payable to HMPG.

Helpful tip: If you take the form to the court yourself before 10.00am, you may be able to ask for the bailiff personally. You can then ask him to book in the appointment for removing the tenants there and then. Usually it is about seven days. You must go before 10.00am though as the bailiff normally goes out on his rounds after this time. Often there is only one or two bailiffs for the whole area so appointments will vary according to the time they have available.