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New anti-social behaviour law may make eviction easier
A lettings law expert says agents and landlords dealing with assaults or criminal behaviour by their tenants are set to benefit from a recent change to the law.
Landlord and tenant law expert James Murray, of solicitors’ firm Jones & Co, operating in Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire, says that a new part of the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 means that tenants who are convicted of serious offences in rental property – or against other tenants, landlords or their agents – can now be much more easily evicted.
“If a tenant or visitor to the property is convicted of a serious offence in or near the property, or against another occupier, the landlord or agent, in or away from the property, there is now a mandatory ground for possession. This means that under these circumstances a judge is required to order possession” he says.
Murray has recently seen a landlord client who was assaulted by a tenant. Up until this change to the law, there was no straightforward way for a landlord to seek possession, even if their tenant had been convicted of a serious offence.
“This could also help landlords who need to get possession when tenants have been imprisoned during the tenancy, when it may not be clear whether the tenant is still in the property or not” explains Murray.
Tenants who will face the risk of eviction in future include those who have breached an injunction to prevent nuisance and annoyance, or those who have breached a criminal behaviour order in or near the property, or those who caused harassment to a tenant, occupier, landlord or agent, wherever this took place.
“There are a range of time limits for when the possession notice must be served, depending on the circumstances, so it’s important that any landlord dealing with a problem tenant seeks help as early as possible.”
