Private residential tenancy: information for landlords

Grounds for eviction

There are 18 different grounds (reasons) for eviction. If you want your tenant to leave the property at least one of these grounds must apply.

All eviction grounds are discretionary.

Landlord intends to sell the let property

This ground applies if you plan on putting the let property up for sale within three months of the tenant moving out.

You'll need evidence to prove it – this could include a letter from a solicitor or an estate agent, or a recent home report for the property.

Let property to be sold by lender

This ground applies if your mortgage lender wants to repossess the property and sell it.

Landlord intends to refurbish the let property

This ground applies if you want to carry out major works to the let property that are so disruptive that the tenant wouldn't be able to live there at the same time.

Example of evidence could include planning permission, or a contract between you and an architect or a builder for the work to be carried out.

Landlord intends to live in let property

This ground applies if you want your tenant to move out of the property so that you or your joint landlord can move in.

Evidence could include an affidavit (a written statement, signed under oath in the presence of a Notary Public or a Justice of the Peace, that can be used as evidence at the Tribunal) saying this is what you are going to do.

Landlord intends to use the let property for non-residential purpose

This ground applies if you want the tenant to move out so you can use the property for something other than a home.

Evidence could include planning permission that will let you use the property for a different purpose.

Let property required for religious worker

This ground applies if the property is held to be available for someone who has a religious job (like a priest, nun, monk, imam, lay missionary, minister, rabbi or something similar).

The ground only works if the property has been used for this purpose before.

Tenant has a relevant criminal conviction

This ground applies if your tenant is convicted of an offence punishable by imprisonment that involved them either:

• using the property for illegal reasons
• letting someone use the property for illegal reasons
• committing a crime within or near the property

You have to apply to the Tribunal within a year of your tenant getting the conviction, unless you have a reasonable excuse for not applying before then.

Tenant is no longer occupying the let property

This ground applies if the property isn't being used as the main or only home of your tenant or a legal sub-tenant.

This doesn't count if you've failed your duty to keep the property in good repair and the tenant has had to move out for their own safety.

Landlord's family member intends to live in the let property

This ground applies if a member of your family plans to move into the property as their only or main home for at least three months.

Members of your family who qualify for this are:

• someone you're married to
• someone you're in a civil partnership with
• someone living with you as though they were married to you
• a parent or grandparent
• a child or grandchild
• a brother or sister
• step or half relatives (like a stepson or half-sister)
• a person being treated as someone's child even if they aren't related biologically or legally
• any family member (as listed above) of your spouse, civil partner or person living with you as though you were married
• the spouse or civil partner of any family members listed above, or someone living with them as though they were married

You need evidence for this ground. This could include an affidavit stating that this is what your family member intends to do.

Tenant no longer needs supported accommodation

This ground applies if the tenant moved in because they had a need for community care and they've since been assessed as no longer having that need.

Tenant has breached a term of the tenancy agreement

This ground applies if the tenant hasn't complied with one or more of the terms of tenancy.

This doesn't apply to cases where the tenant hasn't paid their rent (known as 'rent arrears') – there's a separate ground for this.

The tenant has engaged in relevant antisocial behaviour

This ground applies if the tenant has behaved in an antisocial way to another person, by doing something which either:

• causes them alarm or distress
• is a nuisance or annoyance
• is considered harassment

The First-tier Tribunal will consider the behaviour, who it involved and where it occurred to decide whether to issue an eviction order.

To use this ground, you have to apply to the Tribunal within a year of the conviction or behaviour taking place, unless you have a reasonable excuse.

Tenant has associated in the let property with someone who has a criminal conviction or is antisocial

This ground applies if your tenant allows someone into their property and they behave in an antisocial way that would have them evicted if they were the tenant.

This person could be:

• a sub-tenant
• a lodger of the tenant
• someone the tenant lets into the property on more than one occasion

To use this ground, you have to apply to the Tribunal within a year of the conviction or behaviour taking place, unless you have a reasonable excuse.

Landlord has had their registration refused or revoked

This ground applies if you aren't registered as a landlord in the local council area where the property is located.

This could be because the local council has either:

• refused to enter you in the register
• removed you from the register

Landlord's HMO licence has been revoked

This ground applies if the HMO (House of Multiple Occupancy) licence for the property has been removed and keeping all the tenants in the property would no longer be legal.

An overcrowding statutory notice has been served on the landlord

This ground applies if an 'overcrowding statutory notice' has been served on you because the property is overcrowded to the extent that it may affect the health of the people living there.

Tenant is in rent arrears over three consecutive months

This ground applies if the tenant has been in 'rent arrears' (has owed rent payments of any amount) for three or more months in a row. In deciding whether it is reasonable to evict, the Tribunal will consider whether the tenant being in arrears is due to a delay or failure in the payment of a relevant benefit and the landlord’s compliance with the pre-action requirements for rent arrears .

Tenant has stopped being — or has failed to become — an employee

This ground applies if you let the tenant move in because they were an employee of yours or were expected to become one, and now they aren't.

Wrongful termination orders

If your tenant has left the property and they think they have been misled into leaving the property, they can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a 'wrongful termination order'.

The Tribunal may make a wrongful termination order if it decides that you:

• misled the Tribunal into issuing an eviction order it shouldn't have
• wrongly made the tenant leave the property

If you get a wrongful termination order, you'll be told to pay the tenant who applied a payment of no more than six months' rent.

If you're a joint landlord with other people, the Tribunal may make the order against all, some or only one of you. If the Tribunal makes a wrongful termination order, they must also send a copy to any local council where you are registered as a landlord.