A new online form for accelerated possession & eviction of a tenant has just appeared on the government website.
This guidance has been prepared for landlords who wish to gain possession of a privately rented property let on an assured shorthold tenancy.You are likely to be letting on an assured shorthold tenancy if:
- you are a private landlord
- the tenancy began on or after 28 February 1997
- the house or flat is let as separate accommodation and is the tenant’s main home
Initial reactions from landlords is that the form is easier to use than the N5B form which is the alternative. This is because the autofills and the date checker which makes it quicker to fill in and less likely that a landlord makes a simple error. There is always plenty of discussion around the questions posed by the N5B form on our forum.
The N5B form is a difficult one as there are a number of very ambiguous questions.
We found as part of our Property Hawk Training Event - Letting Essentials that the N5B workshop was particular helpful for our landlords.
New accelerated possession form
The new form may be slightly easier to use but it is not an online end to end possession solution. What would be really useful is if landlords could not only fill out the form online but also upload a copy of the tenancy agreement and proof of service and then pay the £280 online. All this could be done and the form could have a digital signature from the landlord.Having done all this online, all a landlord would need to do would be to press 'Submit' and the whole legal bundle of paper work and payment would be sent as one job lot to the relevant court.
Dream on landlords!