Evicting a Tenant Costs Landlords Around £2,000, Finds Study

Evicting a tenant from a rental property can cost landlords around £2,000 and takes up to nine months, found a study by StudentTenant.com.

The student property portal also highlights that, during this time, landlords may also be missing out on rental income and will be forced to pay further court fees if they wish to recoup this.

As more and more landlords in the UK are experiencing rent arrears and with rents predicted to rise faster than house prices over the next five years, StudentTenant has looked into the time and money needed when evicting a tenant.

Landlords hoping to remove a tenant are waiting upwards of four months to regain possession of their property if the court eviction order is left undefended by the tenant. If it is, they are waiting much, much longer.

StudentTenant found that a well-known, reputable eviction specialist costs a staggering £1,981 to get the property back in the landlord’s possession.

Here is how that cost is broken down:

Serve a section 21 notice – £120 

Landlords are required to serve a section 21 notice to the tenant, giving them two months’ notice to leave the property. The tenant is not legally required to leave, and is actively encouraged to remain in the property by housing charities and local councils.

Property possession order – £685

If the tenant does not leave the property, the landlord must apply to court for a possession order to get the property back. The eviction process can take between four to six months, depending on how busy the court is.

High-court bailiff – £1,176

When a landlord is granted a possession order, the court will set a date for the tenant to leave the property, which is usually between four and six weeks. Only a court bailiff can evict the tenant from the property.

This takes the total cost to £1,981 and at least nine months to remove a tenant from the property.

Unfortunately for landlords, these are not the only costs they have to face…

If the tenant refuses to pay rent throughout the eviction process (and before proceedings begin), the landlord could be owed thousands of pounds in rent arrears.

Landlords are also forced to foot the bill for any repairs or renovation work required if the tenant has caused damage to the property.

In order to protect your rental income and costs associated with evicting a tenant, landlords should consider Rent Guarantee and Legal Expenses Insurance. This policy from Just Landlords will cover both tenant rent arrears and the costs of evicting a non-paying tenant from the property.

Get an instant online quote and cover here: https://www.justlandlords.co.uk/rentguaranteeinsurance

The Managing Director of StudentTenant, Danielle Cullen, comments: “We really do need reform in the rental sector to protect landlords’ rights when it comes to evicting tenants.

“Local councils are encouraging tenants to stay in the property until the eviction date – usually months into the future – so they are eligible for emergency housing. Tenants can only apply for it once they have been legally evicted, and if they leave any earlier, they are choosing to become homeless and cannot receive any support.

“Landlords and tenants are being really let down by the regulations in the sector. When it comes to removing non-paying tenants, the Government needs to make changes to make it quicker to remove a tenant in this kind of situation. There also needs to be more support for tenants who are being evicted through no fault of their own. They should be supported in finding a new property, to prevent them from having to stay until they are literally forced out.”