Getting your Property Back

Getting your property back when you want it is now easier than ever before. You have an absolute right to get it back at the end of an assured shorthold tenancy. Although it should be remembered that it is not normally possible for the landlord to get the property back until after the initial 6 months unless there has been a breach of a term of the tenancy agreement, or the tenant agrees to leave at an earlier date. The tenancy can be extended at the end of the initial term either by granting a further fixed term, or allowing it to continue as a periodic tenancy for as long as you wish. If you allow a shorthold tenancy to run on in this way you retain the right to seek possession of the property at any time on giving the tenant two months' notice of your intention to do so, and the court must grant you possession when you seek it.

A full assured tenancy (i.e. one which is not a shorthold) gives the tenant more security. But you can still get the property back in certain circumstances, and the law will not protect bad tenants. There are seventeen grounds in law on which an assured tenancy may be brought to an end. Some of the grounds are mandatory, so if they are proved the court must order possession, whilst the remaining grounds are discretionary, and the court will grant possession if it considers it reasonable to do so.

Some of the grounds are prior notice grounds, which means that you must tell the tenant in writing before the tenancy is entered into that you may wish to get the property back in some circumstances. These grounds are useful if you are unsure when you may need your property back (though you will not be able to use them during a fixed term tenancy). For example, you may want to move back into what was your main family home because a job in a different part of the country has come to an end.

Some of the answers to the common questions below show how some of the grounds might be used, and others are referred to in the section dealing with problems with your tenant.