Q The tenant of my rental property has been uncontactable for weeks and has stopped replying to emails. The property seems empty. Will I have to issue court proceedings to get it back?
A Under section 5 of the Housing Act 1988, a landlord can only end an assured shorthold tenancy by obtaining a court possession order. Indeed, under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 it is an offence to deprive any residential occupier of their occupation or to evict them otherwise than by court proceedings.
The Housing and Planning Act 2016 introduced a special procedure for recovering abandoned premises in England without having to go to court, but at the date of writing this legislation has not been brought into force.
Without it, the
