Sitting tenants have an uninterrupted right of tenure under the Rent Act of 1977. They are therefore not bound by the same tenancy rules as those who entered into tenancies after the 15th Jan 1989. Although it is harder to evict a sitting tenant, there are several ways this can be achieved. These can be found in Section 15 of the Rent Act 1977 and any attempt to do this has to go through the courts. There are discretionary reasons – the court makes the ultimate decision whether this qualifies for the end of the tenancy, and there are mandatory reasons – if the court agrees that one of the mandatory reasons has been satisfied they have to evict the tenant.
A discretionary case would be where the tenant has not paid rent or another condition of the tenancy has been broken, such as subletting the property without consent. In cases where subletting is allowed, the tenant may not sublet part of the property, such as a bedroom, at a higher rent than is recoverable for that part.
The tenants are responsible for ensuring the property does not deteriorate due to neglect or default. This also applies to the condition of any furniture that is part of the tenancy agreement, which may not deteriorate past normal wear and tear. If subletting or when there are other occupants, this obligation still lies with tenant. If they allow the property to fall into disrepair then this could be grounds for a discretionary eviction.
Apart from the physical condition of the property, the landlord could claim a discretionary case if anyone occupying the property is guilty of anti-social behaviour or is using the property for "illegal or immoral purposes".
If the property is deemed “reasonably required” by the landlord, a close relative or full-time employee of the landlord, then the tenant must abandon the property (this does not apply for individuals who became landlords by purchasing the property at any time after 24th May 1974). The same applies if the tenant has already given notice to quit the tenancy and the landlord thereby commenced the process of re-letting or selling.
In the majority of the mandatory cases, advance notice is both possible and required. This includes situations where the landlord (or in some circumstances a member of the landlord's family) has previously lived in the property and would like to return, or if he or she would like to retire there. If the person normally occupying the property is a minister of religion, an agricultural worker or a member of the armed forces and wishes to return the property, this is also considered a mandatory case.
When trying to evict a sitting tenant, sitting tenants have very strong residential rights. That is why many landlords of sitting tenants end up selling their property at around 50% of market rate, due to the amount of hassle involved either reselling, or trying to change tenancy. Therefore if possible it is best to try and sort out any issues amicably with the tenant. If unable to do so, any of these discretionary and mandatory cases have to be agreed upon by the courts.
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