Private Residential Tenancies

A mandatory ground means that if the Tribunal agrees that the ground exists, you must leave the property no matter what your argument is.

This ground applies if you are putting your property up for sale within three months of you moving out.

You will need evidence to prove it – this could include a letter from a solicitor or an estate agent, or a recent home report for the property.

This ground applies if your mortgage lender wants to repossess the property and sell it.

This ground applies if you need to carry out major works to the let property that are so disruptive that your tenants are unable to live there at the same time.

Examples of evidence could include planning permission, or a contract between you and architect or a builder for the necessary works to be carried out.

This ground applies if you want to live in your property again.

Evidence could include an affidavit (a written statement, signed under oath in the presence of a Notary Public or a Justice of the Peace, that can be used as evidence at the Tribunal) saying this is what they are going to do.

This ground applies if you want to use the property for something other than a home. For example changing the property to commercial use

Evidence could include planning permission that will allow you to use the property for a different purpose.

This ground applies if the property is held to be available for someone who has a religious job (like a priest, nun, monk, imam, lay missionary, minister, rabbi or something similar).

The ground only works if the property has been used for this purpose before.

This ground applies if you're Tenant has been convicted of an offence punishable by imprisonment or

• using the property for illegal reasons
• letting someone use the property for illegal reasons
• committing a crime within or near the property

You must apply to the Tribunal within a year of your tenant being convicted, unless they have a reasonable excuse for not applying before then.

This ground applies if the property isn't being used as the tenants main or only home.

This doesn't count if you have failed in your duty to keep the property in good repair and you had to move out for your own safety.

A discretionary ground means that even if the Tribunal agrees that the ground exists, it still has to decide whether it is reasonable to issue an eviction order.

This ground applies if a member of your family plans to move into the property as their only or main home for at least three months.

Members of your family who qualify for this are:

• your spouse
• your civil partner
• a parent or grandparent
• a child or grandchild
• a brother or sister
• a brother or sister
• step or half relatives (like a stepson or half-sister)
• a person being treated as someone's child even if they aren't related biologically or legally
• the spouse or civil partner of any family members listed above, or someone living with them as though they were married

You will need evidence for this ground. This could include an affidavit stating that this is what your family member intends to do.

This ground applies if your Tenant moved into your property because they had a need for community care and have since been assessed as no longer having that need.

This ground applies if your tenant has not complied with one of the terms of your tenancy.

This doesn't apply to cases where your tenant has not paid you rent (known as 'rent arrears') – there's a separate ground for this.

This ground applies if your tenant has acted in an antisocial way to another person, by doing something which either:

• causes them alarm or distress
• is a nuisance or annoyance
• is considered harassment

The First-tier Tribunal will consider the behaviour, who it involved and where it occurred to decide whether to issue an eviction order.

To use this ground, you have to apply to the Tribunal within a year of the behaviour taking place, unless your Tenant has a reasonable excuse.

This ground applies if the tenant allows someone into the property and they behave in an antisocial way that would have them evicted if they were the tenant.

This person could be:

• a sub-tenant
• a lodger
• someone your tenant has let into the property on more than one occasion

To use this ground, you have to apply to the Tribunal within a year of the conviction or behaviour taking place, unless they have a reasonable excuse.

• You have had your registration refused or revoked This ground does not applies if you aren’t a registered landlord in the local council area where the property is located.

This could be because the local council has either:

• refused to enter you in the register
• removed you from the register

This ground applies if your HMO (House of Multiple Occupancy) licences for the property has been removed and keeping all your tenants in the property would no longer be legal.

(two weeks' notice)

You can evict on this ground if your tenant or someone living with your tenant has been:

• causing a nuisance or annoying your neighbours
• convicted of using the home, or letting it be used, for something illegal – like dealing drugs

This ground applies if an 'overcrowding statutory notice' has been served on you because the property is overcrowded to the extent that it may affect the health of the people living there.

The final two grounds can be either mandatory or discretionary, depending on the circumstances of the case.

This ground applies if your tenants is in 'rent arrears' (owed rent payments) for three or more months in a row.

If your tenant owe less than a month's rent (or are no longer in arrears) by the first day of the Tribunal hearing, the ground is discretionary and the Tribunal will decide whether it is reasonable to issue an eviction order.

If you owe less than a month's rent (or are no longer in arrears) by the first day of the Tribunal hearing, the ground is discretionary and the Tribunal will decide whether it is reasonable to issue an eviction order.

In deciding whether it is reasonable to evict, the Tribunal will consider whether your tenant being in arrears is due to a delay or failure in the payment of a relevant benefit.

This ground applies if your Tenant was an employee of yours and is now no longer an employee

The First-tier Tribunal will have to give an eviction order if either:

• if you apply within 12 months of your tenant no longer being an employee