If your landlord has treated you unfairly because of who you are, you might be able to stop your eviction. For example, they might have harassed you because of your gender or refused to make changes for your disability. The court might stop the eviction or award you compensation to lower any rent arrears you owe. Check if your problem counts as discrimination to find out whether you can add it to your eviction defence.
You might be able to challenge the eviction. You might be able to defend your eviction using discrimination law - check if your housing problem is discrimination.
This could be a type of discrimination called victimisation. You might be able to defend your eviction using discrimination law. If your landlord has charged you too much for water, you might be able to stop them evicting you. Check if your landlord overcharged you for water and what you can do. You might be able to defend your section 8 notice if you explain to the court what you're doing to put things right. For example if you've paid some of your rent arrears or if you've repaired any damage you caused.
You should also explain why it won't happen again. Make sure you write on your defence form why you think you should be allowed to stay in your home.
You should use the defence form to explain to the court why you think you should have more time in your home. You'll need to explain your situation in as much detail as you can. The court could delay the date you'll need to leave your home. The amount of extra time the court can give you depends on the reason, or ground, your landlord is using.
Depending on the reason your landlord has given on your section 8 notice, the court could either:. You'll need to have a good reason to delay the date you leave, for example if you've got a serious illness or disability. You should send the defence form or what you've written back to the court within 14 days - the address will be on the form.
If you miss the deadline, you should still send it as soon as possible. Make sure you keep a copy - you'll need to remember what you've written later on. The court will tell you when it will look at the case for the first time - this is called the 'review date'. The court will send you the notice of review either:.
Before the review date, read the letters from the court and make sure you know how to contact the duty adviser on the review date. They can talk to your landlord for you.
They might be able to get your landlord to agree to pause or stop the eviction. The hearing will be at least 4 weeks after the review date. On the review date, you can ask the court to send you and your landlord to mediation if you think it would help. If you want to try mediation, tell the duty adviser.
You can find out more about mediation on GOV. You should go to the possession hearing — it's your chance to put forward your case in court and give reasons why you should stay in your home. The court might:. You can check how to prepare if the court decides to arrange a hearing by phone or video call. Read all the documents you've got from the court and your landlord. Take any evidence with you to court, for example:.
You can get a lawyer to represent you in court. Find out if you can get help with legal costs at GOV. Before the date of the possession hearing, read the letters from the court and make sure you know how to contact the duty adviser.
Talk to an adviser to find out what legal advice you can get. You should make sure you go to the possession hearing even if you've not sent your defence.
It's your opportunity to explain your situation to the court. You could give any extra evidence you have, for example if you've got a new job and could afford to pay back some arrears. If you've sent your defence form and you don't go to the hearing, the court could ignore it and just rely on the evidence your landlord has given them.
You can take someone with you for support, for example a friend or family member. They might not be able to speak for you in court. If you don't go to the hearing, you could find out the court's decision by phoning them or speaking to your landlord. The court will also send a letter telling you whether you have to leave your home. Even if you have to leave your home, the court might give you more time to find somewhere else to live. You normally won't have to leave your home straight away - you'll get a notice from the court telling you when you're supposed to leave.
This is called an 'outright possession order'. You can read about these and other changes in a summary of the reforms or in detailed fact sheets and guides. If you want to know what the law says about evictions and possession orders, you can read these sections of the Residential Tenancies Act :. Skip to content Skip to main navigation Skip to footer. Your rights and responsibilities Menu options for Consumer Affairs Victoria Housing Renting, buying and selling property, building and renovating, owners corporations, retirement villages.
Evictions and possession orders. Skip listen and sharing tools Listen. On this page: How evictions work Illegal evictions Timeframes for possession orders Getting help How evictions work. If these steps are not followed, it is an illegal eviction. VCAT will consider the effect on everyone involved. Renters who did not attend a possession hearing can apply for a rehearing or urgent review of the possession order. They will need to have a good reason for not attending the original hearing for VCAT to change the order.
Once granted, warrants are only valid for a period of time, usually 14 days. Notice to vacate in a rooming house Notice to vacate to a caravan park resident Reason for notice to vacate Minimum notice required When the owner can apply to VCAT for permission The rooming house operator has given the resident a notice to vacate the room.
The caravan park owner or caravan owner has given the resident a notice to vacate the site or caravan. The resident has given the caravan park owner or caravan owner a notice of intention to vacate the site or caravan. Getting help Contact Consumer Affairs Victoria. You can call us on 55 81 81 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday.
Your information will stay confidential. Dear Landlord app. Renting law reforms. In March Victoria introduced new terminology to the rental act. Landlords are now called rental providers Tenants are now called renters Leases are now called rental agreements. Some of the major changes to evictions include: Previously, VCAT was not required to consider reasonableness or proportionality in making a possession order.
Sections of the Act. If you want to know what the law says about evictions and possession orders, you can read these sections of the Residential Tenancies Act : Part 7 — Regaining possession — Possession orders and warrants. It should be noted, serving notice and commencing proceedings has now become exceptionally complex and some may prefer to use a solicitor until at least the end of March 30 July We will also recap on notice lengths and also go through claiming possession through the court including existing claims that need reactivating.
Understanding the possession action process: A guide for private landlords in England and Wales. Pre-Action Plan: Managing arrears and avoiding possession claims. Technical guidance on eviction notices. There is no commencement date mentioned in the document nor in the overall arrangements so we assume it has started with immediate effect. It should be noted at the outset, the Housing Act has not been amended and so despite the requirements set out in the pre-action plan, any requirement to give possession by the court remains.
However, this is all about how quickly it gets to court and avoiding adjournments by failing to follow the pre-action plan. Landlords should not issue notice without fully exploring the above options and tenants should actively engage with their landlords. The pre-action plan then goes on to provide five steps that are to be taken before notice is issued including under section 21 and section 8, ground 8 :.
After compliance with the pre-action plan and if you still need to serve notice, you can do so. This can be either a section 21 or section 8 where the tenancy is an assured shorthold tenancy.
The government has published some non-statutory guidance: Technical guidance on eviction notices which is worthy of reading if you are preparing to serve a notice.
In both England and Wales, the length of a section 21 notice is at least six months. You should also add at least four further days for delivery of the notice. You can download a section 21 notice from our possession notice wizard. Where rent arrears grounds only are being used grounds 8, 10 and 11 , the length of notice is 6 months in Wales and in England, if the arrears are less than 6 months, 6 months notice but if arrears are greater than or equal to six months, 4 weeks notice is required.
For ground 14 anti-social behaviour , the length of notice is now simply four days for delivery basically proceedings cannot be commenced before the tenant has received the notice. As of 29 September , this applies to both England and Wales.
For the dates required on other grounds, please see this useful table on the. And, this table for Wales. Wales latest article applying from 29 September You then return a form to tell the court the date of the eviction to ensure the process is legal. When the legal notice is given to the tenant, you should fill in a certificate of service form N and add the details of who served the notice and when on the paperwork.
If a possession order is ignored, then the landlord can apply for a bailiff to evict the tenants. This usually involves having a County Court Bailiff enforce it and this can take weeks. You can either use the accelerated possession order detailed below to speed up the process. Or if you want to avoid having to wait for a County Court Bailiff, you can apply to have the case transferred to the High Court. Then a High Court Enforcement Officer can handle the eviction for you.
If you have a Section 21 notice where there is a written tenancy agreement and there are no rent arrears to handle, then you can use the accelerated procedure. This avoids the need for a court hearing but there is still a court fee to pay. You will need to use form N5B claim for possession accelerated procedure for this.
With the current legislation in place to protect tenants during the pandemic, there are a lot more regulations in place around evictions and this can slow down the process.
Another issue is that there are significant delays at court with a backlog of cases so this can take weeks to have a case heard.
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