Eviction – Shelter Cymru

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Eviction

Landlords must follow legal procedures to evict tenants. The procedure used depends on the type of tenancy you have and may involve court action. The pages below explain the eviction procedure for the most common types of tenancy.

You can also find out what to do if your landlord doesn’t follow the right procedure, illegally evicts or harasses you.

If you own your own home and your lender is trying to evict you for mortgage arrears, visit our section on mortgage repossession.

If you are being evicted, the sooner you seek advice, the better. If it’s an emergency, call Shelter Cymru’s expert housing advice helpline or visit advice near you to find an advice surgery locally.

For urgent advice please call our expert housing advice helpline on 08000 495 495

or, for non-urgent enquiries please use our email advice service. An adviser will aim to reply to emails within five working days.

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

The government has brought in emergency laws which mean that:

  1. Most tenants who get an eviction notice between 26 March 2020 and 30 September 2020 are entitled to 3 months’ notice before their landlord can apply to court
  2. All court proceedings for evictions have been suspended for 90 days from 27 March 2020.
  • If you have received an eviction notice from your landlord you should stay in your home. Evictions take time and you don’t have to leave at the end of your notice under current law
  • Your landlord can’t currently apply to court for an order to evict you
  • If your landlord has already applied to the court then your case will be put off until after the 90 days. The court will tell you when any new hearing is, but this may take some time. If you are worried, ring your court to find out what has happened with your case
  • You should still pay your rent during any notice period or while you are waiting for a court hearing.

See Gov.Wales for the current Welsh Government advice.

See Public Health Wales for up to date health advice.

Preventing eviction

If you are facing eviction, you might be able to take action to change the situation.

Private tenants

Private landlords don’t always need a reason to evict you but they usually have to follow special legal procedures.

Housing association tenants

If you are threatened with eviction by a Housing Association, speak to an adviser immediately. Whatever type of tenancy you have, a Housing Association should only evict its tenants as a last resort.

Council tenants

The procedure the council must follow to evict a tenant depends on the type of tenancy you have. If you are threatened with eviction for any reason, speak to an adviser immediately.

Court action

This section explains what happens if you are renting your home and your landlord applies for a court order to evict you.

Harassment and illegal eviction

Harassment or illegal eviction by a private landlord is a criminal offence. There are many different types of harassment and there are steps you can take to stop it.

Mobile homes

If you rent a mobile home or you own a mobile home, and rent a pitch to station it on, you might have some protection against being evicted.

We are sorry that we cannot provide this information in Welsh, however if you would like to speak to an adviser in Welsh please contact 08000 495 495.

This page was last updated on: April 7, 2020

Shelter Cymru acknowledges the support of Shelter in allowing us to adapt their content. The information contained on this site is updated and maintained by Shelter Cymru and only gives general guidance on the law in Wales. It should not be regarded or relied upon as a complete or authoritative statement of the law.

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