Eviction of excluded occupiers

  • Excluded occupiers do not have many rights  
  • If you are an excluded occupier your landlord can evict you without having to go to court
  • The council should help you if you are an excluded occupaier and your landlord asks you to leave.

Am I an excluded occupier? 

You are likely to be an excluded occupier if: 

  • you share facilities such as a kitchen or bathroom with your landlord 
  • your landlord lives in the same building and you share facilities with a member of your landlord’s family 
  • you are living in your accommodation for a holiday 
  • you are a hotel guest 
  • you do not pay any rent, or anything instead of rent, for your accommodation. 

What must my landlord do to evict me if I am an excluded occupier? 

Your landlord doesn’t need a court order to evict you.

They can evict you after you have been given ‘reasonable notice’. There is no legal definition of what is ‘reasonable’, as this will depend on the circumstances.

What happens after the notice ends? 

Once your landlord has given reasonable notice and it has ended you can be evicted. Your landlord has the right to change the locks while you are out or may remove your belongings and place them outside to persuade you to leave. 

Your landlord may commit a criminal offence if physical violence is used or threatened during the eviction. See our pages on harassment and illegal eviction. 

Even though it is not necessary it is good practice for landlords to get a possession order from the court to evict excluded occupiers. The court has no choice but to make a possession order as long as reasonable notice has been given. 

Getting help

If you are an excluded occupier and your landlord wants to evict you, the council must take a homelessness application from you. Read more about help that the council give you here.

Get help from Shelter Cymru if you are asked to leave. An adviser can help you work out what your rights are.

Did you find this helpful?

Yn anffodus, ni allwn ddarparu'r wybodaeth hon yn Gymraeg. Mae cyfieithiad Cymraeg ar gael trwy'r ddolen Cymorth Clyweledol ar frig y dudalen. Fodd bynnag, ni fydd y cyfieithiad yn gwbl gywir bob amser gan ei fod yn cael ei gynhyrchu'n awtomatig
Unfortunately, we cannot provide this information in Welsh. There is a Welsh translation available via the Audio Visual Help link at the top of the page. However, these will not always be completely accurate as they are automatically generated.

This page was last updated on: December 21, 2022

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.