Can landlord charge tenant for eviction?

[Tiredmumno1]

I was asked by my NDN earlier that if she asked her landlord to evict her, would she have to pay costs?

I did tell her I have no idea as I am not a landlord

So thought I would ask you wise people here

Thanks for reading.

Sounds dodgy to me. Why would she want to be evicted rather than just moving out? The only reason I can think of is to queue jump for social housing.

In theory, a landlord can pursue a small claim against a tenant to recover the legal costs involved in an eviction. However, very few actually do as the majority of evictions come about because the tenants can't pay their rent and there would be no point chasing them for additional costs. In this case, I can't see why a landlord would voluntarily lumber themselves with the hassle and cost of evicting a tenant who they don't want to get rid of and who isn't causing problems or defaulting on rent, just because they've been asked to. I expect the landlord would at the very least want to be financially compensated in return for complying, if they agreed at all.

What's the situation here? I'm presuming this is somebody who wants their landlord to evict them so they stand a better chance of being housed by the council on the grounds of being unintentionally homeless? Or is that not the case?

Pressed send too soon. Your friend also needs to keep in mind that a court-ordered eviction will be a matter of public record and could pose problems with private renting in the future if landlords/agents were to carry out detailed referencing (which they increasingly do). Many landlords will be reluctant to touch somebody with an eviction in their past.

Blimey sounds complicated

She is just a neighbour I don't know too much about her. The social housing thing hasn't crossed my mind (insert daft emoticon)

I really hope she doesn't ask me again then, I think I'd feel a bit embarrassed to ask her why she wants to do that.

Hmm not sure what to do, but thank you very much for answering.

I'm pretty sure a tenant cannot ask to be evicted as a way to queue jump the social housing ladder, as this would be against the council's "rules" and they would likely ask the Landlord if an approach had been made. And a landlord mustn't ask the tenant if he/she wants to be evicted for the same reason.

i've been in this situation myself. I couldnt find a suitable place to move to in time with my 2 children. I paid the eviction costs incurred by the landlord and was moved into emergency accommodation for 2 years and am now housed in temporary accommodation with a private landlord paying £850 pcm. It's not ideal and one doesn't jump the queue as homeless families are now categorised as band C which means you'll be on the council flat list for ever and the chances of getting a flat with them are near on impossible. The only positive is I didnt have to pay agency fees and a deposit and I can stay here long term.

I've just evicted a tenant because he wanted to jump the social housing queue - I wasn't asked but he was very open about this being the reason why he wanted to be evicted and why he wasn't going to leave when I served a S21 notice. On the order of possession, there was a note saying that he would be responsible for the £175 court fee (and, theoretically the £110 bailiff costs) but I know that I am never going to see that money.

If your neighbour tries to force the LL's hand to make her homeless (ie. evict her) by not paying her rent, then my understanding is that she would be classed as being voluntarily homeless and would not be given priority. When the council housing office rang me to cross-check my tenant's story that he had indeed been evicted, they seemed very keen indeed for me to say that he was in arrears but the only good outcome of the whole saga was that I received his rent regularly so he is now, thankfully, their problem.