Singing Pig

Court order was received that they had to move out by 14th Aug.  I *think* they have left, but looking under the door I can still see some stuff in there.

Can I enter the property, change locks etc, or do I need the Bailiffs to qualify entering?

 If they have left, which I believe is the case, do I still need to wait the 2+ weeks for bailiffs to send various letters before they go around? One tenant has changed his mobile so I get a disconnect tone.  The other is no longer answering my text or phone messages or letters I have personally delivered so I know they have received them. 

Once a court possession order has beeen issued and become final, it is reasonable to expect a tenant to have left and it is acceptable to enter the property, regain possession and change the locks provided that the tenant is not present. Tenants property must be safeguarded and facilities made available to tenant to regain these. A bailiff need only be used if the tenant is clearly occupying the property when the possession order has become final. The bailiff is the only person who can legally remove such a tenant (with police assistance) and return possession to the owner at which point the locks are immediately changed.

Thanks for the answer.  I spent a few hours trawling through other threads and I think the problem is that they haven't returned (or left) their keys so they could argue they haven't left.  These scumbag knows all the tricks and have dragged this through every appeal possible without paying anything for over 4 months now so I want it on the market asap but also don't want to get myself into hot water.

I've decided to go back to the court this morning anyway for the Bailiffs. For £95 it's a small price considering how much they owe and I need to make sure I have all the right paperwork when I do take possession as I fear they may use it against me otherwise.

Those scumbags may think that they know all the tricks, but the fact that you have a valid posession order is all you need. It is reasonable to assume that they have left as the county court has ordered them to. If they re-enter, having to damage the door to do so as you have changed the locks then you can report them to the police for criminal damage! To save yourself £95 and a wait of a further month, why not post your query on www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums where experts with much more knowledge than me can advise.

P.P.

Okay, can I get clarification on this please.  My court possession order has lapsed and I've now instructed the Bailiffs who have given me an appointment date of 23rd Sept.

So because the court has already ruled they must pay & leave by the 14th and they haven't can I take peaceable possession and change the locks now when they aren't around? I know I'll have to keep their stuff safe and will obviously do this but I don't want to wait another 3 weeks for the bailiffs if it's not actually required.

SCarter:

... because the court has already ruled they must pay & leave by the 14th and they haven't can I take peaceable possession and change the locks now when they aren't around? I know I'll have to keep their stuff safe and will obviously do this but I don't want to wait another 3 weeks for the bailiffs if it's not actually required.

If you read your possession order carefully, it will say that the premises are to be vacated. It will not just say the tenant. It means that at least one person, not necessarily the tenant, must be occupying the premises 24 hours a day until bailiffs arrive.

You have to be absolutely sure that there are no occupiers in the premises when you visit. In case of repercussions, you really need to have a independent witness to this (maybe your locksmith?). You then make peaceable entry.

You then change the locks, and post a notice visible from the main entry door that repossession has taken place and locks changed. It should also give a warning that the premises have been made secure, and that re-entry by anyone without the landlords written consent will be treated as Breaking and Entering. This is a criminal offence and the police will be called.

Should re-entry be made by the tenant or others, some constabularies will regard this as a civil act, not criminal. This is wrong and you need to provide a copy of the possession order and at least the invoice from the locksmith (which, if it said that the place was unoccupied when he attended would be great). You may need to push this quite hard, as they often don't want to get involved. However, it is an easy nick and will help their statistics for "solved crimes".

I'm going to give it a shot. Will post back how it goes.

All went well today.

 As I expected, no one was there. I arrived late morning, just closed all the windows and balcony door which they left open then left the flat and went over the intersection and rang for the locksmith.  Took him 2 hours to come around and do the work and the rest of the day I spent taking photos of everything then cleaning up and finally boxing and moving everything out to storage which I just finished at 11pm.

Mail has been piling up, there's mould on dinner plates, all perishables in the fridge had perished and all the draws and wardrobes were empty. There was quite a few casual clothes lying around on the floor but nothing of even partial value apart from a 5 year old sony TV not connected up to anything so I doubt they'll chase for it.  There was loads of opened mail, including mail for myself which hadn't been redirected, but the other stuff shows other companies taking legal action against him. An unopened council tax letter had on the envelope "No more reminders". Annoyingly there was also a box with a delivery slip still on it in one of the trash bags that was lying around (there was about 10 bags of rotting food and other stuff on the balcony....) that said he took delivery of a Mac laptop a month ago, so he's obviously got money somewhere.

So moving forward from here:

How long do I have to store their stuff if they never ask for it back?

How soon before I can start looking for other tenants?

This is a very nerve racking deal. Can't believe I really got one from hell even though all references checked out clean......