If a landlord or agent asks you to leave your home
As a tenant you have certain rights and responsibilities when you rent from a private landlord. For example, your landlord or letting agent is legally required to:
- protect your deposit in one of the government approved deposit protection schemes within 30 days of receiving it
- give you details of the scheme and its dispute resolution service
- check your original documents to make sure you have the right to rent a property in England
- give you a recent copy of the government's guide on how to rent – GOV.UK
You should firstly ensure that your agent or landlord is complying with their responsibilities. You can read the full set of responsibilities in the private renting guidance on GOV.UK.
If they are not, they will be unable to legally evict you from your home and any eviction action will be deemed as illegal. If this is the case, you must notify us of this by selecting this option on our housing advice form.
Different types of tenancies
There are different types of tenancies, including:
- assured shorthold tenancies (AST)
- excluded tenancies or licences
- assured tenancies
- regulated tenancies
- houses of multiple occupation (HMO)
To find out which tenancy you have and how eviction work for each tenancy, you can use the Shelter's tenancy checker tool.
If your tenancy is simply coming to an end
You should try and negotiate an extension of this tenancy with your landlord. If this is not possible you should start to look for alternative accommodation. Find out what housing options are available.
Rent arrears or rent increase
You should make sure that you have claimed all entitlements to financial help towards your rent payments if your landlord or agent says you have been asked to leave your home because:
- you've failed to keep up with your rent payments and have rent arrears
- your landlord or agent has increased the rent and you are now unable to pay the new full amount
Depending on your circumstances, you may be entitled to:
If you are already in receipt of Universal Credit or Housing Benefit and are still unable to meet your rent payments every month, you can apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment.
Terms of the tenancy
If your landlord or agent says you've been asked to leave your home because of your behaviour or failure to keep to the terms of the tenancy.
You should aim to resolve these issues immediately and personally let your landlord or agent know your commitment to change your behaviour. Confirm this in writing to them.
The property you are renting is for sale
If your landlord or agent wants you to leave the property because they're selling it, you should contact your landlord or agent to find out if they:
- are looking to sell their property
- would accept an increase in rent
You should also start looking for alternative accommodation as soon as possible.