Advise needed with possession order.
I got possession order against two tenants using section 8 notice for possession & money claim
Agreement is AST with Joint and several liability
One of the tenant has left the property after notice to quit at end of the contract however
other tenant stayed back and acquired rent arrears.
Due to solicitor error, we got default judgement for both of them instead of one.
Can i set aside a default judge for only one tenant and enforce the CCJ on other in Joint and several liability ?
Or i have to set aside the judgement for both the tenants and start from fresh ?
If the notice to quit was invalid, then the one who left is still a tenant and still owes you rent.
If the notice to quit was valid, (you would need to check this), then it would have ended the tenancy for both tenants. If one didn’t leave he would be a trespasser and could have been excluded from the property by changing the locks whilst he was out. If you didn’t do this and continued to demand rent, then you likely created a new periodic undocumented tenancy for this tenant alone. If that’s the case then I’m not sure how you have got to the point of getting a possession order against them both.
A notice was sent via email by both tenants, but one of them came back requesting to stay for another six months as they were struggling to find a new home. We obtained a default possession order against the tenant who did not have possession of the property.
My question is: can I remove him from the possession order by agreeing to a consent to set aside, or will this cancel the entire order and require me to start the process over again
I’m afraid I’m still not clear about how you got the possession order. Was the tenants notice valid? was service by email allowed by your contract? Did you accept the notice? If yes, then both their tenancies ended when the notice expired.
Did you accept the request for one or both of them to stay on? Did either of them continue to pay you rent?
If you have a possession order for both tenants then you can’t set only part of it aside. Far easier to end both their tenancies and then offer the one you want to keep a new tenancy.
I am not sure i fully understand, but under joint and several liability you can persue the debt against any one or all of the tenants. So if you want to chase just one you should be ok to chase for the whole debt assuming they are both named on the same agreement.
I am not a lawyer but the fact the eviction order is against both tenants doesnt seem to me to make a difference other than protecting you ( for example if the other tenant decided to move back in!)