Q I let my home in Yorkshire on a six-month tenancy agreement, which expires next week; the tenants have been given three months' notice to vacate. The estate agent tells me that the local council advised the tenants to “stay put” until legal action is taken. Meanwhile, my daughter and I will be homeless. What is the quickest way to resolve this and to reclaim costs?

A There are two issues here. First, how can you quickly regain possession? Secondly, what can you do about the council?

Assured Shorthold Tenancies are usually ended by serving a notice under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988. With certain exceptions, a tenant who receives a Section 21 can remain until the landlord has got a possession order from a judge and the court issues a warrant authorising eviction by bailiffs. There are exceptions to this under Section 3A of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 for certain resident landlords, but you are unlikely to be exempt in this instance. If there is a written tenancy agreement, under rule 55.11 of the Civil Procedure Rules the order can be granted by a judge without a hearing. However, you will still have to go through the process of court proceedings, warrant and bailiffs.

The advice given by the council is sometime described as “gatekeeping”. Your tenants have been treated as making a formal homelessness application to the council under Section 183 of the Housing Act 1996. The council is trying to avoid having to pay for temporary accommodation by giving free housing advice to potentially homeless people.

Paragraphs 8.30 and 8.31 of the Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities 2006 suggest that the council should have discussed the matter with you first and should have considered whether it was “reasonable for the [tenants] to continue to occupy” your property once the Section 21 notice expired.

The code says that the council should also have looked at “the position of the landlord”. In your case, the council seems to have broken this guidance. Your best course is to try to get your legal costs from it when you evict the tenants. If you do have to go to court to get a possession order, apply to join the council as a “costs only” defendant under rule 48.2 of the Civil Procedure Rules. You will have to persuade a judge that the council's breach of the code caused you to incur legal costs, but the threat may be enough for the council to pay up the cost of the legal proceedings.

The writer is a barrister at Tanfield Chambers. E-mail your questions to: brief.encounter@thetimes.co.uk

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