england-and-wales tenancy-rules
What happens to one’s tenancy if one is evicted for a breach of it under section 8, Housing Act 1988?
<p>Suppose Bob enters a 12 month tenancy contract and would then like to move early, suppose after 5 months. Bob would remain liable for the remaining 7 months of rental payments, which liability his tenancy deposit would expectably be withheld toward the partial payment of.</p>
<p>Suppose Alice also enters a 12 month tenancy contract but would like to be released from it early, which her landlord denies her permission for. So she finds a replacement for herself to take over the remaining 7 months of her tenancy liability, called Charlotte. Charlotte moves in as a subletter, but Alice’s landlord is upset when she discovers that Charlotte has been sublet to without permission. What can Alice’s landlord do about this situation, other than move to terminate Alice’s tenancy by evicting her under <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/50/section/8?timeline=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 8</a> Housing Act 1988? Once Alice gets evicted under section 8, then hasn’t Alice gotten her way anyway, in being released from the remainder of her tenancy term rental payment liabilities?</p>
<p>And Alice’s landlord is now again on the hook for finding a new tenant to replace Alice some months earlier than planned.</p>
<p>Perhaps one undesirable effect of this for Alice would be liability for her landlord’s section 8 proceeding legal costs, but suppose that these come to 35% of her tenancy deposit and her rental payments have otherwise all been punctually kept up to date.</p>
<p>Would Alice not still get to keep more of her tenancy deposit than Bob got to keep of his, not to mention the further 5-6 months of rental liability that Bob was hypothetically left with?</p>

<p>Although Alice will mostly have achieved her aim in ending the tenancy early, there is one significant consequence of being evicted under section 8: a county court judgement (CCJ) against her.</p>
<p>A CCJ check is a standard part of the referencing check done by landlords when someone applies to be a tenant. Having a CCJ on record means that Alice may find it much harder to find somewhere to rent in the future.</p>
<p>So even if she's not out of pocket due to ending her tenancy early, she may end up with nowhere to live...or perhaps renting from a landlord who doesn't bother with CCJ checks, which may not be a good thing...</p>
<p><strong>EDIT:</strong> as pointed out in a comment, it looks like a CCJ would only apply if the tenant leaves while owing rent or other costs. If no money is due, then there will be no CCJ, even if the tenant is evicted under one of the other grounds of Section 8 (e.g. breach of contract).</p>
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<p>Realistically, there are up to three flaws with this scenario:</p>
<p>Achieving a section 8 eviction can take many, many months, so it's entirely possible that Alice's fixed term will have ended anyway by the time the case comes to court, making much of this moot.</p>
<p>My understanding is that eviction proceedings aren't cheap, so I'd be amazed if the costs only came to 35% of the deposit.</p>
<p>Having a subtenant creates further complications, as the subtenant has certain rights even if their tenancy is invalid. But that's out of scope for this question.</p>
