A sitting tenant (or protected tenant) is someone who has a regulated tenancy under the Rent Act 1977 of a rented property which dates back before the Housing Act 1988 came into force in January 1989.
A protected tenant has the right to:
Sitting tenants make selling a property much more problematic since they have more rights than assured shorthold tenants and are often paying less than market rent. A landlord is not allowed to increase the rent of a protected tenant if it has been registered as a fair rent by the Rent Officer. If no fair rent has been registered, the landlord cannot increase the rent unless the tenant agrees formally in writing, or either the tenant or landlord apply to the Rent Officer and the Rent Officer fixes a fair rent.
Buyers usually want to buy a property with vacant possession but, if there is a binding contract between the tenant and the landlord, the tenant does not automatically lose his rights after the property changes ownership.
In addition, a landlord cannot even show potential purchasers around the house without the tenant’s consent unless the tenancy agreement specifically provides for this: the right is not implied and without it the landlord must get vacant possession before they even put the house on the market.
If a landlord does manage to sell the property with a sitting tenant still in situ, the new purchaser will become the new landlord of the tenants. The purchaser ‘stands in the shoes’ of the vendor: he won’t have any additional rights and some grounds of eviction below will no longer be available.
To evict a protected tenant, the landlord must obtain a possession order from the courts and this will only be granted if the landlord can show that one of the grounds listed in the Rent Act 1977 applies.
Some of the grounds are discretionary and some are mandatory. If a discretionary ground applies, the court will only allow the eviction if it thinks this is reasonable. If a mandatory ground applies, the court must grant the landlord a possession order.
The discretionary grounds for possession are:
The mandatory grounds for possession are:
Even if the court does grant possession to the landlord it can suspend possession, meaning the tenant can’t be evicted provided they adhere to certain conditions set by the court, eg, paying a certain amount each week towards your rent arrears.
Nicola is a dual qualified journalist and non-practising solicitor. She is a legal journalist, editor and author with more than 20 years' experience writing about the law.
When you submit your details, you'll be in safe hands. Our partners are National Accident Helpline (a brand of National Accident Law, a firm of personal injury solicitors regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority). They are the UK's leading personal injury service. Their friendly legal services advisers will call you to talk about your claim and give you free, no-obligation advice. National Accident Law may pay us a marketing fee for our services.
By submitting your personal data, you agree for your details to be sent to National Accident Law so they can contact you to discuss your claim.
If you win your case, your solicitor's success fee will be taken from the compensation you are awarded - up to a maximum of 25%. Your solicitor will discuss any fees before starting your case.