Reasons you can be evicted by a council or housing association

If you’re being evicted for rent arrears

The council or housing association must follow certain steps before they can evict you for not paying your rent.

If you’re being evicted for breaking your tenancy agreement

The council or housing association must tell you what term you’ve broken and what evidence they have.

This ground can be used when you or someone you live with has been convicted of using the house for illegal purposes or of an offence, punishable by imprisonment committed in your home or nearby.

If the eviction process started within 12 months of a relevant conviction, the court does not always have to decide whether it is reasonable to grant an eviction order.

This ground can be used when you or someone you live with has either allowed the damage or neglect of the property.

This includes shared areas, such as a stairwell or garden.

This ground can be used when you've allowed the damage or neglect of furniture or fittings in the property provided by the council or housing association.

This does not include normal wear and tear.

The council or housing association can use this ground when you and your spouse or partner have either:

• not lived in the house for more than 6 months without good reason
• have stopped living in the house as your main home

Tell the council, housing association or the court if you think you have a good reason for being away.

This may include:

• being in hospital
• working away from home
• caring for a family member

You may need to give evidence in court.

There’s a different eviction process if you’ve abandoned the property.

This ground can be used when you gave false information on your application to get housing.

For example, if you did not reveal you had rent arrears at a previous property.

The council or housing association will need to prove in court that this eviction ground applies.

This ground can be used when you or someone you live with has engaged in antisocial behaviour or harassment towards another person in the area.

For example:

• causing excessive noise
• being violent or threatening
• being verbally abusive
• destroying or vandalising things in the local area
• not controlling your pets

The council or housing association need to prove in court that this eviction ground applies and it's not reasonable to move you to another house. For example, if the antisocial behaviour would continue if you were moved somewhere else.

This ground can be used when both:

• you or someone you live with is guilty of harassment, nuisance or annoyance in your home or the surrounding area
• the council or housing association think it’s appropriate to move you to other accommodation

This ground can be used when your home is legally overcrowded.

This does not include temporary overcrowding, such as when friends or family come to visit you.

The council or housing association can use this ground when they need to demolish your home or do substantial repair work to it.

Before they grant the eviction order, the sheriff must be satisfied that both:

• you cannot live there while the work takes place
• the demolition or repair work will take place within a reasonable period of time

The sheriff can order the council or housing association to let you move back in once repair work is finished.

If you'll be allowed to move back in once the work is finished, the sheriff can make another order saying this.

This ground can be used when all the following apply:

• your home was designed or adapted for someone who is disabled
• nobody in your household has these needs
• the council or housing association needs the property for someone who is disabled

This ground can be used when all the following apply:

• your home is near facilities for people who are disabled
• nobody in your household needs these facilities
• the council or housing association needs the property for someone who is disabled

This ground can be used when all the following apply:

• the property is owned by someone other than the council or housing association
• the council or housing association were renting it for you to live in
• the council or housing association’s lease has ended or will end within 6 months

This ground can only be used by the following councils:

• Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
• Orkney Islands Council
• Shetland Islands Council

The council can use this ground when all the following apply:

• the property is specifically reserved for a teacher or education worker
• the property is needed for a teacher or education worker to move into
• the council has no other suitable accommodation for them
• you’re no longer employed by the council as a teacher or education worker, or you've been given notice that your employment will be terminated

The council or housing association can only use this ground if all the following apply:

• you’re the tenant
• you live with a partner or ex-partner
• you no longer want to live together
• the tenancy will be transferred to your partner or ex-partner
• the council or housing association wants to give you somewhere else suitable to live

In some cases, your partner or ex-partner must have lived with you for at least 6 months for this ground to be used. This does not apply if they’re your:

• married spouse or former spouse
• civil partner or former civil partner

The court must consider both that it’s reasonable to make an eviction order and that other suitable accommodation will be available for you when the order takes effect.