Resident guidance: All Housing residents - Last updated 7 May 2026
Tenancy breaches, possessions and evictions
If you’re experiencing difficulties managing your tenancy or lease, you’ve fallen behind with your rent or service charge, or are simply unsure about your situation, the most important thing is to please contact us right away. We’re committed to supporting you and will always try to help you stay in your home.
We have different options for resolving serious breaches of the terms of your tenancy or lease. This page explains when we may seek to take possession of your property, the support we offer before taking legal action and your right to appeal possession and evictions.
In this guidance you’ll find:
- Support available to prevent situations escalating
- Can Anchor take possession of my property?
- Understanding the legal grounds for ending a tenancy
- Understanding your right to appeal a tenancy being ended
- Forfeiture a residential lease
- What if I’m facing homelessness?
- More information and advice about possessions and evictions
- Our approach to handling anti-social behaviour
Support available to prevent situations escalating
It is always our aim to work with you and offer support to resolve situations that see you in breach of the terms of your tenancy or lease.
Before taking any action, we always:
- Aim to support you in maintaining your agreement, for example setting up payment plans, supporting you if you are experiencing any hardships, and providing information so you can access additional resources or partner agency support to prevent further behaviour or breaches.
- Ensure that all our actions are in line with the Regulator of Social Housing’s Tenancy Standard, any applicable legal framework and follow our own internal policies and procedures.
- Provide guidance, advice, and support to explore other options.
Support with arrears and paying bills
Find out more about the support we can offer with arrears and paying bills here.
Recognising unacceptable and anti-social behaviour
We are committed to promoting successful communities and neighbourhoods. You can find information about the behaviours we consider to be unacceptable and how we investigate reports of anti-social behaviour and work with all parties involved towards a resolution on our related guidance pages.
Can Anchor take possession of my property?
Yes, as a social landlord we can take action to end your tenancy or forfeit your lease, but we want to offer you assurance that at Anchor, our goal is to help you stay in your home. We understand that life can bring unexpected challenges, and we’re always here to work with you to find positive solutions.
As a regulated social housing provider we can only apply to end a tenancy or forfeit a lease under certain conditions, and always with fairness and care. We rely on legal grounds and notices, and only take action to seek possession of an Anchor property in the following serious circumstances when:
- There is unpaid rent or service charge, as a last resort and after all other attempts at support have failed.
- There’s been a serious breach of your tenancy or lease - like damaging the property, unlawful subletting or causing serious or repeated anti-social behaviour.
- There is a significant risk to someone’s health, safety, or emotional wellbeing.
- There is a criminal conviction, and the crime directly linked to your home or its location.
Understanding the legal grounds for ending a tenancy
Regulated social housing providers, like Anchor, can only seek to end a tenancy under specific legal grounds.
These include Mandatory Grounds, such as when rent is seriously in arrears, anti-social behaviour, which can include domestic abuse, or when the landlord needs the home back for redevelopment. In these situations the court must grant possession if they’re proven.
They can also act under Discretionary Grounds, like less severe rent arrears or minor breaches of the tenancy, where the court decides what’s fair to do.
In each case, the housing provider must follow legal rules and consider what’s reasonable before taking action.
Understanding your right to appeal a tenancy being ended
We want you to feel informed and supported throughout any legal process.
Where we are using a Discretionary Ground for the basis of court action and possession, and the court decides whether possession should be granted, there is no right of appeal within Anchor.
However, where we intend to use a Mandatory Ground (excluding Grounds 7B and 6) for the basis of court action and possession, which means the court must grant possession once the ground is proven, you will have the right to appeal before we proceed.
In these circumstances, we’ll send you a clear notice, along with a covering letter and an appeal form. You would be given 7-9 calendar days to respond (depending on whether the notice was hand delivered or posted).
If you have any questions or need help during this time, please contact us straight away. We’re here to guide you through the process and make sure you understand your options. We will ensure that a senior member of the team reviews your appeal robustly and fairly.
Forfeiture of a residential lease
Forfeiture is the right for a landlord (such as Anchor) to terminate their leaseholder's long lease when the leaseholder is in breach of covenant. To start this process we would have to serve a formal notice called a section 146 notice explaining what the breach is and requesting it is put right (if possible).
You will be given sufficient time to remedy the breach before Anchor takes the matter to court. Timeframes may vary depending on the nature of the breach but will be reasonable in all circumstances.
You can apply to the court to prevent forfeiture action; this is known as “relief from forfeiture”.
If you need help or have questions during this time contact us straight away. We will guide you through the process and make sure you understand your options.
You can also find free impartial information on the Leasehold Advisory Service website.
What if I’m facing homelessness?
In accordance with the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, Anchor supports the Commitment to Refer. This means that we will refer you to your local housing authority for extra support if you are homeless or threatened with homelessness, providing you give your consent.
More information and advice
If you have any questions about our approach to tenancy or lease term breaches, possessions and evictions, please talk to your location manager.
If you are experiencing difficulties paying your rent or worried about your finances, please contact our Be Wise team on 0800 023 4477 or [email protected] who can offer advice and support.
Independent advice is also available from a number of organisations including:
- Citizens Advice Bureaux - to find details of your nearest centre visit http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/getadvice.htm or speak to your location manager.
- Information on debt advice is available on the Money Advice Service website https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk.
- Age UK provide free impartial advice on a wide range of issues including finance and benefits. Call 0800 169 6565 or visit http://www.ageuk.org.uk/
- Step Change, a debt help charity authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority offer free, confidential and impartial advice. Contact them by phone 0800 138 1111 or visit https://www.stepchange.org/
- You can access free, government funded advice for problems with your leasehold property on the Leasehold Advisory Service website https://www.lease-advice.org/
- Shelter have lots of housing advice on their website https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice
Our approach to handling anti-social behaviour
Our anti-social behaviour guidance page explains how to make a report as well as how we investigate a range of issues such as tenancy fraud, hate crime and domestic abuse.