This content applies to England only.

Housing laws vary between England and Scotland. Get advice relating to Scotland

If you are sent to prison and it looks like you have ‘abandoned’ your home or that you don’t live there anymore, your landlord may try to evict you. You can take action to challenge this.

Tenants can also be evicted for their own or a family member’s criminal or antisocial behaviour and/or for rent arrears.

It is important to do everything that you can avoid being evicted, or to make sure you have alternative accommodation for when you are released. Otherwise, if you find yourself homeless on release from prison, you may not be entitled to any help with accommodation from the council.

Get advice immediately if you have been threatened with eviction. Ask an adviser in your prison for help or use our directory to find one in the surrounding area who may be able to help.

How will you know if your landlord tries to evict you?

Whatever type of tenancy you have, it’s important that you are able to find out about any action or decisions affecting your tenancy, such as letters from your landlord, the court or bailiffs.

You will need to decide if and when you tell your landlord you have been sent to prison. If your landlord knows where you are, letters could be sent directly to you in prison and you could be aware of any action your landlord takes to try to evict you.

Otherwise, you could ask someone – a family member, friend or support worker – to pick up letters on your behalf and send them to you, but you will need to make sure that this is done very regularly. Depending on what type of tenancy you have, and the type of action your landlord takes, you may be given very little notice of court action.

Council and housing association tenants

Most council tenants have a secure tenancy which only allows a court to order you to be evicted in certain circumstances. If you are sent to prison for any length of time, you might risk being evicted for reasons such as:

• rent arrears – these may already exist or could build up when you are in prison
• sub-letting the whole property without permission.

You can be evicted fairly easily from certain types of council and housing association tenancies:

• an introductory council tenancy or a starter tenancy with a housing association 
• a demoted council tenancy or demoted housing association tenancy
• a family intervention tenancy temporary housing from the council that was granted when you made a homelessness application.

If you have one of these types of tenancy and you receive any papers saying that your landlord is going to apply for a court order to evict you, get advice immediately. You may only have a few days to take action if you want to stop the eviction and will need help from an adviser to challenge the decision. Contact an adviser in your prison without delay or use our directory to find help in your area.

For all types of council tenancy, if the council thinks you no longer live in the property or have ‘abandoned’ it, it may try to evict you with very little notice.

If you rent from a private landlord

Most private tenants have an assured shorthold tenancy. It is important to be aware that tenants with this type of tenancy can be evicted easily with two months notice, but you can also be evicted specifically because of criminal or anti-social behaviour.

Private tenants can be evicted for a number of reasons. If you are sent to prison, or you (or members of your household) are involved in criminal activity, you may risk being evicted:

• for rent arrears
• if you have abandoned the property or no longer occupy it as your sole or main home 
• for using the property for illegal or immoral purposes (this could include dealing drugs from the property) or allowing someone else to do so, or
• for causing nuisance or annoyance to neighbours.

In practice, the rules on how and when you can be evicted depend on the type of tenancy you have. For example, if:

• you have an assured tenancy – you have some protection from eviction, and the rules on when you can be evicted for criminal behaviour are the same as for council and housing association tenants
• you are an excluded occupier – eg you live in the same property as your landlord, you may only be entitled to 'reasonable notice' – in practice the amount of time varies from case to case
• you are a regulated tenant (tenancies that started before 15th January 1989), you may have more rights than other private tenants (including a 'fair rent') – make sure you get specialist legal advice.

Use our tenancy checker to find out what type of tenancy you have and the procedures and timescales the landlord has to follow to evict you. Make sure you can receive letters from your landlord – sometimes court action can be started quite quickly – and it's important you know so you can take action if needed.

If your landlord thinks you have ‘abandoned’ your home

As a council, housing association or private tenant, you get some protection from eviction through the law – providing you occupy the property as your only or main home. So long as this continues, your landlord will have to give you a reason for wanting to evict you (for example, rent arrears). The landlord also has to follow the correct procedures to be able to evict you legally, and the court will decide if you should be evicted.

However, if the landlord can show you no longer occupy the property as your sole or main home, they could try to evict you without giving you or the court any reasons – and will only have to give you 28 days notice. The landlord must serve you with a notice to quit that sets out the correct notice period. It is important that the landlord does this properly – seek advice to check.

At the end of the notice period, the landlord can take possession of your home without going to court, or can start court proceedings to evict anyone else who may be living there.

You will need to get advice if your landlord takes action to evict you from you home.

Arguing your case in court

You may be able to go to court to keep your home if you can show that:

• you intend to return to your home within a reasonable period, and
• your possessions remain in the property
• the rent is being paid.

If you are allowed home on temporary release, this can be used as evidence that you continue to occupy the property and that you continue to intend to live there.

Prisoners with a sentence of less than four years may be allowed to spend some of their sentence on Home Detention Curfew (HDC). If you qualify for HDC, you may be able to argue that:

• you intend to use your home as the address needed for the HDC,
• you will be living in the property while on HDC, and
• you intend to return there when your sentance comes to an end.

You will also have to make sure that the rent will be paid for the period you are in prison, otherwise you could be evicted for rent arrears.

What the courts have said

The courts have recognised that many people are absent from their homes for temporary periods of time – this is often reasonable and does not mean that they no longer live there.

You can be in prison for a long time and still keep your home, providing that the rent is paid while you are away and the property is looked after. The courts have allowed prisoners with sentences of 8 years, 12 years and even life (with an earliest return date home of 8 years) to keep their homes where they have been able to show that they intend to return and that their belongings remain in the property.

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