A section 21 notice is used by landlords to evict tenants in England and Wales at the end of a fixed term. It’s titled “Notice Requiring Possession (Under section 21 of the Housing act 1988) officially.
This notice is used to regain possession of properties under an assured shorthold tenancy where the tenancy is for a fixed term. However, even though the notice can be issued to a tenant at any time during the tenancy, the notice is only legally binding to a tenant after the tenancy comes to an end.
A landlord can regain possession of a property before the tenancy is due, only if there is a proven breach of contract. In such cases, section 8 notices are used and not section 21. Section 8 notices are commonly used when a tenant has unpaid rent arrears.
There are new rules that came into effect on 1st October 2015 that further regulates when a section 21 notice can be served by a landlord in England. These regulations apply to tenancy agreements that are issued from the aforementioned date, or those renewed after the date. Furthermore, as of 1st October 2018 it will apply to all tenancy, irrespective of when it was issued.
According to the rules, a section 21 notice cannot be issued on a dwelling-house in England when a landlord is in breach of the any of any of the prescribed requirements below:
There are also other requirements that every EPC issued to a client must meet.
A section 21 notice must be properly served or it would be invalid before the law. You will find a section 21 notice eviction template you can download for free.
You should ensure that there are no spelling mistakes in key areas as that will most likely render the notice invalid. Some of the important areas where a spelling mistake can invalidate a section 21 include:
Ensure that this information is well written as they can easily render the section 21 notice null and void.
Also, there are two versions of the section 21 form, and landlords must ensure they use the correct version of the section 21 form. One of the form is for fixed term tenancy 21 (1)(b) while the other, 21(4)(a) is for a contractual periodic tenancy.
There are few things landlords can do to avoid section 21 disputes and problem. The following section 21 notice advice will help ensure you can evict your tenant with as minimal fuss as possible.
A section 21 notice can be served at any time from the beginning of the tenancy but the notice can only end at the end of the fixed term.
A tenant is entitled to two months written notice.
If you serve a section 21 notice at the end of the tenancy, the tenant is not mandated to leave the property till after two months.
It should be noted that section 21 notices served in the first 6 months of the tenancy will not expire prior to the end of those first 6 months.
The regulation stipulates that tenants must be given at least two calendar months notice. If, for example, a notice is served on 1st April, it cannot expire before 1st June.
There are professional guidance tips on when to serve this notice available that can help minimize section 21 problems.
The regulation states that a section 21 notice doesn’t end till the final day of a “period of the tenancy”. This means that the tenancy will end a day before payment is normally due as stipulated in the fixed term contract.
For instance, if rent was normally paid at the first of every month, the last day of the ‘period of the tenancy’ referred to above would be the last day of the prior month.
To further clarify, if a landlord serves a notice on 2nd of February, then the expiry date will be on the 30th of April. This roughly translates to a notice of between 2-3 months.
For tenancy agreements that run in weeks, it is the day of the week when the rent is usually paid that matters not the month. For example, if the tenant usually pays rent on Friday, the ‘periodic tenancy’ would then be from Friday to Thursday.
A section 21 notice served on the same day the tenant signed the tenancy agreement is invalid. However the notice can be served the following day as long the conditions listed below are fulfilled. They include:
As earlier mentioned, incorrectly spelling a name can render the section 21 notice invalid. The correct name is the one stated in the last tenancy agreement signed by the tenants.
Every tenant and all parties involved, including those that may have moved out but are named in the latest tenancy agreement, must be named. The contact address as contained in the last tenancy agreement must also be stated as listed on the agreement.
Even if the tenants are in a shared house, it is advisable that the notice is served individually to all of them. You must also specify the exact room each tenant occupies along with the address of the property.
Section 21 notices should be served via the means stipulated in the tenancy agreement. If there is no such stipulation, the notice should be given by hand directly or slipped under the door of the tenant. Alternatively, it can be mailed by a first-class postal service.
Ensure that the tenant signs and returns a copy. It’s important that you keep the signed copy as well as the covering letter.
If a tenant’s deposit isn’t protected through any of the statutory tenancy deposit schemes, you cannot legally evict a tenant using a section 21 notice.
However if you pay the full deposit, you are entitled to use section 21 notice again.
Evicting a tenant after a section 21 notice has been properly served is pretty straight forward. It should be noted that section 21 notice doesn’t have any eviction power. But once properly served, you can proceed with actions to evict the tenant.
This usually involves a court process called “accelerated procedure” which every landlord can use to reclaim possession of their property.
The process usually takes between 8 to 10 weeks, and a court hearing is usually not required.
Following the above guidelines will help ensure that you avoid disputes and problems associated with section 21 notices.
However, we recommend you also consult your letting agent or solicitor about your intention to help guide you.
