Section 21 Notice changes

Section 21 Notices are about to change as a result of the Deregulation Act 2015.

Rebecca Brough from Fiddler & Pepper reports on the changes to Section 21 Notices , both in the type of the Notice, when the Notices can be used and how landlords use them.

There are three main issues:-

Changes with effect from 1 July 2015

New Section 21 Notice

There will be a new prescribed notice available from this date onwards. You will be able to download it from the Court website.

Failure to comply with legal obligations

If there is no Energy Performance Certificate or valid Gas Safety Certificate on the property, a landlord will not be able to serve a Section 21 Notice until this is rectified.

Changes with effect from 1 October 2015

Retaliatory Eviction

To prevent a landlord evicting a tenant who has complained about the condition/disrepair of the property, a landlord will no longer be able to serve a section 21 notice if:-

• The tenant has made a written complaint to the landlord about the condition of the property (before the Notice has been served)
• The landlord has not provided an adequate written explanation within 14 days – presumably this will be to include an inspection and schedule of repairs
• The Local Authority has served an Improvement Notice or Emergency Remedial Notice
• If an Improvement Notice has been served you can not serve a Section 21 Notice for 6 months.
• If it is proved that the condition of the property is the fault of the tenant then the landlord can serve a section 21 notice, however I would imagine that this will need to be agreed by an independent person, such as a surveyor.

When to serve a Section 21 Notice

You will not be able to serve a Section 21 Notice until the tenancy (or renewal tenancy) has run for 4 months. This is to prevent landlords serving notices at the start of a tenancy and then issuing court proceedings at the end of the fixed period without any further notice.

Validity of Section 21 Notice

A Section 21 Notice will only be valid for 6 months from the date it is served. If you wish to commence possession proceedings after this time you will need to serve a new Notice.

If you have any queries regarding these new changes please do not hesitate to contact me at propertyhawk@fidler.co.uk

Rebecca Brough