What you need to know before serving a Section 21 notice
Are you a landlord who is considering issuing your tenants with a Section 21 notice? Whether you are looking to sell, extend, refurbish or move back into your rental property, as of 1 October 2018, there are important changes you should be aware of before you act. Claire Pile MARLA of Stags Lettings department outlines the basics.
Together with providing at least two months’ notice before expecting tenants to vacate, landlords must now:
Ensure that they have issues their tenants with the Government’s ‘How to rent: the checklist for renting in England’ guide, either as a printed copy or, if they agree, via email as a PDF attachment
Provide tenants with an up-to-date gas safety certificate, a copy of the property’s Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) and the prescribed information relating to the protection of their deposit, which must indeed be protected
These regulations apply to all assured shorthold tenancies (AST), regardless of their start date.
The Section 21 notice will become invalid if:
There is a six-month time lapse between issuing the notice and starting proceedings
The notice is being served as retaliatory action if a requested repair has not been resolved in the proper way
The incorrect notice is served: as of this year, there will be just one form of notice, Form 6a, which combines the two previous notices and is to be used for both periodic and fixed-term tenancies
If you’re concerned about what this might mean for you as either a landlord or a tenant, contact your local Stags office today for advice.
