Section 21 Housing Act

As stated in the 1988 Housing Act under Section 21, landlords have a lawful entitlement to recover their rental dwelling following the conclusion of an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST).

Section 21 Housing Act - Court Proceedings

Court proceedings are very often used when tenants are in rent arrears although there are two potential kinds of Court proceedings. The first kind is known as the accelerated possession procedure and is where any court orders are made without any hearings, solely on the basis of the paperwork provided. This is achieved under the shorthold grounds as detailed in the 1988 Housing Act under Section 21.

This accelerated possession process can only be employed when there is a tenancy agreement in writing and the tenancy in question is an AST. A correctly worded Section 21 notice must have been previously served on the tenant and this notice must have provided the mandatory 2 months' notice period which has since expired. Furthermore, any fixed term for the AST should have concluded.

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Section 21 Housing Act – Things that can go wrong.

• A common reason that a Section 21 Notice is considered to not be enforceable is when a landlord has cited an incorrect date in the notice.

• Also if a tenancy deposit has been handed over to the landlord or their agent but has not been placed into a government authorised tenancy deposit scheme; then any eviction noticed served will not be enforceable.

• If a property is an HMO that has not been licensed when it should have been registered also means landlords may not serve an eviction notice.

Section 21 Housing Act – Deposit

Some landlords have served eviction notices simultaneously with when a tenancy agreement has been signed. Except if the landlord has previously registered this deposit with a government sanctioned deposit scheme, this can be a major problem which will result in the notice being deemed invalid.

It is very rare for any landlord to be able to receive a deposit and register it accordingly prior to commencement of a tenancy as deposits are typically only provided on the actual date that an agreement is signed. Consequently, if a landlord serves an eviction notice and the tenant signs the agreement all at once; it's very unlikely that the deposit will have been registered correctly at that point.

As stated in Section 21 Housing Act 2004; a landlord cannot serve notice under section 21 at any point when a deposit has not been protected within a government sanctioned scheme or the necessary information concerning the protection of the deposit has not been provided to the tenants in a timely fashion. The upshot of this is that countless eviction notices served under such circumstances are often thrown out in court.

Alternatively, there is the entitlement to ask tenants to leave under rent arrears or other similar grounds as cited in section 8; whereby a court order for eviction can be issued following a court hearing.