Section 21 Possession Notice

Landlords wanting to retake possession of their rental dwelling let under an assured shorthold tenancy agreement, for the reason that the period of the tenancy is scheduled to run out, are advised to serve a Section 21 Possession Notice as detailed by the 1988 Housing Act in section 21 , sub-section 1b.

A Section 21 Possession Notice can be issued when you quite simply want your property returned. Landlords are advised not to serve this notice if the tenant has broken the terms of their tenancy agreement; namely having not paid their rent, as this does not support the reclamation of back rent; a notice using grounds from section 8 should be used in its place.

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Section 21 Possession Notice

According to section 21 in the Housing Act of 1988 a landlord is required to provide no less than 2 months notice of their wish to repossess their property; consequently as a landlord you can serve a notice by virtue of section 21 on your tenant at least 2 months before the tenancy is due to conclude, so that the expiration of the tenancy agreement is consistent with the length of the notice given.

Alternatively as detailed in section 21 sub-section 4a of the Housing Act, a landlord may serve notice on their tenant, providing them with two months notice. The section 21 sub-section 4a notice should be used for a tenant with an AST, which has turned into a statutory periodic tenancy, that is to say a tenancy that carries on following the finish of a fixed term assured shorthold.

If the tenant doesn't move out of the property following the repossession notice, landlords should then ask for a possession order from the relevant court and the tenants are then required to move out by the day given on the possession order. Should the tenants still refuse to move out, the landlord can then ask the court for an eviction warrant. Consequently, the court will then set up the eviction of the tenant by court bailiffs.

Section 21 Possession Notice - Determining Notice Expiry Dates

As stated by the Housing Act of 1988, for any section 21 notice served at some point in a periodic tenancy, the expiration date must be the final day of a period in the tenancy. The actual period of a tenancy rests on how regularly the rental payments are made.

In order to find out which date is the concluding day of the period in a tenancy, landlords should examine the initial fixed term contract as the periodic tenancy begins immediately following the fixed term expiry. Hence, if the rent is paid each month, it follows that the period of the tenancy is a month.

As an example, when the period of the tenancy is a month and the start day of the current period is June 7th; then the final day of that period will be July 6th and so a notice served during the present period would need to be arranged so that it runs out on the last day of a period after another 2 months; namely 6th September.