What's in Section 21 and the Subsections?

Section 21 of housing law gives the regulations for the retrieval of possession on expiration or the conclusion of AST (more specifically how a property owner exercises their lawful rights to get their rental dwelling returned at the end of an AST).

The main subsections which are pertinent to repossession and eviction are;

Subsection 1 which talks about the rights of the property owner under an AST to recover repossession of their rental property currently rented out to someone, when an existing AST which was over a fixed period comes to a close.

Click Here To Use The Free Section 21 Creator

Subsection 1a expressly relates to when the AST has reached a finish and no more assured tenancies are existing, save for a statutory periodic tenancy.

Section 21 Subsection 1b

Subsection 1b lays down that the property owner should provide to the occupant no less than 2 months written notice saying that they require repossession of the rental dwelling.

The section 21 1b fixed duration notice is pertinent to a fixed period AST where notice for repossession is given sometime within the fixed term. Any notice under this stipulation may be served on an occupant at any point during the fixed tenancy period but never prior to the fixed period coming into being, provided that the tenant is given the minimum of two months notice. This applies even when the 2 months notice expires after the AST itself has lapsed.

For instance, if the section 21 repossession notice is issued on the last day of the tenancy contract, the occupant will not have to surrender control of the rental dwelling until 2 months after the point that the notice was given (or until the deadline stated in the notice, if this is in excess of 2 months). Do keep in mind that where the occupier is in the initial 6 months in the tenancy, that the section 21 repossession notice cannot expire before the end of those 6 months.

Subsection 2 merely says that notice should be given on the date when the tenancy draws to a close (or before).

Section 21 Subsection 4a

Subsection 4a deals with the repossession of a home rented on an AST which has at this point become a statutory periodic tenancy. A section 21 4a notice is the notice given in the course of a periodic tenancy (specifically once the fixed period has finished) and the date on which it runs out must be "the last date in a tenancy period"; which means the date on which the section 21 notice runs out must be the final day within one tenancy period. The length of a tenancy period relies on how regularly the rental payment is given.

In this way, if the rental payment is made monthly, then the tenancy period is a month. With the intention of working out when the concluding date in the period is, property owners must look at the initial fixed period tenancy agreement. The periodic tenancy starts straightaway once the fixed period runs out.