Successful Section 21 Notices - eviction tips for landlords

As letting agents and landlords will know, the area of law that governs the successful service of Section 21 Notices to evict tenants is complex and, if the correct steps are not followed, it can be an expensive learning curve for the landlord.

This article explains the formalities and our top tips to ensure that you do not fall foul of the legislative requirements.

Service of the Notice
The rules have changed.

If the tenancy has become periodic, in other words carried on past its original term, you no longer have to worry about calculating the last day of the rental period before serving the notice. You simply have to give two months from the date of service of the notice. However, it is astounding to see how many people give the date before which proceedings will not be started as exactly two months from the date of the notice. This is incorrect and unnecessarily risky.

If the Section 21 Notice is delivered by hand before 16:30 then start your calculation that day, otherwise start it the next day. Then add on two months, plus another week. We recommend delivering the notice by hand, recorded delivery and first class post; you can never be too careful.

In the grand scheme of things, the extra week is negligible and is much better than getting to court, having the proceedings dismissed and having to start all over again.

Deregulation Act 2015
This Act applies to all tenancies entered into after 1 October 2015. After 1 October 2018 it will apply to all tenancies regardless of when they started.

When the tenancy starts you must serve the tenant with a valid Energy Performance Certificate, Gas Safety Certificate and ‘How to Rent in England and Wales’ checklist. It is essential that you ensure these documents are in date.

Send them to the tenant before the tenancy begins along with a covering letter clearly stating what is enclosed. You should ideally get the tenant to sign to say they have received them. This will make it easy to prove later that the tenant was served.

Retaliatory eviction
Do not ignore tenant’s complaints about the state of the property when the local authority becomes involved.

If a tenant complains in writing about the state of the property before the service of a Section 21 Notice and the landlord does not reply, the tenant is likely to complain to the local authority. The local authority will probably issue a relevant notice under sections 11, 12 or 40(7) Housing Act 2004. The notice will clearly state the section number. In these circumstances the Section 21 will be invalid until the complaint is responded to and/or dealt with.

Deposits
If a deposit is received then ensure it is protected in an appropriate tenancy deposit scheme within 30 days of receiving it. You must also ensure that the prescribed information (details relating to the deposit scheme, etc) has also been served on the tenant within 30 days. Again, send all of this in the post with a covering letter and keep a copy of the covering letter.