SUMMARYIn force: Today 01 October 2015 Affects: All new AST’s • Restricting a landlord from taking retaliatory action • Removing the need for a landlord to specify in a s 21 notice the last day of a period of the tenancy as the date on which the tenancy comes to an end • Limiting a landlord's ability to serve a section 21 notice at the start of an AST • Enabling the Secretary of State to make regulations that prescribe the form of a section 21 notice • Landlord cannot serve a s21 notice where it has failed to comply with certain prescribed requirements e.g EPC, deposit protection • Obligation on landlords to provide information about the respective rights and responsibilities of both the landlord and the tenant under an AST e.g MUST supply DCLG: How to rent: The checklist for renting in England. • Giving a tenant a statutory right to claim back rent paid in advance, in respect of a period falling after a section 21 notice brings the tenancy to an end] |
Today 1 October 2015 the changes to the Housing Act 1988 section 21 notice procedure introduced by the Deregulation Act 2015 come into force.
The procedures place further restrictions on when a landlord can serve and enforce a section 21 notice in relation to residential properties let on assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs).
Which ASTs are affected?
The changes only apply to ASTs granted on or after 1 October 2015
Not mandatory for statutory periodic tenancies arising after 1 October 2015 pursuant to a tenancy granted before that date
NOTE from 1 October 2018, the new rules will apply to any AST irrespective of when it was created
The new provisions include:
- Restricting a landlord from taking retaliatory action. A landlord cannot serve a section 21 notice when a tenant has made a written complaint to the landlord about the condition of the premises or the common parts of the building and the landlord has not responded/has given an inadequate response.
- Removing the need for a landlord to specify in a section 21 notice the last day of a period of the tenancy as the date on which the tenancy comes to an end, including in relation to a section 21(4) notice.
- Preventing a landlord from serving a section 21 notice in the first four months of the AST.
- Restricting any claim for an order for possession, so that it must be started within
Six months from the date the section 21 notice was given, OR
Four months if a section 21(4) notice giving more than two months’ notice, from the date specified in that notice
A fresh section 21 notice will have to be served if possession proceedings have not been started within these time limits.
- Introducing a new prescribed form of section 21 notice (section 37, DA 2015)
- Preventing a landlord from serving a section 21 notice unless it has provided the tenant with an Energy Performance Certificate or a gas safety certificate (section 38, DA 2015 introducing section 21A, HA 1988).
- Preventing a landlord from serving a section 21 notice unless it has provided the tenant with prescribed information. To satisfy this requirement the landlord must give the tenant a copy of The DCLG: How to rent in England booklet..
- Granting a tenant the right to a rent apportionment of rent paid in advance, in respect of a period falling after a section 21 notice brings the tenancy to an end
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