The Housing Act (1988) sets out much of the law behind today's Private Rented Sector. One section of it, called Section 21, describes a process by which landlords can evict tenants.
Section 21 evictions are sometimes known as "no fault evictions". This name comes from the fact that landlords don't need to provide a reason (or ground) to use a Section 21 eviction notice.
A Section 21 eviction notice can be served even if the tenant has paid their rent on time, maintained the property, and met their contractual obligations (providing that the landlord has met all other legal requirements).
If you are serving a Section 21 Notice then you can use our easy-to-use Section 21 Notice Serving Tool here.
This is accessible to both Rent Now and non Rent Now landlords. The tool will run you through the necessary requirements for serving a Section 21 Notice . If you are a Rent Now user then we will have made sure that some of these requirements have been complied with but will let you know what else is needed.
When can a Section 21 notice be served?
A section 21 notice can be served any time after the first 4 months of a fixed term tenancy. If the tenancy is a renewal and the parties and property have remained the same then the 4 months will run from the start of the initial tenancy.
What is the earliest date that a S21 notice can expire?
The Section 21 notice can expire either at the end of the fixed term or after the fixed term has ended and the tenancy has become periodic.
Landlords cannot use a Section 21 notice to end a tenancy during the fixed term unless in accordance with a break clause. The OpenRent contract which is available through Rent Now includes a break clause which can be activated by a S21 notice - no other notice is needed. If you are not using the OpenRent contract then you must take care to comply with any other requirements that may be stated in the break clause.
How much notice must be given ?
A Section 21 notice must give at least 2 months' notice. This is the usual minimum notice period and will apply to all fixed term tenancies and tenancies that become periodic after the end of the fixed term. This is the minimum notice period required if the tenancy was started via Rent Now.
If the tenancy was a periodic tenancy from the start and the rent is paid in intervals of more than two months (quarterly, six monthly, annually), then the notice period will have to be at least as long as the rent intervals.
Other requirements that must be met:
A section 21 notice will not be valid where the landlord has failed to:
- Provide the tenant with the ‘How to Rent’ Guide at the start of the tenancy (if using Rent Now then this will have been done for you)
- Protect the tenancy deposit in one of the government approved schemes (if using Rent Now then this will have been done for you)
- Serve the tenant the prescribed information (if using Rent Now then this will have been done for you)
- Provide the tenant with a valid Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) at the start of the tenancy
- Provide the tenant with a gas safety certificate before the tenant moved in
- Comply with local and national licencing requirements
- Repay any unlawful fees or deposits charged to the tenant in breach of the Tenant Fees Act 2019
Failure to provide the gas safety certificate before the tenancy can be rectified by providing the original gas safety certificate before serving the Section 21 notice however this may not be the case for EPCS.
Please see the following article for more information on EPCs
Retaliatory eviction
There are rules in place to prevent landlords from serving S21 notices in response to genuine tenant complaints about repairs. This is to prevent landlords from evicting tenants rather than dealing with the repairs.
A Section 21 notice will not be valid where the council has:
- served an improvement notice on the property in the last 6 months
- served a notice in the last 6 months that says it will do emergency works on the property
These restrictions will not apply where the council's notice has been suspended.
A S21 notice may also be invalidated where a Tenant raises a complaint about the property's state of repair, the landlord fails to respond adequately within 14 days of notice, the landlord then serves a S21 notice and the council subsequently serves an improvement or emergency works notice on the landlord. It is therefore important for the landlord to adequately deal with any concerns regarding repairs before serving a S21 notice.
In order for the landlord's response to be adequate, it must set out the action that the landlord intends to take and a reasonable timescale within which this action will take place.
Information on this site is by way of general guidance only and may not apply in your particular circumstances. You should not act or refrain from acting upon information on this site without seeking independent legal advice.