what is a section 21 notice
If the court agrees that leaving your home would cause you exceptional hardship, they could delay the date you’ll need to leave by up to 6 weeks (42 days). Read more about what to do if you have a problem with your shared house. To serve the notice, you’ll need to fill out form 6a and then serve it to the tenant. Registered charity number 279057 VAT number 726 0202 76 Company limited by guarantee. A section 21 notice for a periodic term is used for statutory periodic tenancies (assured shorthold tenancies which have automatically become periodic because the fixed term has expired). A Section 21 Notice is used when a Landlord requires the Tenant to vacate a rented property by a specified date. Prescribed Forms. Now a landlord just needs to give the tenant a full 2 month notice along with 2 days for the tenant to receive the notice if it is being delivered by post. The last day of a period of the tenancy will be the day before the day the rent was supposed to be paid in the fixed-term contract. Not all deposits need to be protected. These provisions require people to notify the local planning authority, using a ‘section 211 notice’, 6 weeks before carrying out certain work on such trees, unless an exception applies. The notice cannot end before the fixed term, and is valid for up to 6 months. Read more about getting help with legal costs. The amount of notice must be the same as the rental period, if this is more than 2 months. If you have a contractual periodic tenancy, your notice has to be a minimum of 2 months, or as long as the period of your tenancy, whichever is longer. If you gave your tenant notice on or after 29 August 2020, the notice period must be at least 6 months. You’ll be able to stay in your home and challenge your eviction if your landlord hasn’t given you a valid section 21 notice. Your council might have extra laws about what types of properties should be licensed. Read all the documents you've been given by the court and your landlord. 29 August, landlords must provide at least 6 months’ notice period prior to seeking possession through the courts in most cases, including section 21 evictions and rent arrears under 6 months. In most cases, a County Court bailiff will enforce an eviction. A copy of the “How to Rent” guide; A valid Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) We use cookies to improve your experience of our website. If the court accepts your defence, they could decide to dismiss your landlord's case. The court will tell you when it will look at the case for the first time - this is called the 'review date'. Your tenancy continues if you stay past the date in a section 21 notice until you either: leave the property voluntarily This is known as starting a ‘possession claim’. You can challenge your section 21 notice if for example: If you can, talk to an adviser before you challenge your eviction. You should do this even if your section 21 notice is valid. In order to do this he must first issue the tenant with a valid section 8 notice. If you got the section 21 notice between 26 March and 28 August 2020, your landlord had to give you 3 months’ notice. Both you and your landlord should sign it. Section 21 notice using Form 6A has now been amended due to coronavirus legislation , so make sure any Notices you give will be legal and valid, its no point giving an invalid notice and only to find out your case is struck out, visit Government website to download the correct form 6A, This has latest changes prescribed on it, i.e. The amount of notice you should get will depend on when you got your section 21 notice. One section of it, called Section 21, describes a process by which landlords can evict tenants. Your landlord can’t make you leave your home unless they’ve gone to court to get a possession order and a warrant for eviction - this means they can use court bailiffs to evict you. A section 21 (1) (b) notice must give the tenant at least two months' notice that the landlord requires possession of the property. You can do that in the following ways. Your landlord might then give you a new notice if they want you to leave - giving you more time to stay in your home. Your landlord will have to give you a new, valid notice if they still want you to leave your home. Tell the court if you think you might be able to reach an agreement with your landlord. The eviction notice’s official title in the courts is a ‘Notice Requiring Possession (under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988)’. Check if you're not sure whether your landlord protected your deposit. Your landlord will have to get an eviction warrant from the court if you don't leave your home by the date on the possession order. Before the date of the possession hearing, read the letters from the court and make sure you know how to contact the duty adviser on the day of the hearing. If you can’t contact the duty adviser on the day of the hearing, tell the usher or the judge before the hearing starts – the judge might agree to delay the hearing. People often seem to assume this. This practice note sets out the procedures for terminating an assured shorthold tenancy (AST) by the service of a notice under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 … A section 21 (s21) notice is a written statement from the landlord to the tenant notifying that he wishes to regain vacant possession of the property. If there’s a problem with your landlord’s documents, the court might pause or stop the eviction. The tenant sought to defend the proceedings on the basis that the landlord’s section 21 notice was invalid because the landlord had not provided the gas safety certificate to them prior to the commencement of the tenancy. For example, it might say you can give notice after 12 months of a 24 month tenancy. Section 21 Notices are eviction notices used by landlords in England & Wales when they want to evict tenants at the end of the fixed term.. Find out more on when they should be used and how they are served. You don’t have to sign a section 21 notice to prove you’ve received it - even if your landlord asks you to. Section 21 Notice – After 1st October 2015. If you don’t wear one, you won’t be allowed in the building. If you gave your tenant notice between 26 March 2020 and 28 August 2020, the notice period must have been at least 3 months. If you can’t go to the possession hearing, tell the court as soon as possible. They might be able to get your landlord to agree to pause or stop the eviction. You’ll need to be able to prove that the tenant received your notice forms for your eviction to have a chance if it goes to court. You’ll need to deal with it as well as your section 21 notice - and the steps are different. You can get legal advice on how to fill in a Section 8 with the correct notice periods and how to give it to your tenants. Section 21 Notice to quit is served as the first step in every eviction process. If your section 21 notice is valid, your landlord will need to go to court to evict you. Both County Court and High Court bailiffs must give you the notice at least 14 days before they evict you. A Section 21 notice is also called a "no-fault eviction", because the landlord does not have to give a reason for their decision. Ask them in the comments and we’ll answer them and put them in this section! When your landlord goes to court, you might be able to ask the court to let you stay in your home for longer. It is called a Section 21 notice because the requirement for the landlord to serve the notice is a provision of Section 21 of the HA 1988. If your landlord doesn’t agree to this, the court might arrange a hearing to decide if you can stay longer. How Do I Serve a Section 21 Notice? Contents1 Prescribed Legal Requirements Before Serving A Section 21 Notice1.1 Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)1.2 Gas Safety Record1.3 Comment Prescribed Legal Requirements Before Serving A Section 21 Notice In this part of our series we look at “prescribed legal requirements” which must have been completed before a section 21 notice can be served in England. If you don’t leave your home by the date on your section 21 notice - for example because you want to challenge it - you’ll get papers from the court. If your section 21 notice is valid, your landlord will need to go to court to evict you. You should also check the name and contact details of your landlord or letting agent are correct. This is called an 'outright possession order'. If the tenant refuses to leave or is not out by the end of the two months, landlords can apply for a possession order from court. It's more likely you'll be able to stay in your home if you do. To help us improve GOV.UK, we’d like to know more about your visit today. Write your case number on the piece of paper – you can find your case number on the claim form. Let us know, Copyright ©2021 Citizens Advice. Please tell us more about why our advice didn't help. You or your landlord have to follow what the break clause says to end the tenancy legally. Check when your landlord should have given you the prescribed information. 2 months if given before 26 March 2020 2. They can talk to your landlord for you. This is called 'defending possession'. That is, the tenancy must be periodic. If you got the section 21 notice on or after 29 August 2020, your landlord had to give you 6 months’ notice. We can serve a section 21 notice Form 6A on your behalf, provide you with a certificate of service and assist you with the next step. You can find out more or opt-out from some cookies. Your section 21 notice might not be valid if your landlord has made mistakes on it, for example if they’ve spelt your name wrong or put the wrong date. If your landlord charged you too much and hasn’t given it back, contact your nearest Citizens Advice - they could help you challenge your eviction. You should say in your defence if you will need to pay the court costs over a longer time - for example by making a smaller payment every month. You can read the 'How to rent' guide on GOV.UK. A section 21 notice means your landlord wants you to leave so they should be happy to agree an earlier move out date. The notice can also be served on the last day of the tenancy, in which case the tenant wouldn’t have to vacate the property for a further 2 months. Section 8 Notice. You should still send your defence if you miss the deadline. If you serve the notice on the first day of a tenancy (when the agreement is signed) First off – you may be feeling stressed or anxious, but try not to panic. Your section 21 notice will only be valid if your landlord used the right version of form 6a or a letter with the same information. You should make sure your new notice is valid. Don’t leave your home before the date on your section 21 notice if you haven’t found somewhere else to live. You won’t have to leave your home straight away. Make sure you have a written tenancy agreement which spells out the contract terms of the tenancy, including the length of the term, any break terms*, the rent amount and when this is payable. A section 21 notice isrequired only to terminate an assured shorthold tenancy (“AST”). Section-8 / Section-21 Notice. The first thing you should do is check your section 21 notice is valid. Read more about what to do if you're being evicted for asking for repairs. Please write clearly in black ink. The Government has temporarily changed the rules around using a Section 21 notice during the coronavirus pandemic: Between 27 March and 30 September 2020 notice periods were extended to at least three months. This means you'll stay in your home without any conditions. A Notice served under Section 21 Housing Act 1988 does not require a ground for possession to be made out and is often referred to as a no fault notice. We’ll send you a link to a feedback form. Section 21 is a Prescribed Form and you can get a section 21 notice here. Your section 21 notice won’t be valid if your landlord didn’t give you certain details about your deposit before giving you the notice. It must be used to legally terminate an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST). When you go to the court in person, you’ll have to wear a mask or covering for your mouth and nose. Contact your nearest Citizens Advice if you get a possession order. Keep proof that you gave notice to your tenants - either: If your tenants do not leave by the specified date, you can use your completed N215 or notice to apply for an accelerated possession order. The new Section 21 notice cannot be served in the first 4 months of the original tenancy but it can be served at the start of a tenancy renewal. If you gave your tenant notice on or after 29 August 2020, the notice period must be at least 6 months. When Can I Serve a Section 21 Notice? Your landlord could ask the High Court to send bailiffs as this is usually quicker. Personal Delivery. The dates for section 21 notices. Registered number 01436945 England Registered office: Citizens Advice, 3rd Floor North, 200 Aldersgate, London, EC1A 4HD. Section 21 is, in this context, section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 and is the notice you serve if you want to use the ‘no-fault’ ground for evicting tenants. The notice is designed so that the landlord can take possession of a property they have let out with an assured shorthold tenancy, they don't have to provide a reason for wanting to take possession. A landlord can use this notice to end the following types of AST whenever they began: They must give you a notice with the date and time of your eviction. They could also refuse to give you a reference or give you a bad one, which could make finding another home difficult. Your home might need a licence for example if you live in a shared house, bedsit or hostel. The court will look at your defence form. By Paul Shamplina, Founding Director of Landlord Action. A landlord does not have to give any reason for serving the notice in order to regain possession. Section 21 refers to section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 that brought this notice into being. There are extra rules that might protect you from being evicted if you've complained to your landlord or asked for repairs. If your landlord still wants to evict you, they’ll need to give you a new section 21 notice. The Government has temporarily changed the rules around using a Section 21 notice during the coronavirus pandemic: Until 30 September 2020 notice periods were originally extended to at least three months. The notice gives you two months to leave, before the landlord seeks possession of the property. use Shelter’s tenancy checker to find out, Check if you're not sure whether your landlord protected your deposit, Read more about taking your landlord to court if your deposit isn't protected, full list of the information landlords must give tenants on GOV.UK, Check when your landlord should have given you the prescribed information, Read more about what to do if you have a problem with your shared house, Your nearest Citizens Advice can help you find out, get help from your nearest Citizens Advice, Read more about what to do if you're being evicted for asking for repairs, check if your landlord has followed the rules, check what to do if you get a reactivation notice, Check if you can apply for help as someone who’s homeless, find out what other help you can get if you’re being evicted, Read more about getting help with legal costs, Check if your problem counts as discrimination, defend your eviction using discrimination law, check if your housing problem is discrimination, check how to prepare if the court decides to arrange a hearing by phone or video call, check who doesn’t have to wear a mask or face covering, Get help from your nearest Citizens Advice, Getting repairs done if you're renting privately, Going to court if your landlord won't do repairs, If you've got a problem with your shared house, Check if your landlord has to protect your deposit, how to get your deposit back when you leave, a fee for paying your rent 14 days late or more (this has to be written in your tenancy agreement), a fee for a change to the tenancy that you asked for, you get letters or paperwork from the court, you or someone you live with had coronavirus, you’ve lost your job or you’re earning less, issue a possession order – this means that you’ll have to leave your home, give you a date to go to court – this is known as a possession hearing, a letter or email from the 3 tenancy deposit schemes showing that your deposit wasn’t protected or protected late, a letter from your local council saying that the property isn’t licensed if it should be, a letter from your GP saying that you would suffer exceptional hardship if you have to leave within 14 days, arrange for the hearing to happen by phone or video call. The court will look at your defence form before deciding if there needs to be a court hearing. You can also find out what other help you can get if you’re being evicted. This is a fixed term tenancy that has ended, but included a clause to continue as a periodic tenancy. A section 21 notice (also known as Form 6A) is a formal document served by the landlord, or the landlord's agents, to a tenant in order to notify them of the landlord's intention to repossess the property. To evict the tenants, they can serve a standardised notice form. If your landlord has treated you unfairly because of who you are, you might be able to defend your eviction. If the court decides you should pay the costs, you’ll usually have to pay them within 14 days of the court hearing. 1 – The main points when serving s fixed term s21 notice: [list type=’3′] The notice can be served at any time during the tenancy term, from immediately after the agreement is signed, to and including the last day of the term. The section 21 notice will be valid if the length of your original and replacement tenancies add up to at least 4 months. If you get a section 21 notice, it’s the first step your landlord has to take to make you leave your home. Because of coronavirus, in most cases you must now give them a longer notice period. You can ask your local council if you’re not sure whether your home needs a licence. 2 A section 21 notice must be served on a specific day in the month. A Section 21 notice gives tenants two months’ notice before they’re expected to move out of the property. The […] If you got your notice after 1 October 2018, get help from your nearest Citizens Advice to check if your notice is valid. Dating a Section 21 Notice caused confusion in the past – the act says that 2 months notice must be given, but at a different section states that the notice period must end on the last day of the tenancy period. Section 21A Housing Act 1988 confirms this. You can use a Section 8 notice if your tenants have broken the terms of the tenancy agreement such as not paid their rent for a period of 2 months or more or other breaches of the tenancy agreements. Sometimes a section 21 notice is also referred to as a notice to quit. You’ll have a fixed term tenancy if it has a definite start and end date. You can apply to the court for a possession order if your tenants do not leave by the specified date. Initially, there was no special or ‘prescribed’ form … If you’ve got a good relationship with your landlord, it might be worth asking them if you can stay in your home for longer. If your landlord didn’t protect your deposit or they protected it late, your section 21 notice won’t be valid - unless they’ve already given your deposit back to you. Housing Act 1988 section 21(1) and (4) as amended by section 194 and paragraph 103 of Schedule 11 to the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 and section 98(2) and (3) of the Housing Act 1996. We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services. You can use a Section 21 notice to evict your tenants either: You can get legal advice if you do not know which notice to give. As of 28 August 2020 any section 21 notice served in England must give at least six months notice to the tenant. You can appeal against the decision of the possession order, but only if you can prove that mistakes were made in the possession hearing. As of 24 July 2020 in Wales, the notice period for a Section 21 notice and most Section 8 notices is at least six months. You won’t need to leave before your fixed term ends, for example if you get a section 21 notice 4 months into a 6-month fixed term, you won’t have to leave until it ends. This could be a type of discrimination called victimisation. However, if the tenants fail to comply with the terms of the notice, then the document also constitutes the first step of the legal eviction process. Specify on the notice which terms of the tenancy they’ve broken. Advice for people affected by child abuse. Find out how to complain about your doctor or health visitor. You must have given your tenants a copy of the property’s Energy Performance Certificate before they rented the property. Explain why you can’t go – for example because you have to self-isolate. Check for gas and energy certificates. In Wales, if you gave notice on or after 24 July, the notice period must be at least 6 months. You normally won't have to leave your home straight away. The court might still consider it if they haven’t made a decision yet. See non rent related section 8 and check and review options below. You might have to pay your landlord’s court costs if your landlord starts a possession claim. If your landlord wins you’ll usually have to pay the costs of your landlord going to court. If you gave your tenant notice before 26 March 2020, you would have needed to give them up to 2 months to leave, depending on the reason for eviction. It is a legal template that enables a landlord to bring a tenancy to an end providing certain criteria are met. Get help from your nearest Citizens Advice straight away if you've been told bailiffs are coming to your home. You might be able to challenge your eviction if your section 21 notice isn't valid or you have a good reason why you shouldn't leave your home. Your section 21 notice won’t be valid if you haven’t been given enough notice. If you have a court hearing, you should still go - even if you haven’t sent your defence. The right version depends on when notice was served to end the tenancy. For example, if your tenant pays rent every 3 months, you must give 3 months’ notice. Either you or your landlord can end your tenancy early if you have a break clause. Landlords often fail to issue the notice correctly. We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. The court might decide to have a court hearing to decide who is right. The notice has always been called a section 21 notice for that reason. You might have a replacement tenancy if you and your landlord agree a new tenancy on your home after your fixed term ends. Your section 21 notice won't be valid if you got it within the first 4 months of the start of your original tenancy. Once the section 21 notice Form 6A has expired you can apply for an Accelerated Possession Procedure, this is not a quicker route it just means most cases are dealt without the need of a court hearing. As of 24 July 2020 in Wales, the notice period for a Section 21 notice and most Section 8 notices is at least six months. Sending, or “serving” as it is formally called, a section 21 notice is only the first step to evicting a tenant after the end of a fixed term. A section 21 (s21) notice is a written statement from the landlord to the tenant notifying that he wishes to regain vacant possession of the property. You might be able to defend your eviction using discrimination law.. After making sure you have served the correct notice (find out more here) you must then wait the appropriate period of time before issuing the claim. You can only get a section 21 notice if you have an assured shorthold tenancy. If your landlord gives you a section 21 notice and you don't have an assured shorthold tenancy, your notice won't be valid. This means they can ask the court to send ‘enforcement officers’ to make you leave. A Section 21 notice to quit can only be used to regain possession of a property at the end of an Assured Shorthold Tenancy. All rights reserved. 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If your landlord gave you the section 21 notice before 1 October 2018, your notice might still be valid even if they haven’t gone to court within 6 months. WHAT IS A SECTION 21 NOTICE? Is there anything wrong with this page? The papers will include a copy of the form your landlord filled in when they started the claim – this is called the ‘claim form’. Advice can vary depending on where you live. You can get help from your nearest Citizens Advice to find out if you can challenge the section 21 notice. Waiting ; The notice you must give your tenant depends on how frequently they pay rent. For example if you’re being evicted for rent arrears, but the reason you got into rent arrears was because your learning difficulty made it hard to follow your landlord’s payment policy. Use the defence form that came with the court papers to give your reasons for challenging your section 21 notice. If you're not sure whether your landlord has used the correct form, contact your nearest Citizens Advice. … At the moment landlords don’t have to provide their tenants with a reason for this. Your landlord can only charge you: If your landlord charged you for anything else, contact your nearest Citizens Advice - they could help you challenge your eviction. The Government has temporarily changed the rules around using a Section 21 notice during the coronavirus pandemic: Between 27 March and 30 September 2020 notice periods were extended to at least three months. Therefore, any section 21 notice given from today must be for at least three months and not two. You’ll get the court papers because your landlord is taking action to make you leave your home. You can use the defence form that came with the court papers to give your reasons for challenging your eviction. This letter is called a ‘reactivation notice’ – you can check what to do if you get a reactivation notice. If you received a Section 21 eviction notice between 29 th August 2020 and 31 st March 2021 the notice is valid for 10 months. What can make a Section 21 notice invalid? Don’t worry we won’t send you spam or share your email address with anyone. You should talk to an adviser as soon as possible if: If your landlord started court action against you before 3 August 2020, they have to send you a letter before they can continue with their court claim.