Please contact Andrew Veitch for an initial no obligation telephone assessment of your landlord and tenant matter, drafting or explanaition of a tenancy agreement or a dispute with your landlord or tenant. Andrew is an experienced and highly recommended solicitor and will aim to obtain the best possible legal outcome for you.
As from 1st October 2015 the Deregulation Act 2015 creates some important changes as to how residential landlords deal with a number of matters including Section 21 notices, complaints about the property, deposits and information that must now be given to new tenants. The changes mainly relate to assured shorthold tenancies (AST’S) entered into on or after 1st October 2015.
Under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 as amended by the Housing Act 1996, a landlord has a legal right to get his property back at the end of an assured shorthold tenancy.
For assured shorthold tenancies entered into before 1st October 2015:
(i)
Landlords can still serve a
section 21 Notice at any time during the tenancy using the previous form of the
section 21 Notice
(ii) Once a section 21 notice is served it
does not expire (unless you enter into a new fixed term tenancy or amended the terms of the tenancy agreement)
However from October
2018 the above will change to the rules which apply to assured shorthold
tenancies entered into from 1st October
2015.
For assured shorthold tenancies entered into from 1st October 2015:
(i) The Landlord will need to provide the
following documents to tenants prior to entering into a fixed term tenancy:
(a) An energy performance certificate (EPC)
(b) Gas safety certificate (and/or within
28 days of the annual check of the gas appliances)
(c) A government document called ‘How to
rent: The checklist for renting in England’
(ii) In relation to serving section 21
notices:
(a) The section 21 notice now has to be in a prescribed form
(b) Landlords can only serve a section 21
notice after 4 months of the first tenancy
(c) There is now a 6 month time limit (from the date of service of the S.21 Notice)
where the notice expires
(d) Receipt of a Health and Safety
Improvement Notice served by the local authority results in the prohibition of
service of a section 21 notice for 6 months
(e) In England only, a landlord's ability to
serve a Section 21 notice is also restricted where a tenant has complained
about the condition of the premises and/or the common parts and the landlord failed
to respond within 14 days or provide an inadequate response or responded by
serving a Section 21 notice. The tenant can then complain to the local
authority which must then inspect the property. If the local authority inspects
the property it can serve a remedial notice or carry out emergency remedial
action. This would invalidate a previously served S.21 notice, although the
landlord can still potentially serve a section 8 notice
(iii) If a tenant writes to a Landlord
complaining about the condition of a
property the Landlord has to respond in writing within 14 days setting out what actions he
proposes to take and a timeline for any remedial work required
(iv) Rental deposits paid by tenants to a
landlord after 6th April 2007 but not
registered in an authorised rental deposit scheme by the 23rd July 2015
deadline or within 30 days of receiving the money will need to be returned to the
tenant as until a landlord does so they cannot serve a Section 21 Notice on the
tenant.
If
the prescribed information relating to the deposit has not been provided to tenants
(and any other relevant persons such as guarantors) within 30 days of the
deposit being received then again the landlord is preventing from serving a
valid section 21 notice.
Nevertheless,
if the deposit money has been held in a
scheme within 30 days the Landlord can still provide the tenant with the ‘prescribed
information’ relating to the rental deposit scheme at a later date. Once the landlord has provided the “prescribed information”
the landlord can serve a valid section
21 notice.
(v) Pursuant to The Smoke and Carbon
Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015. every floor of a property must have
a functioning smoke alarm and a
carbon monoxide alarm
in any room of
which is
used wholly or partly
as living accommodation and
contains a “solid
fuel burning combustion
appliance”
Please feel free to
telephone Andrew Veitch to discuss any Landlord or Tenant matters or disputes or e-mail Andrew Veitch details of the advice you require or dispute you wish to be dealt with for a no obligation estimate of fees.
Tel: 020 7935 1095
E-mail: andrew@guyclapham.com
Blog: www.andrewveitchsolicitor.blogspot.com
Office: Guy Clapham & Co solicitors, 51-55 Weymouth Street, Marylebone, Westminster, London W1G 8NH
This blog provides basic general legal information to help people understand their legal rights, but is not a substitute for personal legal advice from a solicitor. By the very nature of a blog the information published in blog posts on this site may be out of date.
Therefore this blog is subject to our following disclaimer and conditions of use:
Where no personal consultation has taken place with Andrew Veitch or the partners or employees of Guy Clapham & Co under no circumstances will Andrew Veitch or the partners of Guy Clapham & Co be responsible for (1) any information contained in, omitted or received from this site, (2) any persons reliance on any such information, whether or not the information is correct, current or complete, (3) the consequences of any action you or any other person takes or fails to take, whether or not based on information provided (4)
