Section 21 Notice Explained

The Section 21 Notice originates from section 21 of the Housing Act (1988).

A Section 21 Notice is a Notice that a Landlord serves on a tenant to ask them to leave by a certain date, and it is the first step in the legal process of recovering the Landlords property. The Landlord then has to apply to the Court. It is a “no fault” notice meaning that there doesn’t need to be any breaches of the tenancy agreement for it to be served.

The Section 21 Notice can be served during the tenancy if the tenancy has become a periodic tenancy or if there is a break date during the tenancy. The notice cannot be served during the first 4 months of the tenancy. If the Landlord must issue proceedings to evict the tenant following the expiry of the notice, this needs to be done within 6 months of the date of the notice or the notice will be invalid.

Mistakes that can render the Notice invalid

It is important to ensure that the Landlords obligations are complied with prior to the service of the notice, or the notice can be rendered invalid, meaning the procedure would need to be started again which would cause delays for the Landlord. Prior to the tenancy starting, the Landlord needs to ensure there is a valid EPC in place and that this is served on the tenant. The EPC is valid for 10 years. The EPC does not however need to be valid at the point the notice is issued, provided it was valid at the start of the tenancy. The Landlord also needs to ensure that there is a gas safety certificate in place and that the tenant has seen this prior to the tenancy commencing, a further check should be done every year, and the tenant should receive a copy of every certificate. It is crucial that Landlords retains copies of the certificates so that these can be annexed to the claim to the Court, or the claim can be dismissed. If the tenancy commenced after 2015, the applicable How to Rent checklist should be served on the tenant prior to the start of the tenancy. However, the case of Trecarrell House Limited v Patricia Rouncefield (2020) confirms that failure to serve the EPC or the gas safety certificate does not prevent the service of the notice if the documents are served on the tenant before, or at the same time as, the service of the Section 21 Notice.

Landlords also need to be cautious about when they serve the notice, for example, if the notice is posted 2 months prior to the vacation date contained within the notice then it will be rendered invalid. Part 6.26 of the Civil Procedure Rules governs the deemed date of service depending on the method of service. The 2 months that a Section 21 Notice needs to give needs to be 2 months plus the amount of days it takes for the method of service to have effect.

The Deposit

According to the Tenant Fees Act (2019), the Deposit is only allowed to be the equivalent of 5 weeks’ worth of rent or less or if the rent for the year is less than £50,000.00, or 6 weeks’ worth of rent if the rent for the year is £50,000.00 or more. Prior to the service of the notice, if the Landlord notices that the deposit was taken for an amount over the maximum amount allowed, the Landlord can refund the overspend and ensure the remainder of the deposit is still protected and then can still rely on a Section 21 Notice. The deposit needs to be protected under the tenancy deposit protection scheme if the tenancy started after 6 April (2007) and the Prescribed Information relating to this needs to be served on the tenant prior to the service of the notice also.

Revenge Notice/ Retaliatory Eviction

If a tenant complains to the council about the state of the property and the council serves an improvement notice or an emergency works notice on the Landlord, the Section 21 Notice cannot be served for up to 6 months after the date of either of those documents. If the council gives a hazard awareness notice, this does not affect when a Section 21 Notice can be served.

The Process

Firstly, the Landlord will check that their obligations have been complied with and if so, will serve a Section 21 Notice which will give at least 2 months’ notice. If the tenant chooses to remain in the property after the date they were asked to leave, the claim will be made to the Court which annexes all the documents that the Landlord is required to serve on the tenant prior to the service of the notice. Provided there are no issues with the paperwork and no missing documents, the claim can be dealt with “on paper” meaning that there is no hearing. The Order for Possession should then be awarded, providing the tenant a further date to leave by and ordering the Landlords costs to be paid. If the tenant still doesn’t leave when ordered, the Bailiff can be instructed to attend the property and remove the tenant.

The Renters’ Rights Bill

The Renters’ Rights Bill was introduced to Parliament in September 2024 and has not yet been approved but will have effect at some point soon. The Bill proposes to abolish Section 21 Notices and have all tenancies as periodic which is meant to give more protection to tenants by allowing them to question their Landlord without the fear of eviction. New grounds will need to be embedded into the Section 8 of the Housing Act (1988) to ensure that tenants are given more security, but Landlords can still recover their property on reasonable grounds. The Bill also proposes to provide stronger protection against backdoor evictions by allowing tenants to appeal rents which are unreasonably increased or are higher than the market rate simply to push a tenant out. It is proposed that there will be a new Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman that will deal with tenants complaints about their Landlord. There will be a new Private Rented Sector Database which is supposed to help Landlords understand the obligations imposed on them and demonstrate compliance, and help tenants make informed decisions about whether to enter a tenancy. Landlords will need to be a member of this to rely on certain grounds. There are other changes contained in the Bill which don’t specifically relate to Section 21 Notices and focuses more on tenants’ rights.

Fixed term assured tenancies will no longer exist which will give tenants the right to end a tenancy after giving 2 months’ notice. This means that tenants won’t be forced to stay in a sub-standard property and won’t have to remain in a tenancy if circumstances change.
The Bill does not only favour tenants and so will expand the grounds for possession that can be relied upon under a Section 8 Notice, meaning that Landlords can still recover their property when it is reasonable to do so. The grounds will be expanded so that a Landlord can recover their property if their circumstances change also, which will include having to sell the property or move into it themselves.

The Bill will result in the first 12 months of the tenancy being protected, meaning that a Section 8 Notice (which will need to be used in place of the Section 21 Notice), cannot be served in this time period if the grounds relied on are for the Landlord to move in or sell the Property. When using these grounds, the Landlord will also have to give 4 months’ notice.

The current stance

The Renters’ Rights Bill has not yet been approved by Parliament and so Section 21 Notices can still be used to evict a tenant. Ensuring that the Section 21 Notice has been validly served and that the paperwork to the Court is correct is vital when time is of the essence. An unfavourable ruling from the Court can set the eviction back by months which can cause hardship for a Landlord. It is important to gain legal advice in relation to the necessary steps, having a Solicitor prepare the paperwork on your behalf can take some of the stress out of the Litigation process and help you regain possession of your property faster.

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This article is correct at the time of writing, that being 27 February 2025.