This submit is a part of my city myths sequence. You may see the remainder of the sequence right here.
I generally get requested by landlords about how lengthy a bit 21 discover lasts. Questions embody:
- Can I let the tenant keep on after the top of the discover interval?
- If I enable the tenant to remain on will I’ve to serve a brand new discover?
- How lengthy does the part 21 discover final for?
The solutions to those questions has modified a bit since I first wrote this submit in 2010. Let’s check out them.
What’s the identical
You may definitely let your tenants keep on after the top of the discover interval. Serving a Part 21 discover is successfully only a discover of intent. It doesn’t change the tenancy and doesn’t commit you to something.
Its significance is that, when you get your discover proper, after which subject proceedings for possession, the choose has no various however to grant it.
However when you don’t subject proceedings for possession, nothing occurs. The tenancy continues as earlier than.
What’s totally different
The distinction is that in October 2015, the Deregulation Act modified the foundations concerning the lifetime of a bit 21 discover.
Earlier than then, a bit 21 discover lasted so long as the tenancy did. So, it might finish if a brand new tenancy settlement was given to the tenants (or if the tenants moved out or the tenancy was led to another manner) however not in any other case. Which means {that a} Part 21 discover may final for years and years.
Usually, landlords would serve a Part 21 discover proper firstly of a hard and fast time period simply in case they wanted it in the future. That is now forbidden, and notices can’t be served throughout the first 4 months of the unique tenancy begin.
Up to now, I’ve recognized instances the place a landlord was in a position to evict a tenant primarily based on a bit 21 discover served a few years earlier than. Judges didn’t like making the possession order, however beneath the foundations, they’d no selection.
Nevertheless, now the time you should utilize a bit 21 discover is proscribed to (for many notices) six months after the date the discover is served or, if the discover interval is greater than two months, 4 months after the date within the discover. This is called the ‘use it or lose it’ rule.
So, if you’ll use your Part 21 discover to evict your tenants, you must get on with it.
Permitting tenants to remain
I usually get requested by landlords what they should do if they comply with enable tenants to remain on after service of a bit 21 discover.
The reply to that is ‘nothing’. You don’t have to ‘withdraw’ the discover or do something formal. As I stated earlier, successfully a Part 21 is a discover of intent, but it surely doesn’t commit you to something.
Should you determine to not evict, then simply don’t subject court docket proceedings!
Notice by the way in which that the part 21 guidelines now solely apply in England, as since 1 December 2022, Wales has had its personal, totally different, system.
Discover out extra
My Landlord Legislation service has an enormous quantity of details about part 21 and the proper manner to make use of it (whereas we nonetheless have it). Discover out extra on our eviction web page.
