Landlords warned over changes to law when seeking possession of property

A legal expert is reminding landlords that new rules are now in force placing additional requirements on them when serving an eviction notice to tenants.

Section 21 notices, also known as eviction notices, allow landlords to obtain vacant possession of their property – bringing a tenancy to a close.

In October 2015 the Deregulation Act brought in changes to the law affecting just tenancies granted after that date.

Now, tenancies granted prior to this date will also be affected by the changes, which Amie Harrison, solicitor in the Litigation & Dispute Resolution team at Napthens solicitors, warns landlords need to be aware of.

Landlords must ensure that they provide the tenant with the following documents at the start of the tenancy:

EPC certificate; Gas Safety certificate; and Copy of the How to Rent Checklist, which is a publication available from the Government website.

If these initial requirements have not been complied with then the landlord will be precluded from serving a valid section 21 notice.

Amie Harrison of Napthens said: “This is not all, once a landlord has complied with the new requirements, they must still serve the notice in the prescribed form, within the time limits allowed.

“A landlord will also not be able to serve the notice within the first four months of the tenancy and once the notice has been served there are time limits in which to commence possession proceedings for a court order.

“Therefore it’s vital that landlords understand their responsibilities. Whilst this law has been in force since 2015 for some tenancies, it will feel very new to those landlords who granted a tenancy before the October 1, 2015. “There can be consequences of non-compliance, which can be very costly for landlords, so it’s important that specialist advice is obtained first before taking steps to obtain possession of a residential property.”