I rent a flat to tenants whose renewal is in July this year, I want to move into the flat myself.
In may the UK government is changing the rules re notice periods etc, how does this affect me? The new rules say 4 months notice must be given, so do I have to give 4 months notice in May or will the current renewal date hold?
The tenant has not done anything wrong, my circumstances have changed and I need to live there, I am not looking at a no-fault eviction etc, I just want to play by the rules.
yes, you can give four months’ notice in May which will expire in September.
Do they have children or teach? If so, September is a bad month to move. They might well move over the summer if so and you may want to prepare for an earlier exit via a deed of surrender.
You can issue a Section 21 notice, with 2 months notice anytime upto 1st May. After that it will be a Section 8 notice subject to 4 months notice, as you have noted.
Section 21 is also an easier & more speedy process, than Section 8, so if I were you, I would serve Section 21 sooner.
I’m not sure what you mean here. The renewal date of an AST, has no effect on ending a contract, and regardless of your tenancy renewal date, the tenants only have to leave, if you serve one of the above notices. This applies both before & after the RRA is introdcued in May.
If you give notice before end of april the 2 months is valid so you could give notice at end of april to coincide with end of tenancy which would be slightly more than 2 months. This would only apply if tenancy length is more than 6 months as you cant issue a s21 in first 4 months of tenancy. A s21 is likely to be easier than s8 under rra.
Renewal date doesnt mean anything as it’s after 1 may so will no longer apply. Ignore that
Basically valid notices served before 1 may (s21 or whatever) are still valid after 1 may at least for a while ( @David122 can tell you the limits ) but if you can tell them sooner that’s better for them to help them find another place.
Nothing wrong with using a s21 no fault before 1 may it’s just as much playing by the rules as anything else, like s8 or agreeing a voluntary deed of surrender of the tenancy with the tenants. Or them formally giving you notice for the date you want. Any of these work and are ‘playing by the rules’. However last date to serve the papers to court [if they dont move out on the date in the s21] is 31 july so if using s21 you’d need to have the date they need to move out by a little before then.
If they are co-operative and not going to try to stay - a deed of surrender or the tenants giving notice may be easiest if you can persuade tenants to do that. S21 etc doesn’t necessarily mean they actually move out (can take many months more if you have to go to court to seek possession etc) and due to RRA there is likely to be a backlog in the courts..
Remember you are turning their life upside down so the more advanced warning you can give them the easier they will find it to find a new place and the more likely they will be to co operate. Sorry if ridiculously obvious.
Good luck
@Karl11 I took this to mean a fixed term expires in July, hence my four months in May recommendation. If it does, then S21 prior to May is not an option is it? Won’t it just miss the deadline?
That was my understanding too.
@tatemono @David122 why can’t @zeke serve a s21 now (or indeed a s8) with a date of 15 July for tenants to move out? Don’t have to use the min Statutory periods nor wait till 1 may?
Under the transition arrangements @zeke has till 31 July to serve the papers to go to court if tenants don’t comply.
Why wait till May instead of giving good tenants as much notice as possible?
Or am I missing something ?
(Tho Better they give notice or sign a deed of surrender with move out date of 15th July then if they don’t actually move out it’s much quicker than s21 or s8 or so I think I’ve been told here…)
Best
well one risk of giving good tenants as much notice as possible is that they realise the writing’s on the wall and find somewhere long before, give one month’s notice before May and Zeke has a long void. He may be able to move in early, but if he can’t then he’s got less income than he planned and more expenses as he looks after his empty property.
That’s if their tenancy is periodic at the mo. Zeke hasn’t told us.
Yes, you’re right. A valid s21 could be served now to expire in July if the tenant moved in more than 4 months ago. Depending on when in July the fixed/initial term expires, @Zeke will need to move quickly to submit a possession claim and possibly get it registered by the court.
Absolutely. If @zeke wants to give less notice he could issue the s21 (or s8) in mid march or mid April or any time up to 30 april within current rules.
Whereas if waits till 1 may or later then min notice is 4 months which means cant move back in till end August at earliest, and has said wants to move back in during July…