I have a question regarding the rental reforms. We have tenants who may move out mid May. We are also looking to sell the property. Their current rolling periodic agreement requires us to give 2 months notice. If we give them 2 months notice on 30th April, would this survive the new law or do the changes from 1st of May cancel this notice period and require us to give 4 months instead?
Thanks in advance!
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Pending Section 21 notices (aka ‘no fault eviction’ notices)
Valid Section 21 notices made under the old rules before 1 May 2026 will also continue to be valid if the court has been requested to issue a claim form, under Para 3 of Schedule 6 RRA.
Where there has been no request for the court to issue a claim form, Para 4 of Schedule 6 RRA states the landlord must do so before 31 July 2026, otherwise the notice will lapse.”
(Renters’ Rights: Transition rules for existing tenancies on 1 May 2026 - the Independent Landlord)
So if you issued a valid s21 on 30 April the 2 months (normally 2 months plus a few days is advised I’m told) ends early July and if the tenants hadn’t moved out you then apply to the court for possession but must do so before 31 july.
Obv better to issue valid s21 to start with (get eviction specialist to check you’ve done all the paperwork correctly there must have been a valid gas safety record served etc) buy I’m not sure why you wouldn’t serve the s21 now- if tenants then find anything wrong you have time to fix and do again before 1 may. And if they may be moving mid may anyway it helps focus them on that.
Good luck