Serving a Section 21 Notice on a Tenant.

Ronal_2

Hi,

I have a tenant moving into my house tomorrow, as she is unemployed and seeking housing allowance her parents will be guarantors (they have been reference checked).

As I do not normally accept this calibre of tenant and declined her on our initial conversation, the tenant offered to pay me 6 months rent upfront and only sign a 6 month AST, I would like to serve a section 21 Notice and have it signed along with the AST tomorrow.

What I am struggling with is the date that goes on the Section 21 Notice, I would like to have the assurance that on the final day (the end of the 6 months) I can get the property back immediately.

I think the tenant is a good person and do not suspect any foul play arising, it is more just as a precautionary measure incase.

Any advise will be appreciated.

Thanks

Jowo_2

You can't necessarily get the property back 'immediately' even with a valid S21 served at the outset. If the tenant does not leave at the end of the fixed term of their own volition, the landlord must seek a possession order through the courts, and then potentially enforce it with a bailiff, which can take a few months to do. The S21 served up front will reduce the process by a couple of months, but it's still not instantaneous.

Here's some info on how to serve an S21

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/pdf/servingS21.pdf

molerat

Ronal wrote: »

................... I would like to have the assurance that on the final day (the end of the 6 months) I can get the property back immediately .................

There is no way that can be guaranteed. The tennant can stay until they are forced out by a court order if they so wish.

BitterAndTwisted

I'm assuming that you have the tenancy agreement to hand, what are dates on that?

n.b. Your S21 will be invalid if you don't protect their deposit in one of the three approved schemes although it beats me why you would be considering evicting this tenant already when you're going to accept six months rent in advance AND you have a guarantor.

Jowo_2

BTW, How old is your tenant? There are proposals to increase the age of a tenant from 25 to 35 for the shared accommodation rate but I don't know when this will kick in. This means that many tenants will no longer receive 1 bedroom self contained LHA rates but a much lower one that covers renting a room in a shared property.

satchmeister

Ronal wrote: »

Hi,

I have a tenant moving into my house tomorrow, as she is unemployed and seeking housing allowance her parents will be guarantors (they have been reference checked).

As I do not normally accept this calibre of tenant and declined her on our initial conversation, the tenant offered to pay me 6 months rent upfront and only sign a 6 month AST, I would like to serve a section 21 Notice and have it signed along with the AST tomorrow.

What I am struggling with is the date that goes on the Section 21 Notice, I would like to have the assurance that on the final day (the end of the 6 months) I can get the property back immediately.

I think the tenant is a good person and do not suspect any foul play arising, it is more just as a precautionary measure incase.

Any advise will be appreciated.

Thanks

Very nice of you. Serving her notice before she has even moved in.

I assume you are an amateur LL as you clearly do not have a clue re a section 21.

tbs624

Ronal wrote: »

As I do not normally accept this calibre of tenant and declined her on our initial conversation, the tenant offered to pay me 6 months rent upfront and only sign a 6 month AST, I would like to serve a section 21 Notice and have it signed along with the AST tomorrow.

What I am struggling with is the date that goes on the Section 21 Notice, I would like to have the assurance that on the final day (the end of the 6 months) I can get the property back immediately.

What you are saying here indicates that you have done insufficient research before trying to become a LL.

A S21 Notice is not a "Notice to Quit". It's a LL's Notice of Intent to Repossess after a Fixed Term expiry date, but if the T stays put then you will need to proceed to the County Court for a Possession Order. Your T could in fact quite legally remain in place for a few months after the expiry of that original FT.

You not only have to get the wording/dates right on your s21 you have to be able to demonstrate that you served it after (a) the tenancy agreement was signed and (b) the tenancy deposit was scheme registered.

Sign up to LL Law, and/or a local/national LL association and think about asking whether your local Council runs any training/accreditation schemes for newbie private LLs

Ronal_2

Thanks for the responses, I do not classify myself an experienced landlord when it comes to renting to tenants claiming benefits, I have only ever rented out to professionals and corporates and never needed to serve any form of notice (Touch Wood)

@Satchmeister - As this is not the type of market I usually let to, and from looking at other landlords adverts for my area on the rental advertising portals stating "No Benefit tenants Accepted, due to previous tenant not paying" Caution/prevention seems better than cure. I also tried to insure the tenants guarantor and whilst the guarantors credit file was fine her income was not sufficient and therefor the insurance was declined. I have spoken to several other landlords that are familiar with LHA tenants and have advised me to have a section 21 signed when she moves in along with the AST. As I said in my previous post, I am sure there wont be any hassles and the tenant seems fine however I would still like to know that if things did go the wrong way then I could speed up the process!

I am trying to understand the date that goes on the section 21 Notice as I have gotten loads of mixed messages searching online, unless I am having a slow day :-)

N79

Are you taking a deposit?

Ronal_2

I am aware that the section 21 notice will not give me immediate Possession but will speed the process up, which is what I am after.

I was told it must be signed at the same time as the AST, is this not correct then tbs624, I am in the process of registering the deposit today anyway?

Thanks

Ronal_2

N79 wrote: »

Are you taking a deposit?

Yes 1 months rent