Accidental Landlord - advice please

VjIjGjIj

Hi everybody ,

I rent out my house which I previously lived in. I have had one Tennant for just over 3 years. Our short hold tenancy agreement for my Tennant was due for renewal September but we have yet to sign a new one.

Unfortunately my circumstances have changed and I now need to move back into this property.

Could anybody advise me on what the best process would be to issue my Tennant with her notice.

Thank you

casperlarue

Assuming you are in the UK - your tenant is on a statutory periodic tenancy now so you would need to serve a Section21 notice giving 2 full rental periods notice that you require possession of the property.

Did you take a deposit and if so was it protected in a scheme? Did you have a dual signed inventory carried out when tenant moved in?

VjIjGjIj

Yes I'm in the uk, thank you for the speedy reply. I did not take a deposit but we did sign an inventory. I understand I have left my self open to financial loss here if there are costs for me when she leaves.
How do I go about serving a section 21 notice? My Tennant pays her rent weekely in advance.

Werdnal

You need to issue a Section 21 notice, giving the tenant 2 months notice you are seeking possession. NOTE, this notice does not end the tenancy, nor mean the tenant has to leave, and is only the first step in what can be a long winded formal eviction process, but is the only way you can legally end the tenancy.

Read this:

http://www.letlink.co.uk/letting-factsheets/factsheets/factsheet-21-section-21-notice-requiring-possession-of-an-assured-shorthold-tenancy.html

It is important that you issue the notice correctly, serve it to the tenant correctly, and that you have correctly protected the tenant's deposit, given them the prescribed information from the deposit scheme you used, and have proof that you did this within 30 days of the deposit being paid.

Failure to do any of the above, will invalidate your notice, your application to court will fail, and you start over.

When you have read the above link, the notice template is here:

http://www.letlink.co.uk/GeneralInfo/General_possession/S21_4_A.pdf

If you have any further questions, or any doubts over what dates to use and how to make sure this notice is 100% valid, legal and binding, come back and ask again.

VjIjGjIj

Thanks for this I will take a look now.

G_M

This post will also help:

Ending/Renewing an AST (what happens when the Fixed Term ends?)(What is a Periodic Tenancy?)(How can a LL remove a tenant?)(How can a tenant end a tenancy?)

theartfullodger

NB: Tenant only has 2 "n"s....

Werdnal

theartfullodger wrote: »

NB: Tenant only has 2 "n"s....

Unless your tenant happens to be an ex-Dr Who!

omnasia

Just a question here, as OP did not take or protect a deposit and did not issue prescribed info, does that mean that a section 21 will never be valid ? I'm assuming that the tenant may just leave on receipt of it but if they don't want to and the landlord goes to court, how does that work ?

I have protected my tenant's deposit, sent the info etc but just wondered what would happen if I had not known/omitted to do so.

krlyr

omnasia wrote: »

Just a question here, as OP did not take or protect a deposit and did not issue prescribed info, does that mean that a section 21 will never be valid ? I'm assuming that the tenant may just leave on receipt of it but if they don't want to and the landlord goes to court, how does that work ?

I have protected my tenant's deposit, sent the info etc but just wondered what would happen if I had not known/omitted to do so.

The link given in the replies says "It should be noted that a S21 is invalid if:

a) It is served before, or at the same time as, the tenancy starts
b) It is served before any deposit paid by the tenant has been registered (and the ‘prescribed information’ given to the tenant)
c) It does not have correct dates/notice period"

There was no deposit paid by the tenant so nothing to register and no prescribed information to give, surely?

Werdnal

If you have not taken a deposit (as OP has stated) there is nothing to protect, so OP is fine.

If you take a deposit and do not protect it within 30 days of receipt, then you cannot issue a valid Section 21 until the whole deposit amount is returned. If the S21 goes to court, and you cannot prove deposit is protected and you have served correct prescribed information, the court will not grant possession on that notice. If tenants leave willingly, by giving notice themselves, you cannot make any deductions from an unprotected deposit. Also, even if you return the full amount, the tenant can still claim the suggested penalty for non-protection - currently 1-3x the deposit, up to 6 years after the tenancy ends.

Omnasia, have you provided the FULL prescribed information from the scheme you used? This can sometimes run to several pages, and include the T&Cs of the scheme, not just a 1 page certificate as some people think!