Just been issued a section 21 Housing act notice to vacate.

Ant_Wish

Just been surprised with a section 21 Recovery of possession on expiry or termination of assured shorthold tenancy. Housing Act (1988).

I just got the email off the estate agent telling me I have to move by December 11th not because I am a bad tenant because the landlord wants to move back in. I have paid my rent to this date and I have been living here with out a problem since December 2014.

My problem is I am a student and have just started back doing a postgraduate legal practice course which finishes July 2017, which is really time consuming and I have to spend a lot of time reading and it important I do not have any distractions especially having to move house.

Is there any way I can refuse to leave? I do not want to be a nuisance or problem to any one but the land lord knows I am in university and knows universities go back in September so in my opinion he should of told me to move house in the summer well before now.

In August I was going to move house and gave my notice but then changed my mind and told the estate agents I was staying on is the email of me saying I was staying on until July 2017 a binding contract with a new assured shorthold tenancy which has a fixed term tenancy,
Section 21 (1) (a) states that this order can only be made if;
"(that the assured shorthold tenancy has come to an end and no further assured tenancy (whether shorthold or not) is for the time being in existence, other than [F1an assured shorthold periodic tenancy (whether statutory or not)]

Here is the emails I was sent and received on August 31st 2016;

1) Off estate agents to me in regards I had decided not to move from the premises when four weeks earlier I had decided to give in my notice to leave. (some of the other information here is me telling them what dates I would pay the rent so is irrelevant)
[FONT=&quot]Hi Anthony[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Thanks for the update with regards to your rent payment, Lynsey my colleague will advise the Landlord.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Can you confirm by email that you are not looking to vacate as originally stated and I will advise Sarah to remove the property from advertising.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Please note should you decide to vacate in the coming months four weeks written notice must be given.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Any problems in the meantime just let me know.

2) Off me confirming by email that i am not looking to vacate as I had originally stated, stating I intended to stay until July 2017;
[/FONT]
"Alright Sharon yeah I'm going to stay on until next July thanks"

3) off estate agent saying thanks for confirming I was not vacating, in my opinion accepting me as the tenant of this property until July 2017. If this was not an acceptance then it should state otherwise.
[FONT=&quot]"Thanks Anthony[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I will remove the property from the advertising and advise your Landlord."

Is there anything I can do? Because this is such a pain that it is making me feel stressed and want to leave university, which I have just taken out a career development loan to pay for the course I am on because Student finance does not cover the LPC. So I have to pay it back right away after I finish the course so I can not really quit or I would put it off for a year.

Thanks
[/FONT]

marliepanda

You don't 'have' to leave.

If you don't leave after the s21 date (if validly served...) then he can take you to court to get an eviction order.

That will cost you the fees. It will be more distracting than moving house (and you'll then have to move anyway) and I'm sure being taken to court will look great considering you are on a legal course.

I very much doubt YOUR email saying you'll stay until July 2017 constitutes a contract until then.

ST1991

Have you seen 'can't pay we'll take it away?'

Obviously not specific to your situation as you are paid to date - but pretty sure from my bad-tv habits you have no choice but to vacate with a section 21. No way around it.

Guest101

no that doesn't create a new fixed period in my opinion.


However you don't have to leave by December either. A s.21 is just intent of going to court.


That said, the LL could be charging you double rent now too. and they've given you more notice than required.


So it's best all round (and given the LL is being very fair) to find somewhere to move to

theartfullodger

Many s21s are invalid. When did you 1st move in? If after 01/10/2015 there are several more things a landlord must do for a s21.

Additionally, was you deposit protected and you served with "the prescribed information" within 30 days ofg you paying deposit?

An s21 does not end a tenancy nor require you to leave. It simply (if valid) permits landlord to start court proceeedings - probably another 2 months..

Guest101

ST1991 wrote: »

Have you seen 'can't pay we'll take it away?'

Obviously not specific to your situation as you are paid to date - but pretty sure from my bad-tv habits you have no choice but to vacate with a section 21. No way around it.

Oh please. Seriously stop it.


1: s.21 doesn't end a tenancy
2: CPWTIA was not conducting thing correctly
3: S.21 eviction has nothing to do with rent paid.


- OP you can safely ignore what ST wrote (due to it being factually inaccurate, before Mods jump on me)

G_M

The emails created a periodic tenancy, not a fixed term. In particular note:
"[FONT=&quot]Please note should you decide to vacate in the coming months four weeks written notice must be given.[/FONT] ".

I just got the email off the estate agent telling me I have to move by December 11th

1) is email specified in your contract as an agreed means of serving notices?
2) have you responded (ie verifying receipt)?
3) was this actually a S21 Notice? (New S21 Notice (Form 6a) & PI )

Plus the usual checks:

A S21 is invalid if:

a) served before/at the same time as the tenancy starts
b) served before deposit has been registered & the deposit's ‘Prescribed Information’ given to the tenant
c) incorrect dates/notice period
d) expiry date is within 1st 6 months of original tenancy
e) For tenancies starting after 1st October 2015:
- served in 1st 4 months
- new tenancy Prescribed Information has not been supplied (EPC, gas report, "how to rent), or
- council has served a repairing enforcement notice on the landlord, following a complaint by a tenant. See Enforcing repairs here.

But basically, start looking!

ST1991

Guest101 wrote: »

Oh please. Seriously stop it.


1: s.21 doesn't end a tenancy
2: CPWTIA was not conducting thing correctly
3: S.21 eviction has nothing to do with rent paid.


- OP you can safely ignore what ST wrote (due to it being factually inaccurate, before Mods jump on me)

This is actually my bad, I'm sure i have read amoung the forums (and the awful tv show) there is a sectionXYZ where you actually have to vacate immediately? I assume, re-reading this that i am grossly mistaken. But intrigued to find out which one that would actually be.

[Deleted User]

Try putting this in perspective.., you are going to be studying until July 2017.., that's 10 months. During that ten months you will lose a few days packing and moving plus some time finding somewhere else to live. I've packed and moved when in a one bed place in two days lol. You can explain why you might have problems handing in papers over the move period to the university.

There's no denying its inconvenient.., but I think you are panicking and magnifying what will be involved. It is do-able. It won't be easy but losing a maximum of a couple of weeks out of ten months doesn't mean you have to leave the course.

Guest101

ST1991 wrote: »

This is actually my bad, I'm sure i have read amoung the forums (and the awful tv show) there is a sectionXYZ where you actually have to vacate immediately? I assume, re-reading this that i am grossly mistaken. But intrigued to find out which one that would actually be.

Section. 'doesntexistinenglishlaw'


S.21 is a no-fault eviction starting point. It notifies the tenant that the LL intends to go to court to end the tenancy (and is the most commonly used eviction process, and the closest that you can get to what you're suggesting)


After getting a possession order, some LLs used to escalate it to the High Court (those blokes on CPWTIA) however the tenants were not notified of this, which it turns out, by law, they must be.


So when they turned up unannounced, they were actually breaking the law.


There is no way for a LL to evict a tenant purely through notice, with immediate affect.

pinkshoes

Find somewhere else ASAP and give your 1 month notice.

When does your Christmas term end?