Section 21 - what happens now?

fatboyonadiet

I served a section 21 on a tenant around 5 weeks ago, before lockdown and the new legislation was announced.
But what happens now? Is it void? Or extended to 3 months?
I had issued it because there was ongoing damp issues in the house (tried to resolve it several ways but no joy) so wanted the tenant out to do a survey and get it all resolved properly

[Deleted User]

fatboyonadiet said:

I served a section 21 on a tenant around 5 weeks ago, before lockdown and the new legislation was announced.
But what happens now? Is it void? Or extended to 3 months?
I had issued it because there was ongoing damp issues in the house (tried to resolve it several ways but no joy) so wanted the tenant out to do a survey and get it all resolved properly

Nothing is happening right now.  Courts have suspended possession order hearings for the time being so you can't enforce the Section 21 until courts start processing them again

The Section 21 might be valid as long as you've dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's.  I'm not sure if the tenant would be covered by the 'revenge eviction' legislation since the Section 21 seems to be coming off the back of damp issues.

https://431bj62hscf91kqmgj258yg6-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/s21updatedSept2019v2.pdf

fatboyonadiet

I never stated a reason in the original section 21, we had verbally agreed it.
I was due to get a surveyor out to check the property, but this was only after lockdown and (understandably) they weren't comfortable with it taking place. 

fatbelly

You gave the tenant 2 months notice 5 weeks ago. The tenant still has time to vacate the property, so there is no problem as things stand

[Deleted User]

fatboyonadiet said:

I never stated a reason in the original section 21, we had verbally agreed it.
I was due to get a surveyor out to check the property, but this was only after lockdown and (understandably) they weren't comfortable with it taking place. 

??? You don't need a ground for issuing a Section 21, that's why it's often referred to as the "no fault notice" however there are lots of things that can invalidate the notice and serving the notice after a tenant requests a repair is one of those.  The link I provided takes you through what you need to have in place before serving a valid Section 21.

AdrianC

fatboyonadiet said:

I served a section 21 on a tenant around 5 weeks ago, before lockdown and the new legislation was announced.
But what happens now? Is it void? Or extended to 3 months?
I had issued it because there was ongoing damp issues in the house (tried to resolve it several ways but no joy) so wanted the tenant out to do a survey and get it all resolved properly

The s21 is just as valid as it was.
The expiry date of it is the same as it was.
BUT...
If the tenant doesn't move out, you can't start possession proceedings until this is all over.

Comms69

fatboyonadiet said:

I served a section 21 on a tenant around 5 weeks ago, before lockdown and the new legislation was announced.
But what happens now? Is it void? Or extended to 3 months?
I had issued it because there was ongoing damp issues in the house (tried to resolve it several ways but no joy) so wanted the tenant out to do a survey and get it all resolved properly

s.21 typically takes 6-9 months to enforce. with the situation, you can pretty much double those estimates.

greatcrested

* as above, the S21 is not invalidated by the recent new leglislation, but there will be a delay

* but to check it's validity, see :S21 checklist (Is a S21 valid?)

* if the tenant had complained about the damp, the S21 may be invalidated by the 'revenge eviction' legislation - Deregulation Act 2015 S33.