Is this S21 invalid?

lorrainp

Hi,
Letting agent issued S21 Form 6A to tenant on 6th May 2021.
Vacation date on the form, and the end of the AST are 2nd Aug 2021.
Is this S21 automatically invalid on the basis that the notice period is less than 6 months?

I assume so, after reading on the gov UK page:

"If you gave your tenant notice between 29 August 2020 and 31 May 2021, the notice period must have been at least 6 months."

This seems like too much of a rookie error, and I must be missing something, so wanted to ask the group.  Surely an experienced letting agent wouldn't mess up over something as fundamental as the required notice period??

boxer234

Yes they will need to issue a new one but it will be 4 months now.  

Murphybear

Yes, an experienced LA could easily get the date wrong.  The rules change frequently and it’s not always that easy to keep on top of them.  

AdrianC

Murphybear said:

Yes, an experienced LA could easily get the date wrong.  The rules change frequently and it’s not always that easy to keep on top of them.  

Mmm.
6/5 to 2/8 is less than three months.

The six month s21 had been in place for more than eight months at the point this notice was issued, following five months of three months.

The notice issued would not have been valid since March 2020...

moneysavinghero

Yes it is invalid. So many letting agents are incompetent (it's the LL that will lose out not them so they have no real incentive to be competent) so no real surprise that they have messed up.

You can either inform the LL now that it is invalid. They would then have to issue another one with 4 months notice.
Or stay quiet and wait for it to get to court. This wont  happen until 2022 at least. They would then have to issue another S21 at that point after the court tells them the current S21 is invalid.

Depends on how much time you need to how you play it.