A 'Section 21 Notice to Quit', so called because it operates under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, is the notice a landlord can give to a tenant to regain possession of a property at the end of an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST). The landlord is able to issue the tenant with a section 21 notice without giving any reason for ending the tenancy agreement. A landlord has the legal right to retain possession at the end of a tenancy but must follow the correct legal procedure, which includes serving a section 21 notice. The Housing Act 1996 amended the section 21 of the 1988 Act by requiring this notice to be given in writing. Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 is divided into subsections with different procedures to be followed depending on whether the Section 21 notice is served before the fixed term has come to an end or after, when the tenancy has become a periodic tenancy. When can a Section 21 notice to quit be issued?
Under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 as amended by the Housing Act 1996, a landlord has a legal right to get his property back at the end of an assured shorthold tenancy. In order to invoke this right, he is required to follow the correct legal procedure which involves serving a section 21 notice to quit on the tenant or tenants. A section 21 notice can be issued at any time during the fixed tenancy or during the periodic tenancy.A Section 21 notice to quit can only be used to regain possession of a property at the end of an assured shorthold tenancy. If a landlord wishes to regain possession before the end of the agreed term, this may be possible if he can show certain conditions have been met. In order to do this he must first issue the tenant with a valid section 8 notice to quit.
Section 21 notices served during the fixed term of the tenancy
Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 as amended by the Housing Act 1996 requires that the landlord provides tenants of an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) with a minimum of two months' notice in writing, stating that possession of the property is sought. The two months starts when the tenant receives the notice not when the notice was written/posted. A Section 21 notice must be served before possession order will be issued by a court. Possession under this section of the Housing Act 1988 cannot take place during the fixed term of the tenancy, but the notice can be served at any time during the fixed term provided the tenant is given a minimum of two months' notice. The tenant is not required to give up possession of a property until a minimum of two months after the Section 21 notice to quit was served. This includes Section 21 notices served up until the last day of the fixed term. The provisions in section 21(1)(b) applying to fixed term tenancies state:
"Without prejudice to any right of the landlord under an assured shorthold tenancy to recover possession of the dwelling-house let on the tenancy in accordance with Chapter I above, on or after the coming to an end of an assured shorthold tenancy which was a fixed-term tenancy, a court shall make an order for possession of the dwelling-house if it is satisfied-a) 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 a statutory periodic tenancy: andb) the landlord, or in the case of joint landlords, at least one of them has given to the tenant not less than two months' notice stating that he requires possession of the dwelling-house."
A notice can be issued more than two months before the end of a tenancy but it should not be dated to expire on or before the last day of the tenancy. For example, if a Section 21 notice was issued four months before the tenancy was due to end, the notice would have to be dated after the last day of the fixed term. If a section 21 notice is issued during the initial fixed term of a tenancy to regain possession at the end of the fixed term tenancy, then should the landlord decide to grant another fixed term, a new section 21 notice would be required to regain possession.
Section 21 notices served during a periodic tenancy
Once the fixed term of the tenancy ends, unless a new fixed term is agreed upon a tenancy automatically becomes what is called a statutory periodic tenancy which rolls from week to week or month to month depending on how often rent is paid.The procedure for serving notice under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 is slightly different in the case of statutory periodic tenancies.Section 21(4)(a) of the Housing Act 1988 applies to assured shorthold tenancies that have become periodic and states:
"Without prejudice to any such right as is referred to in subsection (1) above, a court shall make an order for possession of a dwelling house let on an assured shorthold tenancy which is a periodic tenancy if the court is satisfied-(a) that the landlord or, in the case of joint landlords, at least one of them has given to the tenant a notice stating that, after a date specified in the notice, being the last day of a period of the tenancy and not earlier than two months after the date the notice was given, possession of the dwelling-house is required by virtue of this section; and(b) that the date specified in the notice under paragraph (a) above is not earlier than the earliest day on which, ........, the tenancy could be brought to an end by a notice to quit given by the landlord on the same date as the notice under paragraph (a) above "
A Section 21 notice complying with the above section should only be given to a tenant whose tenancy has become a periodic tenancy as a result of the fixed term ending. In these cases, a minimum of two months' notice is required and the day on which the notice expires must be the last day of a period of the tenancy. The period of a tenancy depends on how often the rent is paid. If rent is paid monthly the period of the tenancy is one month, if the rent is paid weekly the period of tenancy is one week and so forth. The periodic tenancy begins immediately after the fixed term expires, so if the fixed term expires on the 10th then the period of the tenancy begins on the 11th, so provided rent was paid monthly the last day of each period of tenancy would be the10th of each month. Therefore the Section 21 notice would have to expire on the 10th of a month and be served a minimum of two months before the tenth of that month. If the tenant does not leave by the expiry date on the notice the landlord will need to apply to the court for a possession order. Provided the correct procedure has been followed by the landlord issuing the Section 21 notice, the court will have no choice but to grant the possession order. After the court has issued the tenant with the notice to leave, if they have still not left within the required period, then a landlord can ask county court bailiffs to evict the tenant.
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I found this article on repossessions which I thought would be of interest as we are at a stage where repossessions are on the increase. Personally I think it is a crying shame that homes get repossessed and I have had personal experience as this happened to my wife and I in the early 90's we subsequently bought a repossessed home which is now our main residence however if there was a system in place to stop people losing their homes then it would make me feel much happier
Repossession is a legal process that occurs when a lender obtains a court order to take possession of a property due to non-payment of the mortgage. When you buy something on credit, the person you owe the money to will be called the creditor. When you buy on credit, or get a loan to buy something, you will sign an agreement giving the creditor the right to take the item back if you miss payments. The property that can be taken is called collateral. When your creditor takes the goods back it is called repossession.
If you're facing repossession problems, you must act quickly. Losing your home might be a nightmare for your family. Try to take this matter very seriously. The issuance of possession proceedings is just the start of a series of legal processes, and if correct action is taken, repossession can be stopped. People face repossession problem because of Illness, Redundancy, and Reduction in income, financial over-commitment, and financial mismanagement.
Repossession may affect people in many ways; affects the quality of their life, future is not secured, lot of impact on family relationships, change in the social status. To stop repossession you can do certain things like selling the house on your own and move to another house, re-mortgage the house, or you can sell the house to a property trader who will rent it back to you and so you can still stay there.
Repossession problems generally arise when you are not able to manage your debts properly. You can reduce your debt by consolidating your debt. Try to reduce your interest charges, prevent court action, reduce your monthly repayments etc. you can manage your debts by having an Individual voluntary Agreement. An IVA is an agreement wherein you and your creditors try to find a solution wherein you pay an amount that you can afford each month, so that your home is protected. Generally the duration of IVA is 60 months and on completion, the debt that is left is written off, leaving you debt free. But only Insolvency Practitioners are allowed to propose and manage an IVA.
You can stop repossession if you show your lender or court other ways through which you can pay your mortgage. Nowadays insurance company do provide mortgage protection plan which can help the lender in paying the mortgage amount. Even if you are ill or become unemployed etc you can pay the mortgage amount. If you have a lender who is ready to charge you a much lower interest rate than your own lender then you can think of remortgage.
Andrew Wilson is a SEO copywriter for Sell house fast, Sell and Buy back and Stop Repossession. He has written many articles in various topics like Sell and rent back, Sell house fast and Selling home. For more information visit: rapid-property-solutions.co.uk/
I always find it is a good idea to keep up to date with property news both good and bad. Here are some useful links for you to browse which I will add to as and when I remember
Daily newspapers Althought they mean well they are in the business of selling newspapers and not necessarily the truth http://www.rics.org/ Royal institute of Chartered Surveyors
http://www.property-tax-portal.co.uk Very good site for property tax information. Property Portfolio Software provides solutions to help self managing landlords get better organised when managing multiple properties.
Their software solutions are designed by landlords for landlords and are guaranteed to save you time, money and effort in running all aspects of your property business.
Happy New Year and welcome to the Landlord's Journal
Where do we start?
Well I have been a landlord for 6 years now and I have had many ups and downs ( definitely more ups than downs). I have also had to hand keys back on a property in the past however this has not stopped me from investing in property it has just strengthened my resolve to succeed.
My main reason for getting into property was to build a future for me and my family. Which I hope you agree is a good cause. However there are many pitfalls which comes with being a landlord and investing in property which I wish to share with those of you who wish to listen. Therefor my website is here for me to let off a bit of steam and inform people when I can.
I have met many very knowledgeable people involved in the property game and hopefully I can get them to pass on their knowledge to people who visit my site
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