Residential tenants given extra protection against evictions
Some important changes taking effect from 1 October 2015 will alter a tenant’s protection from evictions.
If you’re a residential landlord, the new “De-Regulation Act 2015” will restrict your ability to serve a Section 21 notice in circumstances where the tenant has complained about the condition of the premises or the common parts of a building.
This applies if you, the Landlord:
- Did not respond within 14 days
- Provided an inadequate response
- Responded by serving a Section 21 notice.
There are circumstances when a tenant will not be able to take advantage of these changes, including:
- The tenant is in breach of their duty to use the premises in a tenant like manner
- the dwelling house is genuinely on the market for sale when the Section 21 notice is issued
- The landlord is a private registered provider of social housing
- The property has a mortgage which was granted before the tenancy began, the mortgagee is entitled to exercise a power of sale and requires possession.
The new legislation also introduces an obligation on you as a landlord, to provide information about the respective rights and responsibilities of both the landlord and the Tenant under the AST Agreement. The Landlord will be prevented from giving a Section 21 Notice when it is in breach of this requirement.
Details of how it applies
These new rules will apply to ASTs granted on or after 1 October 2015. They will not apply to a fixed term AST granted prior to that date even if, after 1 October 2015, the fixed term AST becomes a statutory periodic tenancy.
The position changes, however, after the end of the period of three years, at which point the provisions will apply to any AST in existence.
For more information on this, or to discuss any landlord and tenant dispute, please contact Yvonne Thomas on 0115 9 100 200 or email [email protected]
Posted on July 8, 2015
