Changes to Section 21 notices during the coronavirus pandemic

The Government has temporarily changed the rules around using a Section 21 notice during the coronavirus pandemic:

• Until 30 September 2020 notice periods were originally extended to at least three months. As of 28 August 2020 any section 21 notice served in England must give at least six months notice to the tenant. The notice period for section 8 can be much shorter depending on the grounds used. This extended notice period will last until 31 May 2021 in its current format. After that it will begin to taper off.
• Until 20 September 2020 all current possession proceedings were suspended. Applications to court could be made but the courts would not take action to progress possession after the application.
• As of 21 September the courts have reopened. Landlords may now follow the reactivation notice procedure to restart any court applications made already.

Tapering of notice periods from 1 June 2021

From 1 June 2021 the extended notice periods for Section 21 will begin to taper off. The Government has now announced what form this tapering will take.

When serving a Section 21 notice, you must give -

• A minimum of six months if the document is deemed served on or before 31 May 2021;
• A minimum of four months if the notice is deemed served between 1 June 2021 and 30 September 2021;
• A minimum of two months if the notice is deemed served on or after 1 October 2021.

Changes to the prescribed Section 21 form

A new Section 21 notice (form 6a) is set to come in from 1 June 2021 and will be available on the gov.uk website on that date.

The Section 21 notice is a prescribed form, and using an out of date version of a prescribed form can lead to your notice being declared invalid.

To avoid this happening you should check the gov.uk website and download the latest version of the Form 6a prior to serving any notice. You should also avoid serving a notice in the two working days prior 1 June as your notice may become invalid prior to being received by the tenant.

What are the requirements for serving a section 21 notice?

The Section 21 notice does not require you to explain why you are seeking possession but it does have specific requirements that you must have met if you wish to be able to serve a valid notice. 

For a Section 21 notice to be served validly there are a number of specific requirements that all apply:

• the tenancy must be an assured shorthold tenancy
• at least four months must have passed since the original tenancy began
• the notice cannot expire before the fixed term of the tenancy has finished unless a relevant break clause allows for it
• the prescribed form of notice (form 6a) must be used and filled out correctly 
• the proper notice period must be given to the tenant and that notice period must have expired before you apply for a possession order
• if a deposit has been taken, it must have been validly protected by an authorised scheme and the relevant Prescribed Information served
• no improvement notice has been served regarding the property in the six months prior to the Section 21 notice being served. 
• the local authority must not have performed any emergency remedial action on the property in the six months prior to the Section 21 notice being served
• you must not have performed a 'retaliatory eviction'
• if you require a licence (mandatory, additional or selective) then you must have at least applied for it
• you must not have received a prohibited fee under the Tenant Fees Act since June 1 2020. If your tenancy began or was renewed on or after June 1 2019 you must not have received a prohibited fee since that date.

In addition to this, if your tenancy began or was expressly renewed on or after 1 October 2015 the following rules also apply:

• where you need an EPC on the property a valid one must have been provided to all of your tenants
• where your property is required to have a gas safety certificate you must have provided the tenants with the certificate that was valid at the start of their occupation, and any certificates that replaced that one 
• the tenants must have been provided with the latest version of 'How to rent: a checklist for renting in England' at the outset of the tenancy. In addition to this if the tenancy was replaced by a new contract or a statutory periodic tenancy, you must check if 'How to rent: a checklist for renting in England' has been updated. If it has you must serve the updated version.

The EPC, gas safety record and 'How to rent' booklet may be served late if you fail to provide these documents at the beginning of the tenancy but must be served prior to the Section 21 notice.