How can you terminate a tenancy agreement in England and Wales? What legal forms do you need and what is the process you must follow? Stop worrying: here’s your guide to terminating a tenancy agreement in England and Wales.
As a landlord, when you’re asking your tenant to move out it’s very important that your notice to terminate a tenancy agreement is in the correct form, as otherwise you won’t be able to use it in court proceedings for possession. A letter simply asking the tenant to leave by a certain date will not be sufficient.
For all notices the names of the parties and the address should match those in the tenancy agreement (even if some tenants have moved out, they should still be named on the notice if they were named on the most recent tenancy agreement). If the tenant is renting a room in a shared house, you need to specify the room (e.g. ‘room 1’) rented by the tenant, as well as the property address.
The tenancy agreement notices should be completed as follows.
Section 21 Notice
When you terminate a tenancy it’s important that the correct notice period is given to the tenant. Under normal circumstances there is a general minimum period of two months, and a notice cannot end earlier than the end of the fixed term. But please note temporary Coronavirus legislation in place that has increased period to six months (see below).
Note that Separate Section 21 Notices apply in England and in Wales.
Tenancies in England that started on or after 1 October 2015 or which have been renewed for a new fixed term must use the new type of Section 21 Notice, called a form 6A. You cannot serve a Section 21 Notice at any time during the first four months that the tenant occupies the property. So, for a tenancy that begins on 10 January 2019 you cannot serve a section 21 notice until at least 10 May 2019.
If the notice is served after the fixed term has ended, the notice must give the tenant at least two months to vacate and the notice must end on the last day of a ‘period of the tenancy’. The first date of a ‘period’ will be the date immediately after the last day of the fixed term of the tenancy.
For example, if the last day of a tenancy is 31 December, then the first day of the first period will be 1 January. If the Section 21 Notice is then given on 2 January, the date given in the notice must be 31 March. This means, in effect, that the notice will usually give the tenant between two and three months.
For weekly tenancies, it’s the day in the week that the tenancy runs from that is important, rather than the date in the month. So in the example given above, if a weekly tenancy ended on Wednesday 31 December, then the periodic tenancy would run from Thursday to Wednesday.
Make sure that you don’t serve the Section 21 Notice at the same time as the tenants sign the tenancy agreement, as this can invalidate the notice. But this isn’t a problem if the notice is served one day after they have signed the tenancy agreement.
COVID-19 Changes
In England regulations changing the notice period and amending the Section 21 Notice form 6A came into force on 29 August 2020.
In Wales regulations changing the notice period and amending the Section 21 Notice came into force on 24 July 2020.
Under temporary Coronavirus legislation in England and Wales, the minimum length of time to be given by a section 21 notice is now six months. This change is temporary and is due to expire in March 2021, but an extension is likely.
You must check the current situation before serving any notices as it is impossible to rule out further changes.
Section 8 Notice
The Lawpack Section 8 Notice can be used if the tenant falls into rent arrears. Under normal circumstances, if the tenant is in rent arrears of at least two months or more (or eight weeks for a weekly tenancy), at the date of the service of this notice, and at the date of any court hearing, you’re entitled to an order for possession as of right. However under temporary Coronavirus legislation the notice period has changed to:(a) 4 weeks where arrears are at least 6 months and (b) 6 months where arrears are less than 6 months.
Normally therefore the Section 8 Notice shouldn’t, therefore, be used until the rent arrears have reached two months. For example, if the monthly rent is £500, then the rent arrears must be at least £1,000. The Section 8 Notice must give the tenant a notice period for them to sort things out and repay their rent arrears.
If the notice is being served by your letting agent, then, ideally, the agent’s address should appear as well as your own (unless your address is c/o the agent).
Serving the Section 21 Notice and Section 8 Notice
Whenever it’s possible, you should serve these notices either by handing them to the tenant personally, or by leaving them at the property, normally by inserting them through the letterbox of the property in an envelope addressed to the tenant.
If you’re unable to do this, the tenancy agreement form provides for you to send it by post. But unless you trust the tenant to sign and return the copy notice to you to prove service, service by post isn’t recommended. This is because there is no way you can prove that it was ever delivered (e.g. if you’re challenged by a tenant at court saying that they have never received the notice). You can send the notice by recorded delivery, but tenants often refuse to accept and sign for recorded delivery items.
When you want to terminate a tenancy of a difficult tenant, you should only ever serve a notice by hand. It you can’t do this yourself, arrange for someone else to serve it for you or arrange for the notice to be served by a professional process server. If you think that the tenant may lie and deny that they received the notice, even when it was delivered by hand, it’s best to use a process server or arrange to have an independent witness present.
Click here for product link: Lawpack’s eviction notices
