Legal

Termination of Assured Shorthold Tenancy

Section 21 Notice

A Landlord may terminate an Assured Shorthold Tenancy by serving upon each tenant a notice under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 to expire at or after the expiration of the fixed term.

The notice if properly served, will provide the Landlord with a mandatory ground for possession.

The Landlord must give the tenant not less than two months notice of his intention to seek possession of the property, and the Deposit must have been protected as required by law .  There are two forms of the notice

Section 21(1)(b) this notice can be served at any time during the fixed term of the tenancy.  It cannot expire during that fixed term unless served in accordance with a break clause ad must be of at least two months duration.  If the notice is served during the last two months of the tenancy it should simply expire two months after the date of service.

Section 21 (4)(a) this notice must be served if at the time of giving the tenant notice the fixed term tenancy has already expired. Although the notice is of a minimum two months duration its expiry must also coincide with the end of a period of the periodic tenancy.

Section 8 Notice

A section 8 is served when a tenant is in breach of one or more grounds of their tenancy agreement. The most common ground to be broken by tenants is non payment of rent. However tenants have also been known to breach other grounds such as damage to property, nuisance to neighbours or carrying out criminal activity at the property.

A Section 8 Notice can be served at any time during the term of the tenancy, the length of the Notice given is dependant on which ground/s the tenant is in breach of