How to Serve a Section 21 Notice

You can evict tenants who have an assured shorthold tenancy (AST) using a:

• Section 21 notice – if you want your property back after the fixed term ends
• Section 8 notice – if your tenants have broken the terms of the tenancy

Section 21 notice of seeking possession

You can use a Section 21 notice if your tenants have either:

• a written agreement with a fixed term that’s ended
• an oral or written ‘periodic’ agreement (for example, month-by-month) with no fixed end date

• If the tenancy started after April 2007, you can only use a Section 21 notice if you have properly protected the tenants deposit in an authorised scheme and provided them with a copy of the prescribed information.
• Due to the deregulation act you must also ensure the tenant has been provided with and signed for a valid gas safety certificate (if applicable), a copy of the Department for Communities HOW TO RENT guide, Energy Performance Certificate, Prescribed information and if the property requires a licence a copy of that licence.

Giving tenants a Section 21 notice

A Section 21 notice must give your tenants a minimum 2 months’ notice to leave your property. Create a notice to give to your tenants by:

• filling in form 6a if the tenancy started on or after 1 October 2015
• writing your own notice if the tenancy started before 1 October 2015 – explain that you’re giving notice under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988

When you must give more than 2 months’ notice

Fixed-term tenants can’t be evicted until their tenancy ends. If the fixed term has expired the notice must end on the last day of the rental period.

So you’ll need to give more than 2 months’ notice if the rental period was more than 2 months (for example, it was paid quarterly). So if your tenant pays you quarterly or 6 months in advance then that period becomes the “rental period” and you must give your tenant a minimum of that amount of notice. It is also important to note that the notice must end on the last day of a rental period. So if, for example, the fixed term ran from 1^st January 2015-31^st December 2016. It is now the 11^th January 2017 and the tenancy is in periodic. You serve the Section 21 notice on 11^th January 2017 giving a minimum of two months notice to end at the end of a rental period (and assuming the rent has been paid monthly) your notice would have to expire on 31^st March 2017 so again in effect you are giving more than two months notice.

After you give notice

Keep proof that you gave notice to your tenants – either:

• fill in the certification of service form (N215)
• write “served by [your name] on [the date]” on the notice
• You could also serve the notice by recorded delivery

If your tenants don’t leave by the specified date, you can use your completed N215 or notice to apply for an accelerated possession order.

If you are in any doubt then you should contact a solicitor for legal advice before serving your notice.