
Luton Borough Council was prosecuted by the HSE late last year following an incident at a high school in which an assistant headteacher was attacked by a pupil and left with life-changing injuries.
UPDATE: the s21 Regulations have, as of today, been amended as there was a serious error in the prescribed section 21 notice form. This has now been rectified and the correct section 21 notice can be accessed using the link at the bottom of the page. This note has also been updated to clarify some important points from our earlier briefing.
New Rules and Form for section 21
There is a new prescribed form for s.21 which must be used for new ASTs which started on or after 1 October 2015. It may also be used for existing tenancies. It does not have to be used for periodic tenancies created after 1 October on the expiry/rolling over of a fixed term which began before 1 October 2015.
Do note that the original new section 21 prescribed form notice contained an error at part 3, which said that the notice is only valid for four months from the date of issue for periodic tenancies. This is incorrect. The notice is valid for four months from the date after which possession could be required.
There are also further regulations as follows (hardly “deregulation”!):
If the tenant has not had these 2 documents before (despite the fact that would be a breach of the other regulations which require landlords to provide them at the start of the tenancy), serve them before or with the s21 notice. They do not need to be served again with the s21 notice if they were issued at the tenancy start date.
Failure to comply with the above mean ‘no fault’ possession (accelerated possession proceedings) cannot be used until they are complied with.
Registered providers of social housing, unlike private sector landlords, escape a further requirement, to supply tenants on service of a s21 notice with an up to date version of the DCLG booklet “How to rent: the checklist for renting in England”.
The new rules initially apply only to ASTs in England granted on or after 1st October 2015. After 3 years (i.e. after 1 October 2018), they will apply to all AST tenancies whenever they began.
Preventing retaliatory eviction
This has been a hot topic in the media (landlords evicting tenants for complaining about disrepair). The Government has responded by introducing a somewhat convoluted procedure to regulate the issue, throwing in further amendments to the s.21 procedure for private landlords. Private registered providers of social housing are, however, specifically exempted from these requirements. (Section 31).
These steps are however likely to increase the number of requests for local authorities to serve Improvement notices.
Tenancy deposits
These new provisions under the Act have been in force from 26 March 2015 and introduce rules about the provision of information to tenants and sanctions for non-compliance. There is a ban on section 21 notices being served at a time when the deposit is not being held in accordance with an authorised scheme (s.31).
Action Required
The Act and new Regulations mean you need to:
How can we help?
Contact Helen Tucker.
Luton Borough Council was prosecuted by the HSE late last year following an incident at a high school in which an assistant headteacher was attacked by a pupil and left with life-changing injuries.
This ebriefing looks at the proposal to set out 'public procurement principles' in the proposed procurement legislation.
Happy New Year - our first newsletter of 2021! Throughout this year we will continue to bring you news and developments relating to the charities sector.
Local authorities should be wary of reserving contracts for local suppliers, as recommended by Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 11/20. Other contracting authorities may want to maximise their use of this
Most housing practitioners have perhaps been waiting for this news since the latest lockdown was announced by the Prime Minister on 4 January 2021.
Climate change and biodiversity is an area where significantly faster changes are needed on a global and local basis.
Chris Lloyd Smith, Adrian Leonard and Lisa Whitehouse discuss the planning opportunities available to owners of businesses and how to prepare for unforeseen events.
In their 3rd podcast of the series, Chris Lloyd-Smith and Maria Ramon discuss a number of problems with and difficulties that can arise in mediation and the mechanisms they use to overcome them.
Our previous round-up began by sharing the news that two vaccines had shown very promising test results. Here we are, not even a month later, and the first vaccines have already been administered!
The Covid-19 crisis has demonstrated that there is great resilience and innovation in the housing sector across Greater Manchester, it has also brought shortfalls and other priorities sharply into foc
To receive invitations to our events, as well as information and articles on legal issues and sector developments that are of interest to you, please sign up to Newsroom.