After being served a Section 21 notice, the landlord must follow a strict process to evict you. The process will depend on what type of tenancy you have. All tenants have the right of appeal, though the landlord cannot overturn without an order from a court. This article details and discusses what happens next in this eviction process, so you can better understand it and plan accordingly.
A landlord can evict a tenant using the Section 21 eviction process at the end of a fixed-term tenancy or after a periodic tenancy has become month-to-month. As a result, eviction of protected tenants is much more complex and complicated than usual.
What can happen once the Section 21 notice period is over?
The landlord must serve the notice on the tenant no later than 21 days before their original fixed-term tenancy ends. However, if this is a new tenancy beginning on a new fixed-term, then the Section 21 notice period ends 21 days after that.
After this, the landlord has 21 days to give you something which informs you of how much rent you will have to pay and when. This something should be a “notice of rent review. Regardless of your tenancy type, the landlord will provide you with a Notice of Rent Review by a date that is at least 14 days after the Section 21 notice period ends.
Why the landlord must provide you with a Notice of Rent Review
The landlord must provide you with a Notice of Rent Review because, legally, at the end of the Section 21 notice period, both parties are equal in their position. That means that as long as the tenant is not delivering “constructive eviction” behavior, the tenant is still entitled to reside in your property and should be given time to consider whether or not they will leave voluntarily. Therefore, the landlord’s Section 21 notice no longer has any legal effect on the tenant.
What should a Notice of Rent Review contain?
A “Notice of Rent Review” should contain details of what rent you have to pay and when. It should also give you information on whether anything has changed concerning your tenancy, affecting the rent. This is specified by law under Section 11(2)(b) of the Housing Act 1988 (“the Act”), which states that a tenant must be given a complete, clear and accurate statement of the terms on which they are required to live in the property. As part of this, the landlord must advise you on any changes to rent or service charges.
If the tenant is not provided with a Notice of Rent Review, they are still required to pay their rent by the due date. If no payment is made by that day, then Section 11(3) of the Act states that the landlord can issue you with a notice to quit by a time that is at least equal to the period from the end of the Section 21 notice period until the next due date for rent. If this second notice is served, then it will either give you no time to pay or only very little time. At this point, if you are not paying your rent, then a landlord can start to apply for a possession order through the court.
Do I have to pay the rent in advance or deposit it?
The landlord could not ask for any rent or deposit in advance if a new fixed term was agreed upon since the Section 21 notice was served. This is because, at that point, the tenancy agreement is still fixed for a specific time, so you cannot be asked to hand over any money as security until it runs out. In addition, Section 11(7) of the Act states that no tenant should be required to pay more than two months’ rent and deposit in advance.
Conclusion
When the Section 21 notice period ends, it can be a tense time, and there are various procedures to be followed. There are things that a landlord should be doing and giving you, as well as actions you could take. It is helpful to know what is going on in this stage of the eviction process so that you can plan accordingly and in a way that best suits you.