Question

Landlord Wants Tenant to Leave (England) | Tenant Wants to Leave (England)

if tenant given section 21 notice do they have to give to vacate

17 Sep 2016 | 5 comments

if a tenant is given a section 21 notice do they have to give the landlord one months notice to quit?

Answer

5 Comments

  1. guildy

    As yet the answer to this question is unknown!

    Our opinion is that they can just leave without notice at any time. It would be a strange court case if we were to say that we have given notice for the tenant to leave but our complaint is then that the tenant didn’t give us notice!

    However, others disagree with our view because it is a fact that the tenancy does not end on service of a section 21 – instead, the tenancy ends when the bailiff executes the order. The argument is, as the tenancy continues, so does the requirement to give notice.

    • 301103

      Thank you so much Adrian, I really didn’t expect an answer until Monday. Hope you enjoy your weekend

      With kind regards

      Karen Todd

  2. daviddortongibson

    This is indeed a great question and as Adrian says, without any known definitive answer (ie a court of record judgement). My view, for the little it is worth, is that if the landlord serves notice, the tenant’s rights to end the agreement remain the same as if the landlord had not served notice. Ie if the landlord gave 6 months’ notice to end the agreement and the tenant had the right to give one month’s notice, then the tenant could give one month’s notice, but the landlord’s notice would not give him the right to think he could end it the day after the landlords notice is GIVEN. Notice the stress on the given as clearly the day the landlord’s notice EXPIRES, then tenant can walk without further action as he is going in accordance with the landlord’s request.

    I deliberately choose a long landlord notice to make the point that the landlord is not asking the tenant to leave now, he is asking the tenant to leave at or after a future date.

    I am completely with Adrian that if one wants possession it may be sensible to accept the tenant’s desire to leave earlier but I do realise that in some cases it is about the income involved. If you start getting difficult about it it may mean you end up with further delays and courts costs that could have been avoid.

    It is also important to be careful to distinguish between the day the tenant leave the property and the day they cease to be the tenant. Obviously they can move out any day they want, but this may not excuse them from being responsible for the property, rent, council tax etc.

  3. property lets

    what is section 21 please

    • guildy

      A section 21 is the notice that a landlord must give a tenant to ask them to leave the property before a court order can be sought for possession. The notice must be at least 2 months length. No reason needs to be given to the tenant for asking them to leave and if everything is in order, the court must order landlord possession.

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