Can a valid section 21 notice (pursuant to the Housing Act 1988) be served on a tenant where:
(1) the tenant moved in on 1 June 2020;
(2) no gas safety certificate was provided to the tenant before the tenant moved in
(3) a gas safety check was done on 14 October 2020 and a copy of the certificate was provided to the tenant on 15 October 2020.
Does the position change if at the time the tenant occupied the property there was not an indate / valid gas safety certificate in place?
If the landlord is able to serve a section 21 notice then can the landlord then use the accelerated procedure upon expiry of the Section 21 Notice?
1 Comment
Unfortunately we don’t know the answer to this.
It has been held that where there is a valid gas safety on the day they moved in, that report can be given late (as long as before the section 21) and the section 21 is valid.
But, that case didn’t answer the question as to what if there was no valid gas safety on moving in. However, in that same case, a second gas safety was done which was late (2 days after the 12 month limit) and it was nevertheless held that the section 21 would be valid (as long as the tenant received the gas safety before the section 21 was served).
Therefore, all you can do is ensure the tenant has a copy of the gas safety before serving and then serve the notice. Unless you have grounds for a section 8 notice, there’s no other option and just see what develops.
Please see here analysis of the case referred to above.