Serving section 21 notices on housing in the Craven area

For most landlords, serving a section 21 notice will be the most common way for them to start to end a tenancy. This route to possession is simpler than serving a section 8 notice as it does not require them to attend a court hearing or give a reason why they wish to receive possession.

Instead, as long as the landlord has given the correct length of notice, met all the requirements for service and used the correct form, the courts will provide a possession order. 

There are a number of legal requirements that must be met for a valid notice to be served. These are:

• if the tenancy was created after 1 October 2015, you have to use form 6A: notice seeking possession of a property let on an assured tenancy on the Government website
• you must give two months' notice
• you cannot issue a section 21 in the first four months of the tenancy
• for tenancies after 1 October 2015, a tenant must have been given a copy of a valid energy performance certificate and gas safety certificate before the start of the tenancy and a copy of How to Rent: the checklist for renting in England at the start of the tenancy
• you must have protected any deposit paid in a recognised scheme and issued the tenant with prescribed information
• you cannot serve a notice if the council have served an improvement notice on the property

Once a notice has been served, it only remains valid for six months from the date of service. 

Further information

For detailed advice and questions about serving notices, visit the National Residential Landlords Association website.