Landlords can be forgiven for not knowing what notice to send to a Tenant, what Grounds under the Housing Act 1988 to use, and more importantly what period of notice they have to give according to which Ground they are seeking to rely upon.
Not only did Coronavirus play havoc with the UK as a whole, but it has also played havoc with what a Landlord can and cannot do in terms of serving a notice seeking possession on a Tenant not paying their rent.
The law has changed three times since the start of the pandemic in relation to the length of time that must be given under the notice depending upon what “Ground” the landlord is seeking to use. If the wrong period of notice is given it can invalidate the notice so the various changes in the rules have caused a lot of confusion for landlords and many mistakes have been made.
The lengthening of notice periods from 2 weeks (pre pandemic) to potentially 6 months (for Ground 8) has also been a cause of real practical difficulties for Landlords.
A Landlord who has a Tenant with significant rent arrears, can issue a section 8 notice using Ground 8 of the Housing Act 1988 and from 1st August 2021 only 2 months’ notice will need to be given where arrears are less than 4 months, whereas from 1st June 2021 to 31st July 2021 the notice period would have been 4 months. This may be some light relief for the Landlord who has a Tenant not paying their rent and will allow possession proceedings to be issued sooner rather than later.
