UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hello all.

I need your help please.  I have a problem tenant who has a tenancy agreement started on the 17th November 2019.  I have served section 21 notice on the 16th March 2020 and asked the tenant to leave after the 16th May 2020.  I have asked the NLA advice line and they said this notice might be invalid as it falls within the first 4 months after the start of the tenancy.

Is there any way around this please.  I really do not want to serve another one and then this time it has to be for 3 months instead of 2 because of the new government rule.

And my second question is that is it possible to serve the notice by email and what kind of file should it be in? Is PDF with electronic signature be acceptable?

Many thanks
Emad

Yup... that Section 21 is invalid by virtue of it being within the first 4 months. You can't go and retrospectively alter a served document, no... I assume you weren't thinking of intercepting the post and using Tipp-Ex or summat?

And, it seems like you're aware of all the other stuff currently ongoing... so no need to comment further on that. Looks like you're stuck, for a bit...

Thanks for that. 
I have served this notice by hand with 2 witnesses. Does this make any difference at all, because there will be no delay if I had to deliver it by post.

Thanks
Emad

(Assuming this is a brand new tenant, and not replacement tenancy.)

How notice may be served and when is it effected comes down to any relevant terms in your tenancy agreement. However that doesn't matter here as you had either served it on the 16th in which case it's within the 1st four months and it's invalid, or you date of service was later in which case you haven't given enough notice and it's invalid.

QuoteI really do not want to serve another one and then this time it has to be for 3 months instead of 2 because of the new government rule.

Just serve a new notice. All possession proceedings have been stayed for 3 months anyway because of COVID-19, it's not like your claim for possession would go anywhere even if you had served valid notice.

Many thanks guys.