UK Landlord Forum / Life

I have had a tenant since March 2014. Unfortunately I now need the property back as I need to sell to repay the morgage.

The tenant is a family member and accepts that she needs to leave. She gets the rent paid direct to me from the local authority. For that reason there are no defaults on payment or anything. She has said she needs a letter or something telling her she has to leave so she can take it to the local authority in hope of getting a rental with them. Not easy I know but she can at least ask.

Having looked at various info on the gov websites etc I don't think a section 21 is appropiate. Not sure about a section 8. In any case to comply there are certain requirments i.e. confirmation of the deposit scheme etc. In this instance we don't have that as she never paid a deposit. That is detailed in the AST. We had the AST back in 2014 and it's never really been amended other than to increase the rent a bit using the form on the gov website.

My question is this; is it ok to simply write saying I want the property back and give her decent notice i.e. 3 months or even more? Or is it the case that you have to file a formal request to terminate?

Is there anything that may trip this all up and even give me grief somehow?

Thanks for any advice, I really am out of my depth.

Why do you think Section 21 isn't appropriate?

As having an occupier in your property who is depending upon the scant-to-say-the-least chance of something else happening before they leave (is that an assumption from me?)... will require more than a letter. The Council will advise her to "stay put" until you instruct bailiffs to physically remove the Tenant from the property. That is the Council's MO. At that point, the person occupying your property will be torn between doing the right thing by you and the wrong thing by themself. Hard choice.

Not taking a Deposit will certainly simplify things. But the question immediately arises... have you done "all the other things" that were your obligations as a Landlord? Not doing some can mean a Section 21 is invalid. There is an angle here whereby you try your best to keep things amicable with the Tenant and they feel beholden to you to let you get what you need, and they actually do it - but if that means making themselves homeless, how many people would follow-through? The alternative doesn't bear thinking about as it could be expensive and lengthy to "follow the process".

Issuing a Section 21 is the way to go but, as Hippogriff suggests, you may not have everything in place to enable it to be valid.

Download the PDF version of the Section 21 Flowchart at https://nearlylegal.co.uk/section-21-flowchart/ and read it carefully.

If you think you have anything missing that would make your Section 21 invalid, feel free to ask here about how you might rectify the situation.

If you serve notice and the tenants takes it to the council they will tell them to stay until evicted.
The stock of social housing is so low at the moment that unless the person would have been entitled otherwise (children, disability or similar) there is zero chance of a council property.