UK Landlord Forum / Life

My father died and left his house to my sister and I. I have bought my sister out of her half and the house is now in my name only. The house has been let since 2013 with a tenancy agreement that is still in my fathers name. I want to serve a section 21 notice to the tenant and take possession of the house. How do I go about this? Obviously my father is not here and it's his name on the tenancy agreement, I did have power of attorney before his death but I'm not sure of exactly what to do. I hope it's just a case of serving notice but fear it may be more complicated.
TIA.

Well... obviously a dead person cannot do anything at all.

So, it must all be down to whoever the current Landlord is. That seems to be you. However, ideally, you should have served the proper Notice on the Tenants to inform them of this - otherwise, strictly legally speaking, no rent is actually do (but it becomes due when you remedy that)... this is like a Landlord who buys a property that is already let... you step into the shoes of the previous Landlord. I think you should be OK serving a Section 21... but, as with all things, if you're new to the game I would advise you don't burst in like a bull in a china shop... but maybe go visit the Tenants, explain what's happened, what's happening, why... that kind of stuff. You can always help them out if you feel that way disposed - just by giving great references, or helping with moving costs or Deposit for the new place - what-have-you - from reading this one would assume you want to sell up and, if that's the case, the last thing you want is to get involved in the nitty-gritty of Landlord / Tenant law and end up with an obstinate Tenant who refuses to budge.

You're quite right, I don't want any drama but you can never tell how a tenant will react when asked to leave. I would rather do things the correct way from the start and not make any silly mistakes. I didn't realise that there was a potential problem until I noticed it was my father's signature on the tenancy agreement.

I don't know if inheriting a landlord's interest constitute assignment, but when you bought your sister out, there's definitely an assignment of her interest there. So I'd serve notice in accordance with section 3 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 informing the tenant that you are now the sole landlord first before doing anything else. If there was a deposit paid, I hope you have paperwork from before evidencing that it was protected correctly on time, and that the required information was given. If so, sort out with the depsit protection scheme to transfer it to your name. If not, I'd return the deposit first to avoid any possible dispute there.

When was the tenancy most recently granted, renewed or extended? If on or after 1 October 2015, you'll also want to be able to evidence the giving of the How to Rent guide, gas safety certificate, and the energy peformance certificate as required.

The deposit is properly protected as it should and even though the tenancy was signed before 2015 and hasn't been amended since I sent a copy of the GSC and EPC for their records this week. I'm unaware of section 3 so I shall look into that.
Thanks for the advice.