UK Landlord Forum / Life

Any advise please?
I have two tenants living in a house split into 2 flats . They are on shorthold however this has expired . I have a buyer for the property and have asked the tenants to leave in two months . I sent the notice to quit in a recorded delivery letter to each of them.
I have now been informed that the one tenant has been to the council with my letter and they advised him he does not have to go because it is not a legal form.
This  tenant has failed to pay rent repeatedly and is at present a couple of months in arrears. Do I now issue a section 21? and if so which one as there are 2 of these forms

Do they pay monthly - in which case it's the section 21 (4) (a) format.

You can only serve this notice if the deposit procedure has been properly followed, which probably should have been repeated when the tenancy became periodic.

However, the council's advice is not correct (which doesn't really change anything, but it is frustrating) notice to end the lease is not the same as the s21 route, which is to recover possession when the tenant won't leave.

If you can talk to the tenant (in a completely non-harassing way) it might be worth making this point, because if you're asked for a reference in future, you will probably have to advise any requester that it took this route to recover possession.

You can also issue a s8 notice on the grounds of the arrears in parallel.