UK Landlord Forum / Life

I am a first-time Landlord and started renting a property in June this year. 

In recent discussion with the tenants about their intentions/views for after when the the AST expires in mid December, they have expressed a preference for another AST, rather than reverting to Periodic or leaving the property on expiry of the current term.

New Smoke and CO alarms were fitted prior to their occupancy in June, so I believe I am OK for the regulation changes which came into force this October.  A valid Gas safety cert was also issued before tenancy and they have a copy along with an EPC and the Govt. checklist on renting property.

What I am less sure about is the change to raising a Section 21 notice and whether these changes need to be written into the AST? 

Further, as the new AST will follow consecutively from the current one, will it be treated as a new Tenancy for the purposes of Section 21, although if the agreement had reverted to a Periodic one, my understanding is that the new regulations would NOT affect the serving of a Sect 21.  Any advice/guidance will be gratefully received.  I shall be issuing a further 6 month AST, and do not intend at this time to increase the rent, although I shall review the rent at the end of the second AST in June 2016.  The tenants have thus far been excellent - payment on time and at property inspection the house was pristine.

I realise, by the way, that the tenants' deposit will need to be re-protected with My|Deposits and the tenants given a copy of the new certificate.

If I have missed anything else - please let me know!

Confused Newbie 

Please be wary of advice from a blog (especially my own)
Always do your own research

Dear Confused....you should be....With all the new legislation this now a bloody nightmare to figure out...

Let's do this one step at a time.

The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 section 4.b means that whilst you need the smoke alarms in place you do not need to test them again as if it were a new tenancy.

The Assured Shorthold Tenancy Notices and Prescibed Information Regulation 2015 section 3 (5) mean that you do NOT need to serve a How to Rent Guide.  However section 2 means that you will have to re-serve a valid EPC and CP12 (daft but there is no carve out for replacement tenancy in this reg)

Regarding a section 21 nothing needs to be written into the AST (maybe I miss your point though)

According to the Deregulation Act 2015
For all new ASTs granted after 1st October 2015, a Section 21 notice must not be served on a tenant within 4 months of the commencement of the tenancy. For replacement tenancies (a new tenancy with the same parties and the same property) a Section 21 notice cannot be served within 4 months of when the original tenancy began. So you are caught by the new Deregulation Act 'regulations'(?)
You need to use the new Form 6A Section 21

Furthermore the Deregulation Act introduces a new Section 215B (1) (f) into the 2004 Housing Act which states "(f)when the new tenancy comes into being, the deposit continues to be held in connection with the new tenancy, in accordance with the same authorised scheme as when the requirements of section 213(5) and (6)(a) were last complied with by the landlord in relation to the deposit."
So that means strictly you need to follow the rules of the scheme when determining whether you need to inform the scheme adminstrator or any other requirement
However section 215B (2) means  if you have done it all by the book the first time you will be deemed to be compliant and do not need to re-serve the PI or re-secure the deposit (unless the scheme adminstrator tells you otherwise).
Call the administrator... the last thing you need is they throw a spanner in the serving of a section 21.

The problem is sometimes in the legislation the replacement tenancy is carved out and treated differently and sometimes it is not.
It's a complete pain in the you know what.

For a new landlord this is total minefield and even for experienced landlords it's all new, therefore untested..I pity the first few landlords trying to serve a section 21 in 2016... Hope it's not me!

Having said all the above if you have good tenants then quite frankly I would just re-serve the DPS PI, test the smoke alarms etc etc and collect all the evidence because I don't trust a judge to be up to speed enough to know that somethings are not required - what's the harm of collecting bits of paper..might save you s21 hassle.

Best of luck though.

Many thanks for the helpful reply.
I'm glad I don't need to insert a clause into the AST regarding the October 2015 changes to Section 21.  My main reason for the post was that my tenants are bright and sharp and came back quickly saying they preferred to have a new AST rather than roll into a Periodic.  From what I can see, if the tenancy went into periodic, the changes would not be effective, whereas id there is a new AST they will be (if that makes sense?)
By the way, your moniker really should be "The Dark Lord" from the Avatar you have chosen!

Yes if you could roll into a periodic it would be better for you as the new regs would not apply (for three years) and you would not need to do anything.
The tenant may only want security of tenure but that might be a fairy tale view.
Don't ever trust a tenant you are right to be wary.

Best of luck