*Help!* - Landlords advice required

[mariner51]

Lea_HTH, the s21 is not invalid provided OP served a s21 b during fixed term. This would expire after 2 clear cal months, but Court repo could not be obtained before 3 Oct.

If OP served a s21 a (SPT), which requires an expiry date, then 21a cannot be served before end of fixed term.

Indeed there is a Court of Appeal ruling that allows a s21b to be served during SPT, provided there was an original fixed term specified.

 

 

It would appear OP served a s21a during fixed term and a pedantic Judge may well declare it invalid on expiry date, if unaware of the CoA ruling, which aimed to reduce confusion over which s21 to serve during T.

[Lea_HTH]

Lea_HTH, the s21 is not invalid provided OP served a s21 b during fixed term. This would expire after 2 clear cal months, but Court repo could not be obtained before 3 Oct.

If OP served a s21 a (SPT), which requires an expiry date, then 21a cannot be served before end of fixed term.

Indeed there is a Court of Appeal ruling that allows a s21b to be served during SPT, provided there was an original fixed term specified.

 

 

It would appear OP served a s21a during fixed term and a pedantic Judge may well declare it invalid on expiry date, if unaware of the CoA ruling, which aimed to reduce confusion over which s21 to serve during T.

 

 

I presume you are referring to Spencer v Taylor, which, as far as I am aware, makes it clear the fixed term has to be over? (Also fairly certain that the above case is a ruling on s21(4) - and related to a periodic tenancy, not one still in a fixed term - distinguishing on the facts with this case.)

 

The difficulty is that this notice under discussion ends on a fixed date within the tenancy period, and doesn't rely on any saving words for clarity. The only way to interpret it fairly is that if the tenant takes the notice as 'you must move on 28th September', they will have paid rent up to and including 3rd October, and so a) will be moving during their fixed PROTECTED period of time, and b) paying extra for the privilege. That makes no sense. And since the notice doesn't have any saving words saying 'don't worry, we won't ask you to move until 3rd October', there is no way of the tenant having any certainty as to when the notice ends BAR the date they have been given on the notice.

 

So on a fair interpretation of the facts, the notice is invalid.

[Lea_HTH]

For the OP - I'd re-serve the notice now, just in case. You can always take the matter to court and try with the current s21 - but personally I wouldn't risk it, you're likely to come up against someone like me defending the case (duty, dealing with thousands of cases a year) and I'd certainly give the uncertainty aspect on the dates, and ending within the fixed term, a huge push towards the judge. Judges despise ambiguity, even if it's only by a few days.