Commercial Debt Collection

Emergency legislation and what it means for private residential landlords

From the commencement date of the emergency legislation (27th March 2020), the notice period that a landlord is required to give to a tenant (whether it be a section 8 rent arrears notice or a section 21 notice) was extended to 3 months for properties in England and 6 months for properties in Wales. As of Saturday 29th August, following the governments most recent announcement, the government has extended the notice period which a landlord is required to give a tenant to 6 months. In cases of tenant rent arrears, landlord’s will now only be required to give 4 weeks’ notice where a tenant has accrued six months’ worth of arrears. There are further restrictions for those tenants who have committed anti-social behaviour or domestic violence.

Given the extended notice period now required and if you are in a position whereby you require possession of your property as a matter of urgency, we recommend that you progress matters as soon as you possibly can with the service of the appropriate notice. If you wish to serve notice based upon rent arrears, landlords are being encouraged by the government and the courts to attempt to mediate with their tenants. The Landlord Group team can assist with this.

For all those landlords who have already commenced the eviction process, all court proceedings were initially stayed until 23 August 2020. However, again following the governments 11th hour u-turn on Friday 21st August, all court proceedings are currently stayed until 20th September 2020. After this date, it is likely that landlords will be required to send a ‘reactivation notice’ to the court and to their tenant(s) confirming that they wish the claim to continue. Landlords will also need to send updated information about their tenant’s circumstances for the court to consider – such as issues of vulnerability, disability, financial difficulties, etc. If you are waiting for a court hearing date, please note that the standard 4-8 week wait period for hearings has now been temporarily suspended. We would therefore advise all landlords to consider dispute resolution and mediation with their tenant(s) during this interim period.

Please contact The Landlord Group team for further details of how we can help.