Section 21 Notice – Just get easier?
In December 2013, the Court of Appeal in Spencer -v- Taylor [2013] made the law relating to service of a section 21 notice of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1988 much easier.
When an assured shorthold tenancy ends without serving a section 21 notice, a landlord had to serve a notice under s.21(4)(a). This required specific details and dates to be included, which for the unwary, were often a fertile ground for challenge by tenants where the landlord got them wrong, even by the slightest miscalculation. Notices under s.21(1)(b) of the 1988 Act often caused no real difficulty as they are a simple form of document to serve.
The Court of Appeal has now decided that a Section 21(1)(b) notice would be the appropriate notice to serve in all circumstances other than where the tenancy was periodic from the start. If the tenancy was (as is often the case) for fixed term (usually of 6 months), then there is no longer the need to serve the more complex s.21(4)(a) notice. A section 21(1)(b) notice is now enough.
Read the full judgment in Spencer -v- Taylor [2013] here.
