30th April 2019
Not so long ago we had a landlord approach us for advice. He was managing his own rental property, but now required our help in getting rid of his tenants. Not only had they been a bit of a headache to manage, they had been building up rent arrears every so often. When the landlord approached me, they had two months of arrears.
After discussion, I recommended that the landlord should serve a Section 21, this way he didn’t need a specific reason to end the tenancy. The landlord said that he was confused because one of his friends had recommended that he serve a Section 8 on the grounds they had two months’ arrears. I explained that Section 21 would be his best move, or at the very least he should serve them together. I explained that if he served a Section 8 on these grounds only, there was a risk that if the tenants brought their arrears up-to-date then that would invalidate the notice. The landlord said that he would have a think.
Three weeks later the landlord contacted me again. He had served a Section 8 on his tenants for the two months’ arrears; however, he had served the notice incorrectly, therefore it was not enforceable. On top of this, the tenants had cleared the outstanding rent down to one month, invalidating the notice. The landlord decided to go with our recommendation and asked us to serve the Section 21 for him.
We offer a full management service for those landlords that would like to be hands off; and for those that prefer to manage their own rental properties, we offer a menu of services to assist you with this. So, if you need help with any aspect of your rental property, do get in touch.
Richard Bond
