Swiftly on the heels of the Coronavirus Act 2020 coming in to law on 26 March 2020 - which extends the statutory notice period to three months for most (but not all) types of tenancy agreements, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has now released updated versions of the prescribed forms of statutory notice that landlords and property managers must be using when intending to seek possession. These amended forms of notice must now be used until 30 September 2020, or until the expiry of any extension to this period. As confirmed in our previous article, failure to use the new prescribed forms of notice could result in any subsequent possession claim being struck out on the basis the statutory notice is invalid. You have been warned.
Access to the new forms of notice can be found via the below links:
- Assured Shorthold tenancies – the Section 21 Notice Seeking Possession (form 6A) can be found here
- Assured Shorthold tenancies and Assured Non-Shorthold tenancies – the Section 8 Notice Seeking Possession (form 3) can be found here
- Secure tenancies (periodic) – the Section 83 Notice of Seeking Possession (Part I form) can be found here
- Secure tenancies (fixed term flexible) – the Section 83 Notice of Seeking Termination of Tenancy and Recovery of Possession (Part II form) can be found here.
It is recommended that landlords and property managers should closely monitor developments in this area. As a minimum however, it is recommended that they diarise to check whether the prescribed forms of statutory notices default back to the pre-Coronavirus Act 2020 amendments from 1 November 2020.
This article is for general information only and reflects the position at the date of publication. It does not constitute legal advice.