This is a question to the blog clinic from Gerald, who is a tenant in England.

I’ve been renting the same house since 2006. It was only last year that the landlord started using a letting agency, protected my deposit, and got an EPC and gas certificate. The AST started in August 2023. I was served a s21 notice six months ago.

Given that the landlord had not followed the law re gas certs, deposit etc, is the s21 valid? Do I have any claim against the landlord at all?

Answer

You say that your AST ‘started in August 2021′ but presumably, that is when the agency gave you a new tenancy agreement. You will almost certainly have had an AST since you first moved into the property in 2006. ASTs have been the default tenancy type of all new tenancies since 1997.

I suspect that your landlord will be compliant with the deposit rules as deposits that were taken for tenancies whose fixed term ran out before the deposit rules came into effect in April 2007 do not need to protect the deposit unless a new tenancy agreement or tenancy renewal form is given and/or the landlord wants to serve a section 21 notice.

The law changed in 2015, imposing an obligation for landlords to serve Gas Safety Certificates on tenants at the start of their tenancy as a condition of being able to serve a valid section 21 notice. But this does not apply to pre-2015 tenancies unless and until a new tenancy agreement is given to the tenant.

So, your landlord’s obligation to serve a gas safety certificate (for section 21 purposes) would have started at the time you were given a new agreement.

Landlords have always been obligated to serve a copy of the gas safety certificate on tenants under the 1998 gas regulations but save under the new 2015 rules, this does not affect the validity of a section 21 notice.

The penalty for failing to serve a gas safety certificate is prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive, it is not something that tenants can claim for.

EPCs are a condition of serving a valid section 21 notice, but again, the rules do not apply to pre-2015 tenancies unless a new agreement is given and they can be served out of time.

Is there any possibility of a challenge to possession proceedings?

You may want to take some legal advice as to whether your landlord (through his agent)’s service of a gas safety certificate, once the new tenancy agreement was provided, was actually sufficient to satisfy his obligations. Bearing in mind that no gas safety certificate was provided earlier (and indeed, the wording of your question indicates that your landlord may not have had a gas safety certificate before 2023).

The law here is not clear, but there may be scope for a challenge.

You can find some sources of legal help on the Renters Guide advice services page.

The post Is this section 21 notice valid for a tenancy starting in 2006 appeared first on The Landlord Law Blog.

Here is our last Newsround for August, let’s see what has caught our eye this week.

Gap widens for tenants’ budgets v annual rents

SpareRoom claim in a new survey that tenants now need an extra £312 a year to cover rent that is in excess of their budget. Their research was carried out taking in over 216 towns and cities in the UK and found that 71% of renters are paying more than what they actually budgeted for.

Out of the 216 towns only 63 areas have rent that is within a tenants actual budget and 153 areas exceed tenants budgets on a monthly basis.

Matt Hutchinson, director of SpareRoom said

This data reveals that in a staggering 71% of towns and cities around the UK, rent has increased to the extent that prices are higher than renters’ budgets. We need renting to be genuinely affordable, otherwise people end up trapped and unwilling to move.

You can read more here.

County wide PRS scheme launches in North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire council has launched a housing enforcement policy that applies to all private rented properties within its county, this one scheme replaces seven individual previous housing schemes. It is aimed at maintaining high standards within the sector and cracking down on substandard housing.

Fines are now up to £30,000 for any landlord, letting agent and property manager that is not compliant. The PRS makes up 18.6% of housing within the county and Councillor Simons Myers says

A new policy will give us a balanced approach to housing enforcement work and ensure that privately rented homes are well managed, properly maintained, safe and habitable.

New EPC rating of ‘C’ is unobtainable claim landlords

A new survey out by chartered surveyors and auctioneers, Landwood Group claim that 95% of landlords say that it will be impossible to meet the governments new requirement to meet the EPC standard of a ‘C’ rating by 2030.

This is having a knock of effect with an increase in landlords putting their rental properties, both single properties and large portfolio’s up for auction. Mark Bailey of Landwood Group says

The focus on improving modern social housing, overlooks the vast majority of Britain’s private rental properties which are ageing and would require significant, costly upgrades to meet the EPC C standard.

For many, achieving this rating is not just challenging; it’s nearly impossible without substantial financial investment.

This means that there will be less stock in the PRS for renting thus impacting renters more. Mark Bailey says that ‘the government must address the housing crisis first’ before imposing these new EPC targets.

PRS demand continues to remain high

The demand for rental properties in London has increased according to Chestertons Letting Agency who has seen a 22% month on month increase in tenants taking on properties in July, with a 7% increase in inquiries.

Adam Jennings of Chestertons’ says

This year, we are seeing additional demand from aspiring homebuyers who, despite mortgage rates starting to fall, continue to rent.

He claims that they have had an increase of 14% in new lettings instructions, but there are still many prospective tenants vying for one property.

Snippets

E-Bikes in Rental Properties – Key considerations for landlords
Eco-upgrade schemes worth £20m for landlords now live across England
EPCs to be replaced by a new Home Energy Model this year
Council slaps £250 surcharge on ‘late’ landlord licence applications
Solicitor convicted of harassing tenants given suspended jail term
Report paints a grim picture of homeless excluded from private rented sector

See also our Quick News Updates on Landlord Law

Newsround will be back again next week.

The post Landlord Law Newsround #354 appeared first on The Landlord Law Blog.