Khalil: Why new shorthold tenancy agreements are creating problems for landlords

There are many landlords at risk of issuing incorrect Section 21 notices when they try to recover their property. And the result is thousands of pounds wasted filing aborted possession claims, not to mention wasted time and severe delays in being able to rent out their property again.

The confusion can be traced back to changes applied to residential Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) agreements which began, or have been renewed, since 1st October 2015.

What is a Section 21?
Section 21 is known widely as the non-fault notice for terminating a tenancy. It is the legal eviction form that a landlord can give to a tenant to regain possession of a property at the end of a tenancy.

What exactly is the problem?
The problem is that the ‘old’ Section 21 notice is still valid for AST agreements made up to 30th September 2015. They only require landlords to prove that a written AST is in place, the tenants’ deposits are protected and prescribed information about the deposit has been given to them.
The ‘new’ Section 21 notices, however, place significantly more requirements on landlords. These must be used for AST agreements made from 1st October 2015 onwards. They will apply to ‘old’ ASTs from late 2018, but we are in the middle of a rather confusing crossover at present.
The new requirements make what used to be a straightforward task into something of an administrative burden.
They include all the previous documentation, plus providing the tenant with:
• an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
• a Gas Safety Certificate
• and the Government’s ‘How to Rent’ booklet

In addition, the ‘new’ notice has a shorter validity period compared to the older forms. This restricts its use to within four months of being first served.

The problem for landlords is twofold.

First, they are at risk of not understanding exactly when the new requirements need to be met. Failure to meet these could see their case being thrown out of court, as it renders the notice served invalid.

And second, tenants now have many more grounds to contest the validity of a Section 21 notice on.

Is there such a thing as rent without risk?
It seems that each month there is some tweak to the legislation governing renting out property. Landlords need to stay up to date with frequent changes and requirements.

But, there is an easier way to be a landlord and earn money from your property investments.

We call it Khalil’s Rent Guarantee Scheme.

Under this innovative scheme we guarantee your rent every single month, regardless of whether your property has tenants or not. And we take care of all of the complicated processes involving finding, checking and dealing with tenants. At the end of each tenancy we ensure the property can be rented again. And, at the end of your agreement with us, we return your property to you in the same condition we received it.

And that’s guaranteed.

All you have to do is watch the rent roll in each month. No problem!

Phone: 01273 573960
Mobile: 07984 015669
Email: ahmed@khalilproperties.co.uk
Address: 124 Lewes Road, Brighton, BN2 3LG
www.khalilproperties.co.uk