Landlords and Tenants will have been aware of the effect of the Coronavirus Act 2020 and the emergency rules resulting in the Court system suspending all Possession Claims and all enforcement of any Possession Orders already made.
On 21 August 2020 the suspension was extended to 20 September 2020. With that came some additional provisions as the Government attempted to introduce a more nuanced approach. If a Landlord had served the required Notice on their tenant before 28 August 2020 then only 3 months’ Notice was required before a Possession Claim could be issued. If a Landlord serves a Notice after 28 August 2020 then they must give 6 months’ Notice unless the reason for the Notice falls into what is being termed “the worst cases”.
Required notice periods:
- Anti-social behaviour cases – 4 weeks’
- Domestic abuse cases – 2-4 weeks’
- False Statement cases – 2-4 weeks’
- Over 6 months accumulated rent arrears cases – 4 weeks’
- Breach of immigration rules (Right to Rent) cases – 3 months’
Unless a Landlord can satisfy a Court that they were entitled to rely on one of the above – it is 6 months’ Notice and that will continue to be the case until March 2021.
If a Landlord had lodged their Claim with the Court before 3 August 2020; before that claim will be moved forward by the Court, the Landlord has to write to the Tenant and the Court to confirm that they still intend to proceed (called Reactivation Notices) and there are obligations to notify the Court of any information the Landlord has about the impact of COVID on their tenant.
These measures are to be kept under review. View the full article on our webiste.
Our Dispute Resolution Team will continue to provide updates on our website and can be contacted for more information on [email protected] or 01276 686222.
