Anthony Gold

Get in touch

020 7940 4060

  • People
  • Insights
  • What to Expect
  • Contact Us
Anthony Gold
  • Services
    • Housing And Property Disputes
      • Property Disputes
      • Leasehold Services
      • Services For Commercial Landlords, Tenants And Agents
      • Services For Residential Landlords And Agents
      • Housing And Tenancy Issues
      • Judicial Review
    • Injury And Medical Claims
      • Life Changing Injuries
      • Medical Claims
      • Personal Injury
      • Child Abuse
    • Family And Relationships
      • Starting Relationships
      • Ending Relationships
      • After Relationships End
      • Useful Contacts
      • Religious & Cultural Issues
      • Family Law FAQs
      • Family Dispute Resolution
      • Modern Families And Surrogacy Arrangements
    • Conveyancing, Property & Business Services
      • Business Agreements
      • Business Disagreements
      • Commercial Property
      • Commercial Property Disputes
      • Leasehold Services
      • Residential Property
    • Wills, Estates & Court Of Protection
      • Wills, Trusts And Estates
      • Claims Against Trusts And Estates
      • Capacity And Court Of Protection
    • Dispute Resolution & Employment Law
      • Personal Claims
      • Professional Negligence
      • Business Disagreements
      • Claims Against Trusts And Estates
      • Employment
    • People
    • Insights
    • What to Expect
    • Contact Us
  • Get in touch

    020 7940 4060

  • Housing and Property Disputes
  • Injury and Medical Claims
  • Family and Relationships
  • Conveyancing, Property & Business Services
  • Wills, Estates & Court of Protection
  • Dispute Resolution & Employment Law
  • Property disputes
  • Ownership disputes and shares in property
  • Challenging the decisions of councils and public bodies
  • Rights of way, boundaries, covenants and easements
  • Party wall disputes
  • Leasehold services
  • Lease extension
  • Collective enfranchisement
  • Service charge disputes
  • Repairs to leaseholds
  • Right to manage
  • Services for commercial landlords, tenants and agents
  • Breach of covenant
  • Forfeiture and recovery of possession
  • Dilapidations and failing to repair
  • Lease renewals
  • Services for residential landlords and agents
  • Regulatory issues
  • Repossession
  • Agents (including letting agreements)
  • Housing and tenancy issues
  • Repairs
  • Repossession and eviction
  • Rehousing and homelessness
  • Judicial review
  • Life changing injuries
  • Brain injury
  • Spinal cord injury
  • Amputation
  • Psychiatric injury
  • Fatal injuries and inquests
  • Medical claims
  • Surgical claims
  • Non-Surgical Claims
  • Birth injury
  • Child health and paediatrics
  • GP and primary care treatment
  • Private healthcare
  • Personal injury
  • Road traffic accidents
  • Accidents abroad
  • Accidents at work
  • Faulty products
  • Public liability and other accidents
  • Child abuse
  • Child abuse
  • Starting relationships
  • Pre nuptial agreements
  • Pre civil partnership and same sex relationship agreements
  • Cohabitation and living together agreements
  • Property ownership agreements
  • Ending relationships
  • Divorce and separation
  • Ending a civil partnership
  • Ending cohabitation
  • Agreeing child arrangements
  • Agreeing finance and assets
  • International arrangements
  • After relationships end
  • Abduction and leave to remove children
  • Changing and challenging parenting agreements
  • Changing and challenging financial agreements
  • Grandparents’ rights
  • Useful Contacts
  • Financial planners
  • Referral to Pension Actuaries and Pension on Divorce Experts (PODEs)
  • Tax Specialists
  • Financial Neutrals
  • Counselling
  • Conveyancing
  • Wills
  • Religious & cultural issues
  • Jewish family law
  • Islamic family law
  • Family Law FAQs
  • Children FAQs
  • Cohabitation Agreement FAQs
  • No-Fault Divorce and Separation FAQs
  • Financial Issues FAQs
  • Pre-Marital Contracts FAQs
  • Family Dispute Resolution
  • Roundtable Meetings
  • One Solicitor Solution
  • Mediation
  • Collaborative Practice
  • Arbitration
  • Second Opinions
  • Private FDR’s
  • Early Neutral Evaluation (‘ENE’)
  • Modern Families and Surrogacy Arrangements
  • Domestic Surrogacy
  • International Surrogacy
  • Business agreements
  • Business advice
  • Employment
  • Mergers and acquisitions
  • Supplier contracts
  • Business disagreements
  • Commercial property
  • Commercial Sale and Purchases
  • Commercial loans and mortgages
  • Property Investment: plot developers & plot buyers
  • Auction: sales and purchases
  • Commercial advice for landlords and tenants
  • Planning advice
  • Mortgage debentures and securities
  • Commercial property disputes
  • Breach of covenant
  • Dilapidations and failing to repair
  • Forfeiture and recovery of possession
  • Lease renewals
  • Leasehold services
  • Lease extension
  • Collective enfranchisement
  • Service charge disputes
  • Repairs to leaseholds
  • Right to manage
  • Residential property
  • Residential Sale and Purchases
  • Property Investment: plot developers & plot buyers
  • Remortgages
  • Auction: sales and purchases
  • Ownership matters and transfers
  • Wills, trusts and estates
  • Making a will
  • Applying for probate
  • Distributing the estate
  • Arranging lasting power of attorney
  • Trust advice
  • Tax planning and advice
  • Claims against trusts and estates
  • Contesting a will
  • Losses caused by trustees
  • Capacity and court of protection
  • Appointing a deputy
  • Removing a deputy
  • Arranging lasting power of attorney
  • Gifts and legacies
  • Managing assets under a deputyship
  • Care issues
  • Removing lasting and enduring power of attorney
  • Special educational needs
  • Capacity and court of protection
  • Personal claims
  • Debt recovery
  • Ownership disputes and shares in property
  • Civil and commercial mediation
  • Building disputes
  • Professional negligence
  • Professional Negligence
  • Property Fraud
  • Investment Fraud
  • Business disagreements
  • Building disputes
  • Civil and commercial mediation
  • Claims against directors
  • Contract disputes
  • Debt recovery
  • Directors personal liabilities
  • Employment
  • Professional negligence
  • Claims against trusts and estates
  • Contesting a will
  • Losses caused by trustees
  • Employment
  • Employment
  • Unfair or Wrongful Dismissal
  • Settlement Agreements
Anthony Gold > Blog > I have received a s21 notice and my landlord wants to evict me. Can I do anything about it?

Eleanor Solomon

eleanor.solomon@anthonygold.co.uk

Share
  • November 1, 2016
  • Blog
  • By  Eleanor Solomon 
  • 0 comments

I have received a s21 notice and my landlord wants to evict me. Can I do anything about it?


If you have received a section 21 notice it means that the landlord has taken the first step towards evicting you. They then have to start court proceedings, win their case and obtain a possession order and then instruct court bailiffs to evict you.

You do not have to have done anything wrong to be evicted using s21 procedure. There is no requirement to be in rent arrears or to have breached the tenancy agreement in any other way. As long as your landlord has done everything correctly the court will grant them a possession order. However, new legislation has made the process increasing complicated and there is a good chance that your landlord has not done everything correctly. This is a very brief overview of some of the defences you might have to an s21 possession claim. This is a starting point but it is a very complex area and you should seek advice if you think you have a defence.

It is very important to note that if your landlord uses the accelerated possession procedure and you do not send a defence to court in response to your landlord’s claim then you may not be given a court hearing and a possession order may be made against you in your absence. It is, therefore, crucial to respond in time to court papers, ideally with the benefit of legal representation. If you are told that there is a court hearing it is important to attend.

If you do not leave the property before your landlord sends their claim to court, but do not defend then you will be ordered to pay your landlord’s fixed legal costs of a few hundred pounds. If you defend the claim and lose you could be ordered to pay your landlord’s full legal costs of many thousands of pounds.

The notice and time limits

You are likely to have a defence if:

  • There is not a two month period between the date you receive the notice and the date it says you have to leave by
  • The s21 notice says you have to leave within the fixed term of the tenancy. For example, if you sign a tenancy agreement for a year with no break clause, your landlord can send you an s21 notice after 8 months which expires the day after the tenancy ends. If they send you an s21 notice after 6 months which expires after 8 months, before the term of the tenancy is up, then this notice will not be valid.
  • If your tenancy started on or after 1st October 2015 then the s21 notice must be in this form. If it looks different to this but has all the same information in then the court may let your landlord off, but you should certainly bring it to the court’s attention
  • If your tenancy started on or after 1st October 2015 then your landlord must start court proceedings within 6 months of sending you the notice. If they don’t then they will have to start again and send you a new notice.

If your tenancy started on or after 1st October 2015 then your landlord can’t rely on a 21 notice given to you in the first four months of the tenancy.

Deposits

If your landlord took a deposit from you and did not protect it in an authorised deposit protection scheme or return it to you in full before sending you the s21 notice then you are very likely to have a defence. Likewise, if you have not received specific information from your landlord about where your deposit is held before getting the s21 notice (called ‘prescribed information’) and your deposit has not been returned then you will have a defence. If someone paid the deposit on your behalf to the landlord or agent then the prescribed information also needs to have been sent to them.

HMO

If your property is an HMO which is not licensed you may have a defence. See this video for an explanation of whether your property is an HMO.

Special provisions for tenancies which began after 1st October 2015

If your tenancy began after 1st October 2015 you are likely to have a defence if:

  • Your landlord or agent didn’t give you an energy performance certificate and gas safety certificate before they gave you the s21 notice.
  • Your landlord didn’t give you a ‘How to Rent Guide’, or the correct version of that guide, before giving you the s21 notice.
  •  Your landlord gave you an s21 notice within 6 months of the council giving them an improvement notice or emergency remedial action notice about the poor condition of the property.
  • You complain about conditions in your property to your landlord in writing and don’t receive an adequate response within 14 days, then the council serve an improvement notice or emergency remedial action notice (even if the council do this after you receive the s21 notice, as long as it is before the possession order is made by the court).

Even if you have one of the above defences, it will only buy you time until your landlord gets it right, you will have to leave eventually. It can be crucial to buy some time, as it can be very hard to find a new affordable home in the private sector, especially if you receive welfare benefits.

* Disclaimer: The information on the Anthony Gold website is for general information only and reflects the position at the date of publication. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be treated as such. It is provided without any representations or warranties, express or implied.*
  • Tags:
  • Housing

Eleanor Solomon

eleanor.solomon@anthonygold.co.uk

Get in touch

Call, email or use a contact form – whichever suits you. We’ll let you know the best person to help you get started.

Call or Email

020 7940 4060

mail@anthonygold.co.uk

About the author

  • Eleanor Solomon

Meet the team

  • Housing and Property Disputes

Contact Us

Request a Call Back

About Us

  • Accessibility
  • Compliance
  • Responsible Business
  • Equality & Diversity
  • History
  • Our Beliefs
  • List of LLP members

Careers

  • Trainee Solicitors
  • Vacancies

Social Media

  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • View our YouTube channel

Online Payments

  • Payment page through Worldpay

Accredited by

Lexel Parctice
76000Award

Copyright © Anthony Gold Solicitors LLP. All rights reserved. Anthony Gold Solicitors LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with registered number OC433560 and is authorised and regulated by the by the Solicitors Regulation Authority with registration Number 810601