As you will be aware, new rules were introduced on 1 October 2015 with the implementation of the Deregulation Act 2015. The new rules applied to all assured shorthold tenancies that commenced or were renewed on or after that date. From the 1 October 2018 most of these rules will apply to all section 21 notices, including those for tenancies started before 1 October 2015.
As part of the Deregulation Act rules Government issued a new prescribed ‘Form 6A Notice seeking possession of a property let on an Assured Shorthold Tenancy’ to be used on all assured shorthold tenancies created on or after 1 October 2015, excluding statutory periodic tenancies which come into being on or after 1 October 2015 at the end of the fixed term assured shorthold tenancy created prior to 1 October 2015. There is currently no obligation to use the Form 6A in relation to assured shorthold tenancies created prior to 1 October 2015, although the form says it may be used for such tenancies.
The Deregulation Act 2015, section 41, says that from 1 October 2018, a prescribed form must be served on a tenant to gain possession of an assured shorthold tenancy for all tenancies, both pre and post October 2015. This ignores the fact that the regulations prescribing the form says it is only for tenancies created after 1 October 2015! We have asked MHCLG to amend this to create certainty.
Although we are 10 weeks away from 1 October 2018, it is likely that any section 21 notice served from now onwards will be used in court proceedings that may be heard after 1 October 2018.
The wording of the Deregulation Act 2015 talks about using the prescribed notice for all tenancies from 1 October 2018. We would presume this to be the notice to use based on the date of service. However, to avoid any accelerated possession claims being referred to open court hearings the safe option will be to use the new section 21 Form 6A with immediate effect.
Training for Professionals, the sister company of PRSP, produce a Tenancy Agreement pack that incorporates the Form 6A notice along with all the common notices (section 8 and section 13 etc). This pack also includes numerous different versions of the tenancy agreement tailored to all the deposit scheme, prescribed information is also included within the agreement. You can tailor it to your business.
By purchasing the Tenancy Agreement pack you are purchasing an annual licence and you can download all files from the Training for Professionals website. You can then edit the agreement to tailor it to your business. The licence includes free updates throughout the year as required by legislative change. The annual cost is £99.00 plus vat with payment by direct debit or £135.00 plus vat with payment by invoice.
The Tenancy Agreement pack is also incorporated within the full Training for Professionals Support Pack, along with the Management Forms pack, the invaluable Helpline Service, the quarterly Letting Update Journal publications, Electrical Safety documents and the quarterly Property Matters newsletter designed for agents to send to their landlords as if it was written by them. The annual cost for this package is £365.00 plus vat, payment by direct debit or £450.00 plus vat with payment by invoice.
Further details can be found within Training for Professionals online shop. https://www.tfponline.co.uk/Public/Shop.aspx#tenancyagreement
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