Duties of landlords

For more information, please contact:

Anna Bennett Partner 020 7880 4348 Email Anna

Part 1 of Chapter 1 at section 9 of the proposed Bill inserts a new section 16D into the Housing Act 1988. This part of the Bill does not apply to social housing tenancies.

This imposes a duty upon landlords to give a statement of terms and other information ahead of the commencement of a tenancy. Before the commencement of any tenancy the private landlord must give the tenant a written statement of:

  • terms of tenancy as specified in regulations made by the Secretary of State, either in form or agreement in writing between the landlord and tenant or record of terms agreed;
  • whether the landlord wishes to use any of the prior notice grounds;
  • if the landlords intend to rely on grounds 1B, 2ZA, 2ZB, 4, 5 – 5G or 18 in Schedule 2;
  • any other information required by regulations to be put together by the Secretary of State.

Section 10 of Chapter 1 of the proposed Bill inserts a new section 16E into the Housing Act 1988 which prohibits a landlord from;

  • purporting to let any property for a fixed term;
  • purporting to end the tenancy by service of notice to quit;
  • serving a notice of quit purporting to be a section 8(3) notice but not in the correct prescribed form;
  • serving a section 8(3) notice but not on any ground the landlord is not entitled to rely upon;
  • serving a notice specifying grounds where it had not served a statement of terms ahead of the commencement of the tenancy in relation to that ground, which specifies grounds 1B, 2ZA, 2ZB, 4, 5 – 5G or 18 in Schedule 2;
  • serving a section 8(3) notice which specifies one or more of the grounds 1, 1A and 6 in Schedule 2 and which specifies a date earlier than 6 months the earliest date at which the possession proceedings would start, or
  • if a landlord obtains possession of a dwelling house (i.e. the tenant moves out) following service of a notice which specifies grounds 1 or 1A of Schedule 2, they must not authorise a letting agent to market the dwelling house to let any sooner than the end of three months after the date specified in the section 8(3) notice.

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