The new Labour Government has published its Renters' Rights Bill. What does it mean, for landlords and for tenants, and how does it differ from the previous government's Renters (Reform) Bill?
In this series of articles, members of the 42BR Housing Team stop off at different landmarks, considering the implications of the new Bill – this time in a red coloured bus.
Krishma Patel discusses tenants' notices to quit.
In my previous post on this issue, I discussed the changes to tenant notices to quit, proposed by the Renters Reform Bill, which did not become law. The Renters' Rights Bill is currently at the Committee stage in the House of Commons.
First, the current law:
- A tenant cannot give notice to terminate a tenancy during the fixed term (unless there is a break clause)
- A tenant needs to give a minimum of 4 weeks' notice to end a periodic tenancy, and possibly longer depending on the terms of the tenancy agreement (if it is contractual/periodic), or the period for which rent was last payable (if it is statutory/periodic).
- A tenancy agreement may require a tenant to give a notice to quit in a particular way.
- Once a notice to quit has been served, it cannot be withdrawn: if the parties agree not to act on a notice to quit, this is deemed in law to constitute the creation of a new tenancy, with effect from the expiry of the notice.
Within the Renters' Rights Bill (just as in the Renters Reform Bill), clause 19 inserts a new section 5(IZA) into the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. The new section 5(1ZA) sets out that where a tenant gives a notice to quit in respect of an assured tenancy, tenants will have to give a standard period of 2 months' notice. If the tenant relies upon a period of notice less than 2 months, the landlord must have agreed to this in writing.
The new section 5(1ZA) also clarifies that a landlord under an assured tenancy cannot serve a notice to quit (per section 5(1) of the Housing Act 1988).
Clause 20 of the Renters Rights Bill inserts a new section 5A into the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. The new sections 5A(1) and (2) sets out that landlords will be unable to specify a particular form of written communication that a notice to quit must take; and the new section 5A(3) sets out that a tenant's notice to quit can be withdrawn before the proposed termination date, so long as the landlord and tenant agree in writing.
Comment
The Renters' Rights Bill includes all of the changes which had previously been proposed in the Renters (Reform) Bill (in respect of tenants' notices to quit). These amendments only affect notices to quit in relation to assured tenancies. The notice periods that landlords and tenants must give to terminate other types of tenancies or licences are unaffected.
The removal of the stipulation in respect of the method of communication that a notice to quit must take makes it easier for tenants to satisfy the requirement to provide notice to end their tenancy in writing. Reversal of the current common law position relating to inability to withdraw notices to quit is also a practical and sensible change.
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