Ask Nik: “Have I served notice correctly - and what happens next?”
Question from a landlord:
Hi, my tenant has lived in the property for 6 years, but due to personal circumstances, I need to regain possession. She receives Universal Credit and says the Council told her they can’t help find her a new property until I begin formal eviction proceedings begin. I gave her 6 months’ notice ending in September – have I done the right thing, and what should I do next? Mike.
Nik’s reply:
Hi Mike,
Thanks for getting in touch.
Before diving into your question, there’s one thing I really want to flag because it’s been tripping up a lot of landlords lately when they’ve gone to court for possession: not issuing a converted written statement to their tenants.
To explain, when the Renting Homes (Wales) Act came into force on 1st December 2022, landlords were given until 31st May 2023 to provide existing tenants with a ‘converted’ written statement, i.e. an amended tenancy agreement, essentially. This was needed to reflect the changes the Act made to tenancy terms – some mandatory terms had to be added, and others had to be tweaked. So, everyone needed a written statement to show what the terms of the contract looked like now.
Here’s the important bit: you can’t serve a ‘no-fault’ possession notice until six months after you’ve provided that written statement. If you served your notice more than six months after issuing the written statement, you should be fine. But if you either didn’t issue one, or served the notice within that six-month window, the court will almost certainly throw your case out, if it goes that far. On top of that, tenants can claim up to two months’ rent back for not being served with the written statement – possibly more if it looks like the written statement was deliberately withheld.
Of course, the tenant may leave without the need to go to court, but you might find the Council encouraging them to stay put until everything’s been done by the book – or they might insist on a possession order before they’ll step in and help with re-housing.
There are other things that can invalidate a possession notice too – like not being licensed (if required), not issuing an EPC or having the right safety certificates – but the lack of a converted written statement is the one catching a lot of people out.
Assuming all your paperwork is in place, and the tenancy was periodic (not in a fixed-term) when you served notice, the form you should’ve used is the RHW16 – giving the tenant six months’ notice.
In terms of how to serve the notice, the gold standard is hand-delivering it to each contract-holder and getting them to sign and date your copy to confirm receipt. If that’s not possible, post it through the letterbox and either take a photo of it going in or have a witness confirm you delivered it. Make sure each contract-holder gets their own copy. You can post it if need be, but be sure to get proof of postage from the Post Office. Avoid recorded or signed-for delivery because if they don’t answer the door, it doesn’t get delivered, which means it’s not deemed as served. Email’s only an option if your contract specifically says it is, and even then I’d recommend backing it up with one of the physical methods above.
If the tenant stays beyond the date you gave them, you can apply to court for possession – but not before that date, and not more than two months after it. You’ll need to use the court’s official form for this – the accelerated possession route is usually the best option, as it lets a judge review the paperwork and issue a possession order without the need for a hearing. When you complete it, you’ll be prompted to includes copies of the written statement, the EPC, the gas safety record, so on and so forth.
Assuming the notice was served properly and you’ve ticked all the legal boxes, the court must grant possession as it’s mandatory they do so.
I hope this clears things up, but do let me know if you have any follow-up queries.
Good luck,
Nikki
Director of Operations
CPS Homes
P.S. and a slight disclaimer: this isn’t legal advice – it’s just an honest, considered, best-of-my-knowledge answer.
The information contained within this article was correct at the date of publishing and is not guaranteed to remain correct in the present day.
