Section 21 Notice

To legally terminate an Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement in England or Wales at the end of the fixed term, the landlord must serve a Section 21 Possession Notice on the tenant and must give the tenant a minimum of two months' notice.

If possession is sought by the landlord during the fixed term then it can only be obtained if a breach of contract has been proved and a Section 21 Possession Notice would not be appropriate. A Section 8 Possession Notice should be used instead.

Section 21 is divided into subsections with different rules applying to (a) notice served during the fixed term of a tenancy and (b) notice for possession that is served during a statutory periodic tenancy.

Notice served during fixed term (Housing Act 1988) Section 21(1)(b)

This notice applies to a fixed term Assured Shorthold Tenancy where Notice for Possession is served during the fixed term. Notice under this subsection can be served on a tenant at any time during the fixed term of the tenancy (but not before the fixed term begins) providing the tenant receives a minimum of two months' notice. This is the case even if the two months' notice ends after the Tenancy Agreement has expired. For example, if Notice Requiring Possession is served on the last day of the Tenancy Agreement, the tenant does not have to give up possession of the property until two months after the date that the notice was served or until the date written in the notice if it is further than two months away. It should be noted that where the tenant is in the initial six months of the tenancy, then the Section 21 Notice cannot expire before the end of that six months.

The notice should be sent by recorded delivery, allowing 3 days for delivery.

This document is available individually or as part of a Property Annual Subscription or Full Annual Subscription - giving you access to wide range of documents, packages and forms for a single annual fee. It is also included in the Tenancy Package for England and Wales.

You can view a sample document here.

This document is £20.68 (Word Document) or £31.02 (Word Template) including VAT.

How to order

Choose the format of your Section 21 Notice (served during fixed term):

Word Document (.doc) or Word Template (.dot) 

Notice served after expiry of fixed term (Housing Act 1988) Section 21(4)(a)

This notice applies to a statutory periodic tenancy which is a tenancy that automatically continues after the expiry of a fixed term Assured Shorthold Tenancy. A minimum of two months' notice is required and the day on which the notice expires must be the last day of a period of the tenancy. The period of a tenancy depends on how often the rent is paid. Thus, if the rent is paid monthly, then the period of the tenancy is one month. The periodic tenancy begins immediately after the fixed term expires. For example, if the period of the tenancy is monthly and if the first day of the current period is 6th May then the last day of that period would be the 5th June and so a notice served during the current period would need to be completed so as to expire on the last day of a period after a further two months (i.e. 5th August).

The notice should be sent by recorded delivery, allowing 3 days for delivery.

This document is available individually or as part of a Property Annual Subscription or Full Annual Subscription - giving you access to wide range of documents, packages and forms for a single annual fee. It is also included in the Tenancy Package for England and Wales.

You can view a sample document here.

This document is £20.68 (Word Document) or £31.02 (Word Template) including VAT.

How to order

Choose the format of your Section 21 Notice (served after fixed term):

Word Document (.doc) or Word Template (.dot)