Can Section 21 notice apply to a sitting tenant?

Do you mean “tenant in situ” or “sitting tenant” there is a big difference between the two. If it is the latter then the tenant has stronger rights. Please confirm which type you have.

Reply to the comment left by JaSam at 22/01/2025 – 07:57
It is tenant in situ.

Thank you

The compliance documents should have been given to the tenant before they moved in to the property.

As you bought the property with the tenant in situ the vendor should have given you all the pre-start documents and your solicitor should have insisted on these. If these documents are not available then you should have negotiated a hefty discount as you cannot readily remove the tenant.

The amount of times we see posts on here whereby someone has purchased with tenants in situ and their conveyancer has failed to collect/pass on the required documents.

As Graham has hinted try and obtain these documents as you will need them before serving a valid S21.

Suggest you follow this guide:
https://nearlylegal.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/s21updatedAugust-24.pdf

Options could be:
1) Obtain original documents and then serve valid S21

2) Re do ALL missing documents and serve to tenants then, serve valid issue S21 (I suggest you get professional help here)

3) Gamble: Serve an invalid S21 notice and hope the tenant doesn’t challenge it and just moves out

4) Wait until the RRB becomes law and use a S8G1A (Assuming you will be able to quickly)

5) Sell on with tenant in situ (you will take a massive hit unless you find another unvigilant landlord)

Obviously options 1 & 2 are your prime paths the other options are just bad choices.

Good luck!

Would have thought as your tenant has a fixed term AST which has rolled on to a periodic tenancy (did the TA state anything about rolling on? If it did then it’s a contractual periodic if it didn’t then it’s a statutory periodic) and you served all the correct documentation – (the gas safety certificate before the AST was signed???) then you shouldn’t have to worry about any pre current AST situation.

I would go speak to the tenant. Tell them what’s going on your end. Tell them you need to sell. Offer to sell to them. Find out what their intentions are. They might tell you they intend to move out soon anyway. They may tell you “See you in court”. Either way, you will know what you might have to deal with. Simply serving a Sec 21 with no prior communication with a tenant is why S21 has got such a bad name.

For the purposes of notice, the prescribed documents can be served at any time prior to service of the s21 notice, provided that there was a gas safety cert in place when the tenancy began if needed.
Check the validity of a s21 here: https://nearlylegal.co.uk/section-21-flowchart/

I am in a similar situation, but there is no gas connection in the property, after much research and advise, i found out that you can serve EPC & How to rent Guide before or even at the same time as serving S21 (EICR is optional). So do not have to be before they move in

Reply to the comment left by Basheer Ahamed at 02/02/2025 – 18:12
Not at the same time. It has to be at least the day before.