Informal tenancy – can I safely wait before serving formal notice?

I am afraid there is no such thing as an “informal tenancy”. If they are living in the property as their home and paying rent, they will almost certainly have an assured periodic tenancy, even though there is no written agreement.

If they refuse to leave, you will need to use the proper possession procedure and obtain a possession order. Ground 1A may be available if you genuinely intend to sell, but there are restrictions and timing rules, so I would take advice before serving notice.

You should probably take advice on the whole situation. My Landlord Law service https://landlordlaw.co.uk/ has detailed guidance for landlords on managing tenancies and recovering possession.

I hope that you have complied with the gas and electric regulations, you will be forced to add these certificates to the new landlord register, the exact date depends on the properties location.

Your tenancy became an APT in May of this year and if you did not give them a written statement of the terms of their tenancy before the end of that month, you are in breach of the legislation and liable to a civil penalty of up to £7,000. You have almost certainly breached other legislative and regulatory requirements and could also be fined. What you have done may seem perfectly reasonable and even benevolent, but the law doesn’t support it. I would take care not to sour the relationship as if the tenants take advice these issues could crystallise and you might find it impossible to use ground 1a anyway. I would try to keep things as friendly as possible but keep enquiring how things are going and reiterating your position that you need to sell.

Reply to the comment left by DPT at 11:31
I agree with DPT. You almost certainly have breached Renters Rights Act rules about serving written terms, and possibly more, so should seek formal legal advice to know exactly where your stand,

Don’t mean to panic you, but make a solicitor’s appointment urgently (seek out a Renters Rights Act 2026 knowledgeable one-maybe a landlord themselves), and take a large writing pad for notes. You have some catching up to do-fast!

Did not need to have a written tenancy, verbal is enough to create one neither do you need to have taken a deposit. BUT you are in breach of the RRA if you did not serve your tenants The Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet 2026 before 31st May 2026 as you had a tenancy based entirely on a verbal agreement made before 1 May 2026. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-renters-rights-act-information-sheet-2026

And IMPORTANTLY https://www.gov.uk/assured-tenancy-agreements-a-guide-for-landlords/if-the-tenancy-started-before-1-may-2026

I think we are beginning to experience (although it will be mostly hidden), a proliferation of uninformed and vulnerable accidental landlords, who set up an informal rental arrangment as a favour to a friend.

They are either expecting to have to move back to their property in a year or so, or are waiting to see how a new relationship works out, or are hoping for the sales market to improve.

Perhaps they are vaguely aware that ‘proper’ tenancies are now hedged about with burdensome regulations which they hope to side-step.

To keep below the radar they ignore the law, neglect to ask their mortgage company’s permission and forget the insurance implications.

Unfortunately, when they discover that the friend’s need to have somewhere to live outweighs their goodwill, they also discover that their infomal arrangement isn’t worth the paper it wasn’t written on and the whole weight of the law they ignored comes down on them.

So, apart from Tessa Shepperson’s point that there is no such thing as an informal tenancy, what’s going on?

Surely, what these people are trying to do is to create a tenancy with a fixed term and ‘no fault eviction’ at the end of it. Oh wait! We used to have those!

A perverse effect of the Renters’ Rights Act will be to create a whole new generation of ‘out-law landlords’. The rogues!

Reply to the comment left by Steve Hards at 18:12
It wasn’t really much better under the AST regime. If the friend didnt leave, a s21 was often difficult or even impossible due to the lack of prescribed documentation. Even if it could be resolved the courts would take up to a year to evict the tenant.

Hi there,

The timing question you’re most worried about has a cleaner answer than you’d expect, and it runs the opposite way to waiting.

Ground 1A requires that the current tenancy began at least a year before the relevant date. The relevant date isn’t the day you serve. Under Part 5 of Schedule 2 it’s the date specified in the section 8 notice, with the service date only governing Grounds 2ZA, 2ZB and 5F. Your four months runs from service.

So if the tenancy began in February 2026, you can serve now and specify a possession date on or after the February 2027 anniversary. Waiting until December buys you nothing and costs you four months of runway. Proceedings must begin within twelve months of service under section 8(3)(c), so serving early doesn’t forfeit anything.

One point nobody’s raised. Ground 1A is unavailable against a legacy assured tenancy, which regulation 5(2) defines as one that wasn’t an assured shorthold immediately before 1 May 2026. Yours was, so the ground stays open to you.

On the written terms, a wholly verbal tenancy that predates commencement falls under section 16D(4) as modified by paragraph 7(5) of Schedule 6, not the information sheet route. That’s a penalty exposure, but it isn’t a condition of Ground 1A, so it doesn’t close the ground.

OJ