UK Landlord Forum / Life

My Agent advised that I need to issue the Section21 regardless I informed the Tenant that I will not renew our 1 year fixed term contract and plan to move back to the house. Am I really obliged to issue it? Isn't a notification enough that I want to move back and will not renew when the contract expires?

Quote from: rozsaeni on April 29, 2024, 01:07:08 PMMy Agent advised that I need to issue the Section21 regardless I informed the Tenant that I will not renew our 1 year fixed term contract and plan to move back to the house. Am I really obliged to issue it? Isn't a notification enough that I want to move back and will not renew when the contract expires?

You have other options if you are moving back into the property, but, unless your tenant agrees to move out of the property you will need to serve notice (and possibly go to court to recover possession of your property). When the fixed term ends unless the tenant moves out, one of two things will happen automatically. Either the tenancy agreement continues because there's wording in the agreement to make that happen, or a new periodic tenancy is created.

Residential tenancies in England (and Wales) don't just "end" on their own.

You have other options. Your tenancy agreement should contain wording to help you recover possession if you used to live in the property and are planning to move back into it - although a section 21 notice is also a possibility.

But the best option is to talk to the tenant and see if you can get their agreement to move out - you can be much more flexible to help them, and a formal notice with a tight deadline isn't the best way to communicate with a tenant.

Hopefully, when the property was let to the tenant they understood that the arrangement was likely to be short term.