Retaliative Evictions

From October 2015 The Deregulation Act 2015 s33 will bring in new legislation to protect tenants from retaliative evictions.

Tenants in private rented accommodation only, will be protected from eviction if they have made a legitimate complaint about the condition of the property to their landlord.

However the law, as always is not as cut and dried as this, the New Retaliative Eviction law will come with rules which must have been followed Before a Section 21 notice is served by the landlord

•              Tenant must make a formal written complaint to the landlord of the disrepair/condition

•              Landlord has 14 days to respond (an adequate response by the landlord is a response in writing which—provides a description of the action that the landlord proposes to take And sets out a reasonable timescale within which that action will be taken)

   The Section 21, if served now would be invalid.

•              Tenant must then report this unresolved issue to Local authority

•              ONLY once the local authority has confirmed that the repair needs to be carried out to prevent a potential risk to health and safety, will the new rules come into play.

•              The landlord will not be able to evict a tenant for 6 months

A landlord will also be prevented from evicting a tenant where they have not complied with certain legal obligations such as

•              Supplying Gas Safety Certificates

•              Supplying Energy Performance Certificates.

    This restriction would be lifted as soon as these documents are provided

If a Property is in the market for sale, then it is likely the new rules will not apply to Section 21s regardless of the condition of the property

.  These new regulation only apply to tenancies commenced or renewed on or after the day the provisions came into force.