From today, 1 October 2018, the changes to the Section 21 Notice come into force for letting agents and landlords in England. All landlords and agents should now stop using their existing Notices.

This will require all Assured Shorthold Tenancies (ASTs), regardless of their start date, to comply with guidelines as to when and how a landlord can serve a Section 21 Notice, which enables them to terminate a tenancy agreement.

When issuing a Section 21 Notice, landlords and agents are required to use Form 6A. The form, prescribed by Government, combines the two previous types of Notices into a single Notice for both periodic and fixed-term tenancies.

In addition, under the Deregulation Act 2015, landlords and agents wishing to issue their tenants with a Section 21 Notice should:

• Ensure they have shared the How to rent: the checklist for renting in England guide with tenants;
• Make sure the property has an up to date Gas Safety Certificate and the tenants have seen it;
• Publish the property’s Energy Performance Certificate (except when the property isn’t required to have one);
• Inform tenants which scheme their deposit is protected in;
• Where the property is licensed, provide a copy of the licence to all the tenants.