Surely I’m not expected legally to have this tenant in my property forevermore??

OP, I would join the NRLA which isn’t costly and take advice from them. They have a really good telephone advice line. Or find a reputable eviction specialist. If you’re using a solicitor make sure they have housing knowledge, some solicitors are ill informed in this area of the law.

It’s not clear from your OP exactly what was and wasn’t in place when the tenancy commenced. It is possible to issue retrospective paperwork for some things and then reissue the S21 - you don’t need to start a new tenancy agreement as some PPs have suggested. But I think you may be on a sticky wicket if the gas safety record is incomplete, judges are never impressed by that.

Currently, there are no grounds to use S8 for selling although this will form part of the new regulations under the RRB which should take effect from next spring. Even then, you might still come a cropper if you haven’t issued the correct paperwork.

Courts are doing everything they can to keep tenants in their homes right now.

@DurinsBanethis is a common misconception. Only a tenant or a court can end a tenancy. The tenancy is not ‘up’ at the end of the fixed term, it just means it’s no longer in a fixed term but the landlord cannot simply ask or expect the tenant to leave. The formal eviction process still applies.

Could you mortgage the property instead of selling? With the rental income covering the mortgage payments, you could release most of the equity. We did everything by the book, it still took 18 months and cost nearly £5000 in legal/court/bailiff fees, and the tenant had stopped paying rent.

Tenancies don't just expire by themselves. The landlord has to serve notice if they want the tenant to leave. In this case she legally can't because she fucked up, but she can rectify it and then serve notice. Either way, notice has to be served.

You're a slum landlord and want to break the law. You deserve every bit of stress you get TBH! Did you protect the deposit??

Because still need s21

So no epc. No gas cert. No electrical cert. Hopefully not a risk of legionella.

She can’t serve a section 21 because she didn’t follow the basic rules that makes a section 21 valid.

I hope the checks are now done and everything else that should have been done is. I would offer to pay her off. It’s probably going to have to be a substantial payment to get her out quickly

Catch up with all the documents and checks you should have done at the start and after you have everything in place you should be able to issue your S21 legally. Im a bit concerned your solicitor did not say that though so I am wondering what else is going on.

No gas safety and electrical checks since 2017???

Offer her money to go

And do the safety checks. It's appalling that you rented out a property without them. You should be ashamed

I hope you’re seeing a specialist for a second opinion. Since you’ve failed to do things properly it’s going to be really hard to rectify at this stage. I suspect your best option will be to buy the tenant off.

I’m sure you don’t want to cough up £5k (or whatever I’d have a chat and ask you never know might be saving for a deposit) but court costs are going to be painfully high and given you’ve been failing in your duties to the tenant judge may award them proportion of rent for the period property wasn’t covered by gas safety checks etc.

If rentals are scarce where you are she’d be advised by shelter to stay put till s21 is issued and then evicted by court.

Why don't you help her find somewhere to go?

Surely you just wait until the tenancy is up? As in 6 months, year long tenancy, however long the last one was signed for? Section 21, which is being banned from next year, is to give notice during a tenancy. Once it is up you can give them notice no issues

You haven't done a gas safety check since 2017? You're lucky you didn't kill your tenant!

I hope you have got the appropriate electrical and gas safety checks done now have you? And have you got their deposit in a proper deposit protection scheme and given the tenant details of where it is?

You cannot serve a valid Section 21 notice if you haven't given these things to the tenant, along with a How to Rent guide and their Assured Shorthold agreement etc. However although you should have dome these things sooner, once you have done them all and can prove it you are able to proceed. once all these documents have been received by the tenant (it may be wise to send them by registered post so that you have proof of delivery) then it will be possible to serve a valid Section 21 notice.

A Section 21 notice does not force her to move out. If served in a valid way, then after the expiry of that notice you can apply to the courts for a possession order. If that is granted then you are allowed to appoint bailiffs to carry out an eviction. Assume the whole process will take an absolute minimum of 6 months - could be 18 months depending on what the wait time for a court date is like.

It is completely correct for your tenant to stay put and keep paying the rent while you do all this. The local authority will not lift a finger to help her relocate to another affordable housing option until you secure the court order and get to the point of appointing bailiffs. If she leaves before that point she will be classified as having made herself voluntarily homeless and she will not be entitled to any help.

Your landlord responsibilities are numerous and ever increasing, if you can't tick all the boxes, your tenant is sitting pretty for the foreseeable. Your tenant may also pursue financial redress for your oversight.
Landlord Action is an excellent service, I can recommend, but the process takes time and money.
This is why the PRS is a sinking ship, which only benefits the corporate landlords.
Good luck

Get an eviction specialist

‘Oversight’? There’s no excuse. You had a legal and moral responsibility. What if something had happened due to your neglect of their safety. Would you be equally as worried?

Was the deposit protected OP? She can claim for that too if not

Offering to pay her off is your best bet in these circumstances. Why on earth would she go just because you’ve repeatedly asked? You majorly messed up here.

If that doesn’t work, issue a new tenancy agreement, be as nice as you can whilst familiarising yourself with the RRB and section 8.

Tenant can take action against the landlord for acting illegally and end up costing the OP more money so upping the rent would be daft.

Landlords like you are why tenants have rights.