'Notice of Grounds for Possession' in tenancy agreement - a red flag, or normal?

[OfficeBird]

DD has been given the draft tenancy agreement for a flat she is interested in. The town she is moving to is popular and there isn't much about. This flat was first listed a couple of months ago, and I do wonder why it hasn't been snapped up.

The agreement has a "Notice of Grounds for Possession" page which outlines that the property could be recovered on Ground 1 Schedule 2 of the Housing act 1988 (basically, the owner previously lived there and has the right to return) and that the property could be recovered on Ground 2 Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988 (i.e. it may have a mortgage on it and the landlord can repossess it to sell it).

I've tried to read around these clauses and it seems that this does pose a risk for DD, as she could be served an eviction notice during the initial fixed term period.

Is this correct? Should she avoid this flat?
Or is this just a standard clause in all agreements where the landlord has previously lived there?

Think they're pretty standard and nothing to worry about.

Standard. But the LL may think it's easier to evict than it actually is.

that is absolutely standard and if you want to avoid those terms, you'll be renting from a gumtree crook.

the landlord cannot evict the tenant to live in it during the fixed term. After that, they can - this reason is a 'mandatory ground for possession' with a section 8 notice, which means that the court must approve the possession order. So for this one, no the tenant cannot be evicted in the fixed term.

if the landlord defaults on the mortgage then what happens depends on the terms of the mortgage.

any kind of eviction now is going to take months even after expiry of the fixed term. Regardless of tenant behaviour or paying rent, BTW.

good question as to why the flat is still available; read the how to rent guide on gov.uk and check all the legals. Also check the neighbourhood and how lives in the other flats.

@mencken - DD raised the questions with the letting agent who said that the LL owned several properties and it was 'extremely unlikely' that they'd want to move back there. We managed to find the LL name and googled them, finding them on Companies House and LinkedIn. They work in a highly paid profession, and live in a nice 5-bed detached house so clearly this is an investment property!

However the agent said that they 'believed' that a Ground1/2 clues could be used to evict during the fixed term in theory, but this was 'highly unlikely' and in reality it would take about 6-7 months to get an unwillingly tenant to leave.

Couldn't find anything problematic, so DD is going to go for it. She only wants to rent for 13 months, so it's a risk she's willing to take.