Would like to ask tenant to leave but now we have a change in regulations?

[cheeseandbranston]

I have a small renter. I have only put the rent up by £50 in the past 4 years because I had (wrongly) assumed the tenant was a good one, because she rarely asks for anything, is polite and pays on time.

however, I asked to walk through the property a month ago, and it was shocking. She had painted everything herself and down a very bad job, the garden was full of junk as was the garage, she has a pet that we never discussed and the carpets are all ripped up by the pet.

i didn’t say much at the time because my visit obviously made her super anxious - she covered all the floors with sheets and claimed she had just carpeted them when it was obvious that it was because she didn’t want me to see them. And she tried to stop me going outside claiming the rain had made the garden and garage dangerous.

I could see she was close to tears as I left.

i felt sorry for and after texted saying that I hoped the walk through didn’t make her too anxious and I wouldn’t need to do it again for another year - I didn’t want her to be frightened.

BUT, it has made me realise, I don’t want to rent my house any more. I took a couple of months to think about it, and the damage will be costly to put right, and I don’t want my own property at risk like this.

I had planned to tell her in January because I don’t want to make Christmas difficult for them. (Her boyfriend and teenager live there too)

but yesterday I saw renting rights are changing and you can no longer simply give a tenant notice?

does anyone have any advice please? Not just opinion, but actual knowledge of what I need to do?

thank you.

Why did you say it was okay?

I would raise the issues you have and ask her to sort them out first. I.e clear the garden etc.

The carpets I would not worry about at this time. It’s going to be costly to get them to leave. Tell them what they need to put right in a letter and give them 2 months to sort it.

one error - she claimed she had just shampooed the carpets - not carpeted them.
And one clarification - I didn’t say to her that I didn’t want her to be frightened. I said I wouldn’t need to do a walk through again for another year. The fact o didn’t want her to be frightened was the reason I said it.

What are you planning on doing with the house once empty?

I don’t say it was okay, I just didn’t say it wasn’t. She was close to tears and clearly anxious, and if this was a work situation I’d be fine to be firm, but some how, someone’s home is so personal.

but ultimately it is my property that has had thousands of pounds worth of damage.

I think I am not cut out to be a landlord - having authority over where another woman lives and telling her how to behave is really uncomfortable for me.

i don’t feel doing what you suggest would help, the paint work and chaos made it pretty clear that whatever she does will be poor and potentially make things worse.
I am going to need builders and a skip.

what I asked is about the new law, and how I can best get her to leave.

thanks.

I think sell it. But maybe let a friend stay there. I haven’t got that far in my head. Why?

Are you wanting to evict her or are you simply saying you dont want to renew the tenancy. You can end a tenancy once you're outside of the fixed period by giving notice. Of course she may not comply and then you'll have to evict, which is the part that is difficult.

I'd just inform the tenant that you intend to sell the property (doesn't need to be true incidentally) and serve the section 21 notice.

Here's the relevant guidance from the government:

The landlord must give the tenant a section 21 notice if they want the property back after a fixed term ends. A landlord can serve a section 8 notice if the tenant has broken the terms of the tenancy agreement within the fixed term

The landlord must apply to the court for a possession order if the tenant does not leave by the date specified on the notice. The landlord can apply for an ‘accelerated possession order’ if they are not claiming any unpaid rent.

If the tenant still does not leave, the landlord must apply for a warrant for possession. This means bailiffs can legally remove the tenant from the property.

Amazing. And this still stands with the new law?

I would just like to give her 3 months notice so she has time to find somewhere else, so telling her I am selling would be fine.

thank you v much.

I worry that asking her to leave might trigger a difficult ending where she doesn’t pay rent or refuses to leave, but I really hope not. If I can avoid criticising the way she lives I’d prefer to. I just don’t want drama in my already v busy and demanding life.

This is the official government page, updated with the new legislation. I presume you don’t have a managing agent?
https://www.gov.uk/evicting-tenants/section-21-and-section-8-notices

im sure the new act has only been passed and not come into effect yet. So I believe that yes you can give them notice now.

That’s right, no managing agent

The new legislation has not come into effect now. You can give them more than 2 months if you wish and give them a section 21 anyway. There’s always a risk that people will stop paying and the whole renting thing is stressful, I agree.

If I wait until after Christmas do you think that will be too late? @onlytakesaminute

The abolition of section 21 hasn't happened yet, @cheeseandbranston- the Act that will do that has been passed but it doesn't come into effect until ministers "commence" it- that's due to happen next year.

So for now you can still end the tenancy on the same, no-fault basis. To be clear, even when the law changes, it doesn't mean you can't evict- just that it needs to be for one of a set of lawful reasons.

To be honest, though, I really think you need to get some proper advice and not source it from Mumsnet. The changes to Section 21 have been heavily trailed for years, so it's a bit concerning you'd not looked into them before. And you don't mention your contract with her and what it does or doesn't allow her to do about e.g. decorating the property. This is pretty crucial to establishing both exactly what she has done wrong and whether you carry on being a landlord in future (since you could always tighten up the terms with the next tenant).

I don't want to sound harsh, but anyone making money off renting out a home to another person needs to be more across the law, their rights and the tenant's rights than it sounds like you are- the fact you're not charging much doesn't change that.

I think you should invest in a session with a lawyer OP - or at least get on to Property Tribes. For notice to be valid there are some conditions (for example, you having protected the deposit correctly, the gas safety cert being current), and if these aren’t in place and the tenant wants to be difficult or draw things out, they can. I hope you also took some sort of an inventory when she moved in, because some things you describe which are above wear and tear you could, if evidenced, claim her deposit against.

As far as I know the new legislation means that there needs to be a reason to ask the tenant to leave – common reasons would be things like wanting to sell the property or wanting to move in yourself. Obviously there is a huge gaping hole in that you can then miraculously change your mind and decide not to sell or whatever.

You can still give her notice via section 21:

https://blog.openrent.co.uk/how-to-serve-notice-to-tenants/#:~:text=Posted%20on%208%20October%202025,or%20after%201st%20October%202015.

Good luck. I’m currently housesharing with someone served a section 21 last November! He’s finally being evicted by the bailiffs next week. It’s been stressful for the landlord but hopefully you won’t be in this situation.

Hi OP I'm a LL and you can still evict with a section 21 notice today if you get the template from government website and use that giving 2 clear calander months notice. You don't have to give a reason for eviction. You must do it immediately though as from 2026 you can no longer use a section 21. You may still have to go through the court if this tenant does not move out voluntarily at the end of 2 months. Most evicted tenants do not move out voluntarily and it's expensive to go through the court at which point the tenant may stop paying rent as by this point they think they have nothing to lose as losing their home anyway. The court process can take 6-8 months. If a tenant has been there 4-5 years you can expect to right off carpets under wear and tear and it's a bonus if they are still ok. You'd expect to repaint after 5 years too. Once a property is empty you will be responsible for paying full council tax, utilities standing charges and any mortgage so think carefully before you evict. If you don't evict immediately under section 21 in 2026 you would only be able to evict under a section 8. This would be if you wanted to sell your property or the tenant owed over 3 months rent. I don't think damaged carpets and poor paintwork would be enough to evict under section 8 as they had been living there 4-5 years and carpets under ARLA are only expected to last 6 years or so due to wear and tear. My gut feeling is you have not kept up to date with legislation and you need to do so to be a LL. How could you not have kept up to date with RRB which has now already received Royal accent? I hope you have a valid gas certificate (annually) and electric certificate (every 5 years) and you gave a copy of How to Rent from government website when they moved in or your tenant can report you and you'd be at risk of a fine. You can't evict without valid gas and electric certificates and you must have issued How to Rent document too which you would need to give court a copies of these documents.

I do the gas cert, hold the deposit in a gov scheme, have a short hold contract I think, with an email saying I was happy to keep it rolling and review at a later date.

im not a a very commercial landlord but not entirely irresponsible either - it was more I didn’t want it standing empty while I was paying a mortgage on it, and needed to figure out what to do.

Very helpful. Many thanks

Why on earth didn't you let your house via a property agent? I'm glad you've protected the deposit and have the safety certificates, but overall you sound fairly clueless for a LL.

One more question. Can I send notice on Monday, but tell them they have until after Xmas? Thanks

she might sound clueless as she’s not a professional landlord?
Mumsnet absolutely hates landlords OP, so ignore a lot of the comments.
What you intend to do with your own property is no one else’s god damn business.

No atm a sect 21 is valid for 2 months, you can of course tell her when ever you like but then serve the sect 21 2 months before you want her to leave.

Just one thing, if you just turned up, you ve broken tenancy law, you have to give 24hours notice.
To evict, you have to have, as well as gas & electric certs, a current EPC, which has to be an E or above.

Carpets damaged by pets can be a grey area, carpets shd be replaced every 10 years or so, by the LL, regardless of damage by a pet.

Even after the new renters rights bill, which is imho fairly pointless, due to a complete lack of enforcement by councils, eviction is still very possible... sell up, move in, major renovations, move in a family member, leave vacant for 6 months...
There may also be changes in how EPCs are done, but they wont come into force, if ever, until after the next GE for private LLs & applying the Decent home standards too, so kitchens under 20 years old, bathrooms under 30....

Of course ALL costs will be passed on to tenants.... rents can go up once a year, up to market rate... who sets the market rate?? mmmmm

The op knew the regs for renting, it's just hard knowing how to bring it all to an end.