Ending different types of Tenancies

The vast majority of tenancies are Assured Short hold Tenancies. Should you have something different then you will be ineligible to use the Section 21 Notice and the accelerated possession procedure.

Different tenancies are governed by different rules. What may be legal behaviour in respect of one tenancy could constitute a criminal offence in another. Once a tenancy has been created it cannot be changed to another type of tenancy by or on renewal. The Tenants will always be protected by the relevant Housing Act(s).

The main types of residential tenancies are:-

The Assured Short hold Tenancy - introduced in 1988 but amended by the 1996 Housing Act.

A special kind of Assured Tenancy is the Assured Shorthold which has one additional special ground for possession - it is a guaranteed granting of a possession order after an initial agreed period (the shorthold period) of no less than 6 months. All new tenancies since 28 February 1997 are automatically Assured Shortholds, unless the agreement has specified an Assured Tenancy.

Definitions of AST

Rent between £250 to £100,000 per annum and issued after 27/02/97
An Assured Tenancy (AT) would have only become an AST where a valid Section 20 had been issued after 15 January 1989 and before 28 February 1997
Shorthold Tenancies are only enforceable by the Landlord if the correct notice was served from the start. A prescribed form Section 20 Notice was needed
A condition of the new Deposit legislation is that the Landlord must have protected such a Deposit and the Tenant be issued prescribed information.
Never try to force a tenant to leave - a court possession order must always be obtained if the Tenant won't leave and the Landlord wishes to end a tenancy
An AST can ONLY be ended by the service of a Section 8 Notice or following the Section 21 Notice.