If you rent property to a tenant under an assured shorthold tenancy agreement and the tenant is in breach of a term of the tenancy agreement, you may be able to serve a notice pursuant to section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 (“s8 notice”) requiring possession of the property.
The s8 notice will need to specify the breach (es) alleged and also the grounds on which you are relying to give notice requiring possession of the property. The most commonly applied breach and basis for serving a s8 notice will be rent arrears. Sometimes, breach of repair obligations alongside other breaches of the tenancy agreement are used, but rent arrears can be the most reliable ground to depend upon.
It will be necessary to supply evidence of the breach being alleged at the time the notice is served. This evidence may – if the breach is not simply rent arrears – not be simple to collate and / or produce.
If serving a s8 notice following a breach (say, for example rent arrears) the notice will need to give the tenant(s) a minimum of 2 weeks from the date of service of the s8 notice to vacate. If relying on another ground to serve a s8 notice, the notice period could be up to 2 months.
For advice on s8 notices and the relevant grounds you may be able to rely upon, please contact our expert team who have experience preparing and serving all the various types of s8 notice.
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