I generally get contacted by landlords in a panic. “My tenant could have been within the property for 3 years subsequent month – ought to I evict her to forestall her having the proper to purchase me out?”
Or generally it’s the tenants, pondering that they’re entitled to assert possession or cost their landlords ginormous sums as a situation of shifting out.
It’s true that some tenants who’ve been in a property for a very long time HAVE been capable of get large cash if their landlord desires them out (Practically Authorized mentioned he as soon as bought over £200K for a consumer in a comment on this blog).
Nevertheless, the rationale for this isn’t just because they’ve been there a very long time. It’s as a result of after they moved in, the legislation was totally different – ALL tenants at the moment had these rights. It’s simply that there are fewer tenants now who’ve lived of their rented property since earlier than January 1989.
And the proper to large cash is just not absolute. You solely get it (in case you are a protected tenant) in case your landlord desperately desires you out and is ready to pay for it. If the owner is kind of completely happy to allow you to keep (so if you pop your clogs, he can promote the property at market worth and make a packet) there’s nothing you are able to do about it. Aside from reside longer than him and sprint all his hopes.
Your rights, whether or not you’re a landlord or a tenant, will rely upon which statutory regime applies.
Easy methods to decide which statutory regime applies
It relies upon partly on if you moved in and the legislation is now principally totally different in England and Wales.
Protected tenancies
Protected/statutory tenants underneath the Lease Act 1977 have the strongest rights. These are all tenants who’ve been in residence (or spouses of tenants who had been in residence) since 15 January 1989. Discover out how to spot a Protected Tenancy here.
Word that in Wales, protected tenants have retained their rights as protected tenancies didn’t convert to ‘occupation contracts’ underneath the Renting Houses (Wales) Act 2016. So the legislation which applies to protected tenants is identical in each England and Wales.
If you’re a tenant, and wish to discover out extra about your rights, see here.
Assured and guaranteed shorthold tenancies
In England, in case you moved in between 15 January 1989 and 27 February 1997, it is extremely seemingly that you’ve an assured tenancy. It will rely upon the paperwork that you got on the time you moved in (I clarify the rules and s20 notices here). Nevertheless, in case you do have an assured tenancy, you then too could have what is called ‘safety of tenure’ and it will likely be troublesome on your landlord to evict you most often.
However once more, this isn’t as a result of you might have been there for a very long time however as a result of the legislation was totally different on the time you moved in. Assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) didn’t grow to be the ‘default’ tenancy sort till 28 February 1997.
Nevertheless, you probably have a lavatory customary AST (or a typical legislation tenancy), then after the right type of discover has been served on you, your landlord is entitled to get the property again from you (and an order for possession in case you don’t go) as of proper. It doesn’t matter how lengthy you might have been there.
For an AST tenant, your safety of tenure isn’t greater than two months (give or take a couple of days) or the top of your mounted time period, whichever is the longer. Though in the intervening time it’s taking a while to get eviction claims by means of the courts, which is able to give tenants extra time.
Occupation contracts in Wales
In Wales, the legislation modified on 1 December 2022 when the Renting Houses (Wales) Act 2016 (the Act) got here into drive. This transformed most assured and guaranteed shorthold tenancies in addition to most residential licenses, into ‘occupation contracts’. That are topic to the principles within the Act.
The forms of tenancy or license which didn’t convert to occupation contracts are set out in Schedule 2 of the Act. They embrace:
- Lodgers (as long as they share dwelling lodging with their landlord)
- Protected tenancies (as mentioned above)
- Vacation lets
- Care establishments
So in Wales your rights, (in case you moved into the property after 15 January 1989 and so wouldn’t have a protected tenancy) will rely upon what sort of contract you might have. The size of time you might have been dwelling on the property is irrelevant.
The brand new legislation in Wales is extra beneficial to tenants (or contract holders as they’re now referred to as) and it’ll take longer, most often, for landlords to evict them by means of the courts.
If you’re a landlord, you could find out extra about your rights on my Landlord Law website.
This submit is a part of my city myths collection. You’ll be able to see the remainder of the collection here.
