POSSESSION

A landlord has the legal right to retain possession at the 
end of a tenancy but must follow the correct legal procedure, 
which includes serving a section 21 notice. The Housing Act 
1996 amended the section 21 of the 1988 Act by requiring 
this notice to be given in writing.


Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 is divided into subsections 
with different procedures to be followed depending on whether 
the Section 21 notice is served before the fixed term has come 
to an end or after, when the tenancy has become a periodic tenancy. 


Before the section 21 Notice can be issued the Landlord must 
ensure that the deposit has been administered. Changes brought 
in by the Localism Bill give the landlord 30 days to attend to the 
deposit and to issue the presribed information. Unless this is 
done a Section 21 Notice cannot be enforced.