Here is a question to the blog clinic from Christine, who is a landlord
Can you tell me if I can just give notice on a periodic tenancy. My tenant is a treasure but I need his flat back so my daughter has somewhere to live when she finishes university. This is not until 2014 but I would like to be prepared and have the facts available.
The answer is yes and no! You can’t actually end the tenancy by notice but you CAN serve a section 21 notice which will entitle you to go to court and get a possession order if your tenant fails to move out voluntarily.
For a periodic tenancy, which I presume is monthly, you will need to give between two and three months notice, depending on when in the month you serve it (as it has to end at the end of a period of the tenancy).
If your tenant is nice you probably won’t have much problem but best to be prepared. I would suggest you serve the notice well in advance of the date you need the property, as if the tenant does not want to vacate, it will take you about three to four months to get an order through the courts.
Landlords will find all notices on my Landlord Law site plus I have a short course / guide on drafting them on my School for Landlords site.
Before you go serving notice, never forget to deal with the people and start by talking to the tenant. After all if you have a good relationship with him you may find that if you give him warning and explain the reasons, he will be quite happy to find another property and move without needing any notices or court action. At the end of the day notices and court action should be the last resort not the first.
All the best.
That is very true and going to court should ALWAYS be the last resort.
However sometimes tenants are unable to move out even if they want to oblige the landlord. For example if they want to be rehoused by the local authority. The notice period is so long – between two and three months – that it is best to serve it anyway, just in case.
You can serve it in a pleasant manner and say it is just a formality.