The changes to Notices in Wales

With a huge amount of changes coming into Wales on the 15^th of July, there’s a lot of confusing information going around, and it can be difficult to know what’s correct when it comes to serving your tenant with the correct notice, and for what period of time. To give you a brief overview, we have tried to outline the changes as simple as we can.

The new Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 has left a lot of landlords questioning if they should still remain a landlord in the private rental sector. The changes can be quite overwhelming for a lot of landlords, but the ultimate goal is to ensure that rental properties are both safe and fit for human habitation. We will go over this in more detail in another post.

The main confusion comes from the Welsh Government's Extension of Period of Protection for Eviction’ Regulations, which prior to 24^th March 2022, meant you would have to give tenants 6 months' notice. This was all put in place during the pandemic due to coronavirus.

The ‘Extension of Period of Protection for Eviction’ Regulations ended on the 24^th of March 2022, and reverted back to the original two months notice period from the 25^th of March 2022. Whilst most landlords have praised this change, the new Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 coming into force on the 15^th of July 2022, will scrap Section 21’s completely, having a completely new notice, which when served, for a non-fault eviction will be for a notice period of six months.

To confirm, the six months notice period is for non-fault evictions. We have confirmation that there will be shorter notice periods available if a tenant has breached a term of their tenancy (our current tenancies, will be called ‘occupation contracts’ on the 15^th July 2022, in line with the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016).

When serving notices, remember;

• Before 24^th March 2022 – 6 months notice with a Section 21

• 25^th March 2022 – 14^th July 2022 – 2 months notice with a Section 21

• After 15^th July 2022 – 6 months (for non-fault) with a Section 173 (for a periodic contract) or a Section 186 (for fixed-term contracts). These new notices can not be served within the first six months of the tenancy.

Need Help?

If you need any help with any of the above, please feel free to reach out to us. You can contact our lettings expert by emailing info@harryharper.co.uk, or giving us a call on 02920310555.

What to do next…

If you are looking to gain possession of your property, as quickly as possible, issue a Section 21 Notice now, before the changes come into effect on the 15^th of July 2022. This notice will be for two months enabling you to hopefully gain possession of your property a lot quicker than if it is issued after the 15^th of July 2022.

With the changes coming into effect, the Section 21 Notice, if it expires on or after the 15^th of July 2022, will be valid for up to two months from the possession date stated on the notice that was served. Possession proceedings would need to start during this two-month window.