Civil way: 16 November 2018

The secret is out. Assured shorthold tenancy agreements made in respect of dwellings in England before 1 October 2015 are now subject to the provisions of ss 33–38 and 40 of the Deregulation Act 2015 (DA 2015) which initially applied only to assured shortholds granted on or after 1 October 2015.

The old tenancies are caught as from 1 October 2018. To blame is s 41(3) of DA 2015. And so, my landlord friends and their advisers, for these old tenancies, we welcome the law we have come to hug which prevents retaliatory eviction, requires the issue of possession proceedings within six months of service of the s 21 notice, removes the s 21(4) trap for the notice to specify its expiry as the last day of a period of the tenancy, and deals with repayment of rent in a limited situation where the tenancy ends before time (see ‘Civil way’, 165 NLJ 7671, p17;