Helpline subscribers can now access the new Section 8 notice on the document vault, for non-subscribers, the notice is available here.
Numerous blogs on the new provisions of the Immigration Act 2016 can be found on our website. On 1 December 2016, some of those provisions regarding eviction will come into force.
The Secretary of State will now be able to serve a notice on a landlord which informs them that some or all of the occupiers in a property do not have a right to rent. If such a notice is served, then the landlord will be placed under an obligation to take steps within a reasonable time to evict those tenants. “Reasonable time” generally means four weeks, so if the tenant does not vacate in four weeks, the landlord will need to take further action to obtain vacant possession. There are other time periods for other events, but those are beyond the scope of this blog.
Where the Secretary of State serves a notice/s informing the landlord that all the occupiers of a property have no right to rent then the landlord may serve a notice to end the tenancy in a prescribed form. Once the notice/s expire the tenant has no right to occupy the property and can be evicted by the landlord without the need for a court order. This prescribed notice has been published and can be found here.
Where the Secretary of State serves a notice that specifies that only some of the occupiers do not have a right to rent then the landlord must still go to court and obtain a possession order. This is obtained by relying on a new ground for possession in Schedule II of the Housing Act 1988 for Assured and Assured Shorthold tenancies. The new ground 7B can be used with the new form of section 8 notice which will come into effect in England only, from 1 December 2016. The new form of section 8 notice will need to be used in any case where a section 8 notice is being served on or after 1 December 2016. Furthermore, ground 7B requires that not less than two weeks notice be given.
