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Court Case Provides Welcome Clarity on Repossession Notices

The Court of Appeal has sided with private landlords in a case which threatened the way they could repossess properties.

The case of Trecarrell v Rouncefield centred on the relationship between Section 21 notices and gas safety certificates. The landlord, Trecarrell House Limited, was initially granted an order to repossess the property using Section 21 powers. However, the tenant successfully appealed on the grounds that they were not provided with a gas safety certificate prior to moving in.

Despite the landlord making the certificate available after the tenancy had begun, the Courts initially ruled that the Section 21 notice was invalid, referring to a previous similar case in which the certificate was made available less than two weeks after the tenant moved in.

The Court of Appeal however has now ruled that Section 21 notices are valid provided a Gas Safety Certificate is issued before the notice is given to the tenant, not before a tenant moves into a property.

Prior to the NRLA being formed the Residential Landlords Association supported the landlord, arguing the situation could have breached a landlord’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights on the basis that it deprives them of their possession. A crowd funding campaign set up by the RLA to raise money for the appeal raised more than £7,000.

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