Landlords could save thousands of pounds, after a recent ruling by the court of appeal on the ‘Spencer v Taylor [2013] EWCA Civ 1600’ case ruled that just two calendar months’ notice is required to end an Assured Shorthold Tenancy after the end of a fixed term, according to Property Reclaim, a division of Moore Blatch solicitors.

The previous ‘belief’, was that to end a tenancy once a fixed term had expired, landlords had to use s.21(4)(a) of the Housing Act 1988 - to give a minimum of two months’ notice ending on the last day of a period of the agreement,

And so assuming the rent is payable on the first of each month, a landlord wanting to give notice on the 2nd had to give two full months’ notice plus however many days remain in the month (29 for January), i.e. the earliest the notice could require possession is after 31 March.

However following the court’s ruling landlords now only have to give two months’ notice meaning they could serve a notice on 2 January requiring possession on 2 March, 29 days earlier than under s.21(4)(a).

Paul Walshe, partner at Moore Blatch and head of Property Reclaim, said; “This is great news for agents and landlords as it’s now much easier to serve a s.21 notice. Almost all Assured Shorthold Tenancies start with a fixed term, so landlords can now rely on the far simpler Section 21(1)(b). This requires ‘not less than two months’ notice in writing’, which can start and end at a convenient time, rather than just at the end of a period of the tenancy. In addition, landlords don’t have to worry about calculating exactly when the last day of a period of a tenancy is, where they may run the risk of their case being struck out if they get it wrong.”