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By what provisions is a s21 notice invalid without service of prerequisite other materials and when we're they introduced?

Section 21 housing act 1988 provides for landlords in England to seek no fault evictions but not if they haven't previously served gas and electric safety/efficiency information and tenants' rights education materials as well as prescribed information about deposits.

How and when did these conditions come into effect?

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The requirement to give the tenant information about how the deposit is being protected is covered by section 213(6) of the Housing Act 2004, and linked to section 21 notices by section 215(2).

For the other documents, the relevant legislation is The Assured Shorthold Tenancy Notices and Prescribed Requirements (England) Regulations 2015, which came into force for new tenancies on 1st October 2015.

In particular, regulation 2 requires the landlord to give the tenant an energy performance certificate and a gas safety certificate, while regulation 3 requires the landlord to give the tenant a copy (which may be on paper or by e-mail) of the official "How to rent" booklet.

The power to make these regulations comes from sections 21A and 21B of the Housing Act 1988, and it is there that these rules are linked to the serving of a section 21 eviction notice. (These sections were inserted into the Act by the Deregulation Act 2015.)

Note that the requirement to give the tenant an electrical safety report is not linked to section 21. It is simply a legal requirement, and a fine can be imposed if the rule is breached.

(For completeness: this comes from regulation 3 of the The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020. The regulations came into force on the 1st June 2020, though for existing tenancies the deadline for electrical inspections was 1st April 2021.)

See also Shelter's comprehensive list of all the things that can make a section 21 notice invalid.

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  • Thanks, but what act(s) were the provisions linking the various notice requirements with s21 validity introduced/inserted by? Aug 13, 2022 at 22:24
  • And, perhaps this ought to be a separate question, but what was the (legal, if not social/political) impetus for or what brought about The Assured Shorthold Tenancy Notices and Prescribed Requirements (England) Regulations 2015? Aug 13, 2022 at 22:28
  • Looks like the answer to my first question might have been the deregulation act 2015. Aug 13, 2022 at 23:25
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    @JosephP. Yup, that's the act; have updated to include. Aug 14, 2022 at 17:31
  • Nice one. ..... Aug 14, 2022 at 19:37

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