Changes to the legislation effective from 4th June 2019 have extended notice periods which a landlord must provide to a tenant when serving them with a notice of termination.
It is extremely important that you familiarise yourself with these below as failing to serve the correct number of days can invalidate the notice of termination in full.
The amount of notice required to end a tenancy depends on how long the tenant has lived in your property. The lease agreement may give a longer period of notice to the tenant, and a landlord and tenant may also agree on a shorter period of notice, however, this can only be agreed when a notice has been given.
If a notice of termination has been served before the 4th June 2019, and it is valid, then the previous notice period before the change to legislation applies.
The law sets out the new minimum notice periods now required (outlined in the table below):
Duration of Tenancy | Notice Period |
Less than 6 months | 28 days |
Not less than 6 months but less than 1year | 90 days |
Not less than 1year but less than 3 years | 120 days |
Not less than 3 years but less than 7 years | 180 days |
Not less than 7 years but less than 8 years | 196 days |
Not less than 8 years | 224 days |
Please note: On 9th July 2021, the Government enacted the Residential Tenancies (No.2) Act 2021 which extends the provisions and protections under the PDRTA 2020 from 12th July 2021 to 12th January 2022. As such, during the period from 11th January up to and including 12th January 2022 and subject to certain conditions, a 90-day (rather than the usual 28 days) termination notice period applies, where a tenant is in rent arrears due to Covid-19 and is at risk of losing their tenancy.