The Renting Homes Wales Act 2016 Contract Termination

2 minute read

Ending occupation contracts

The Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 sets in stone the requirement, where a ‘no fault’ notice is issued, to issue six months’ notice. A landlord will also not be able to give such a notice until 6 months after the contract starts, effectively guaranteeing contract holders 12 months in the property.

However, a landlord will not be able to give such a notice unless they have complied with certain obligations, including registration and licensing with Rent Smart Wales, the Fitness for Human Habitation standards and deposit protection rules.

‘Retaliatory Evictions’

If a landlord issues a ‘no fault’ possession notice in response to a request for repair (commonly known as ‘retaliatory eviction’), the court can refuse to make a possession order and it will not be possible to issue a further ‘no fault’ notice until 6 months later.

What if the contract holder has breached the agreement?

Where the contract-holder has breached the occupation contract the minimum notice period that must be given is one month. This notice period can be shorter where it relates to a breach of the anti-social behaviour or the serious rent arrears terms.

What about break clauses?

Landlord break clauses will only be able to be incorporated into a fixed term occupation contract if the contract has a fixed term of 2 years or more. A landlord will not be able to exercise a break clause within the first 18 months of occupation.

Joint contracts

A joint contract-holder will be able to leave a contract without ending the contract entirely. New joint contract-holders can be added without having to end the current contract and start another one as well.

Abandonment

You are able to repossess an abandoned property without needing a court order, after serving a four week warning notice and carrying out investigations to satisfy yourself the property is abandoned.

More information is available at https://gov.wales/landlords-housing-law-changing-renting-homes but if you have any questions regarding what this means for you and how Peter Alan can help you please don’t hesitate to contact me directly by email on angela@peteralan.co.uk

Rents have also risen more in Wales than anywhere else in the UK in the last 12 months and if you’re looking for an up to date valuation of your rental property either visit www.peteralan.co.uk/#valuation for an instant online valuation of your property or visit https://www.peteralan.co.uk/pages/request_valuation to request a valuation and we’ll arrange to meet you and discuss how we can help.