I live in England. My housemate and I were served a section 21 on 30th April. We have been excellent tenants and had a good relationship with the landlord (apart from slow communication and delayed repairs on their part). When we renewed our AST last year, the landlord's agent stated the landlord had no intention of selling, so this has come as quite a shock. The s21 states we need to move out from 26th July—this is the date our lease ends as well.
We have collected all correspondence and relevant documents, and think the s21 may be invalid due to:
- No up-to-date gas certificate provided to us. We received a certificate at the start of the tenancy in July 2024, however the most recent gas check was done in December 2025 and we've never received the certificate for this.
- Outstanding repairs (leaking shower that leaks into the room below + leaking skylight window) that were requested April 2025. We chased them up a couple of times since then, most recently in February 2026. (However, we had not involved the council.)
- Missing Prescribed Information provided with the deposit at the start of the tenancy (as laid out in Shelter guidelines). We received a deposit protection certificate, but did not receive information on how the deposit will be repaid, dispute resolution etc. (Update: Was pointed out that this info was included in the AST! The only thing we do not have are the T&Cs referred to here: "The landlord or letting agent must provide a copy of The DPS terms and conditions to the tenant with this form. This can be downloaded from www.depositprotection.com.")
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Shelter advised us: 'A landlord cannot serve a valid section 21 notice where they have failed to provide the tenant with a copy of a current gas safety certificate. Therefore, if you ask the landlord why they didn't serve one, and they essentially trip themselves up by saying something like 'oh I forgot' or sorry I'll send it now', that can be submitted as a defence to court to show that it was not provided before they served notice.'
Shelter directed us to Legal Aid, however they can't help us until court proceedings start.
So far, we have not replied to the s21. We are unsure of our next steps. We would love to remain in the property, or failing that, have as much time as possible before moving out.
Should we wait until they begin proceedings, and leave it to a judge to determine the validity? Or would it be better to inform them that the s21 is possibly invalid, and perhaps we could negotiate a withdrawal so that it doesn't go to court? Ideally we'd prefer to work something out before it turns adversarial (we'd be happy to negotiate higher rent, if more money is what they want).
Cheers for any advice.