Changes to Section 21 Form 6A and Notes. Also, Changes to the ‘How to Rent’ Guide.

Posted on August 14th, 2019

On 8th August 2019, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government made slight changes to the Section 21, Form 6A and the Notes which accompany the form. The changes are very minor but we remind SWLA members to use the most up to date form when serving notice or this could cause issues in gaining possession. As Form 6A is a statutory notice, the wording is prescribed and cannot be changed without a statutory instrument, it’s only the layout of this form that has been updated. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/assured-tenancy-forms#form-6a

The ‘How to Rent‘ guide has also been updated with minor changes;

• 3rd June 2019 Corrected to reflect the rebranding of National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) to Safeagent, and to update links to the GOV.UK client money protection scheme webpage.
• 29th July 2019 The ‘Before you start’ section was updated to clarify Shelter’s advisory role. The sentence ‘If you don’t have a guarantor, you can ask Shelter for help’ was amended to ‘If you don’t have a guarantor, you can ask Shelter for advice’.

The publishing went ahead without any obvious updates on the publication page. ‘How to Rent’ guides should always be printed from the gov.uk website to ensure that the most up to date copy is given to your tenant at the start of their tenancy. Note, the latest publication still has May 2019’s date within the booklet. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-to-rent