PP 2002/56

Tenancy granted before 28 February 1997 – Section 20 Housing Act 1988 – Whether pre-grant notice sufficiently compliant with Assured Tenancies and Agricultural Occupancies (Forms) Regulations 1988 Q  With a major redevelopment in mind, we shall in due course be seeking possession of some 50 flats that various previous owners had let on assured shorthold tenancies. Of these, a fair number were let at a time (pre-28 February 1997) when the creation of a shorthold required the prior service of a notice carrying certain prescribed information. Such notices were served under section 20 of the 1988 Act, but very few can be described as impeccable. There will undoubtedly be disputes about the status of some of these tenancies. How do we stand generally? A  It all depends upon the kind of defect that the tenant has gleefully found. It is your task to show that, blemishes notwithstanding, the notice in question clearly fulfilled the statutory purpose of informing the proposed tenant of the special nature of an assured shorthold tenancy. For an encouraging start, see Ravenseft Properties Ltd v Hall; White v Chubb; Kasseer v Freeman [2002] 11 EG 156, where you will see that three allegedly defective notices, each considered by the Court of Appeal on 19 December 2001, were held to be “substantially to the same effect” as the form prescribed in the relevant regulation. The three decisions are gratifyingly in line with the views expressed in Assured shorthold errors Estates Gazette 30 August 1997, p93.