New legislation will become effective from 1 October 2015 and guidance on the detail will be published in due course. In summary tenants will be protected from being evicted by their landlord simply because they have made a legitimate complaint about the condition of the property. Where a tenant has made a complaint to their landlord and a local authority has confirmed that a repair needs to be carried out to prevent a potential risk to health and safety, the landlord will not be able to evict the tenant for 6 months.Landlords will also be prevented from evicting a tenant where they have not complied with certain legal obligations such as supplying Gas Safety Certificates and Energy Performance Certificates. This restriction would be lifted as soon as these documents are provided.landlords will also have to wait a minimum of four months from the start of a tenancy before they can serve an eviction notice.
It will also be made easier for landlords to evict where it would be legitimate to do so by introducing a prescribed form notice which will reduce errors and remove the need for a landlord to specify the exact date a tenancy comes to an end, whilst retaining the requrement to give two months notice.