A private landlord had issued possession proceedings against our client on the basis of both a Section 21 (‘no fault’) notice and a Section 8 notice. The Section 8 notice relied on Ground 1, as the landlord stated that they wanted to move back into the property. The notices had been served by an eviction company, and not the landlord or the letting agency.

Possession proceedings were defended on the basis that that the person who signed the notices was not acting as an agent for the Claimant at the time the notices were served, and therefore the notices were not valid. Since 2020 there had been previous requests to the eviction company for evidence of their authority to act as agent in relation to previous notices, but no evidence of their authority had been provided. Although some evidence of the eviction company’s authority to act as agent was eventually provided, this was dated after the recent notices were served.

Ground 1 was also defended as it was submitted that the landlord did not actually need to move back into the property. This is because the property was in an inadequate location with respect to the landlord’s family and work commitments.

The proceedings were settled on the basis of the landlord granting a new tenancy with a fixed term of 2 years.

There had been two previous possession proceedings against our client, both of which had been struck out. By the time the new fixed term ends, our client will have remained in the property for almost 6 years after the expiry of the first section 21 notice.