Hi

Thanks for your reply.

I’m afraid that a desire to sell the property is not sufficient in order to serve a notice for possession. A landlord who wishes to get possession earlier than the expiry of the fixed term has only a limited number of grounds under the Housing Act 1988 by which they can do this.

Wishing to sell the property is not one of them. If the landlord were themselves able to offer suitable alternative accommodation then there is a discretionary ground (ground 9) on which they could serve two months notice but the reality is that the suitability of the alternative accommodation is almost always disputed by the tenant unless it is actually an improvement.

You are of course able to sell the property subject to the tenancy but this limits marketability because only buy-to-let buyers will be interested.

If the tenant clocks up two months worth of rent arrears or has persistently paid rent late then you can serve a s8 notice giving them two weeks notice but I assume that this does not apply here.

Sorry I could not have better news for you.


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Tom