Re-Listing 2027/2028 - Serving Notice on Tenants
Why we will serve Ground 4A notices at the start of the student letting cycle
For relevant student properties, Purple Frog plans to serve Ground 4A Section 8 notices at the beginning of October.
We have covered Ground 4A and when it applies in a separate article. This update explains how we intend to use the notice in practice and, in particular, why we will normally use a possession date around 30 June of the following year.
Why we need to serve notice
The main reason is simple, we need a clear future date from which we are able to advertise the property to the next group of students.
The student letting market works many months ahead. If we do not have a date when the property is expected to become available, we cannot safely agree a new tenancy with another group.
Ground 4A gives us a route to establish that future date for qualifying student properties.
Why we will normally use 30 June
We will normally set the possession date at around 30 June, or a similar date which fits appropriately with the property's current rental period.
This is because 30 June is normally around the earliest date from which we would realistically want to re-let a student property for the next academic cycle.
It gives us the widest opportunity to market the property while reducing the risk of an avoidable summer void.
Why not use 31 August?
Using a later date such as 31 August might appear sensible because many students stay in their accommodation over the summer.
The problem is that the tenant still has their own right to serve notice.
Serving a Ground 4A notice does not require the tenant to remain until the date stated in our notice.
For example:
We serve notice seeking possession on 31 August.
We then advertise the property as available from September and agree a new tenancy starting at the beginning of September.
The existing tenants later decide they do not need the property during July and August and serve their own two months' notice to end the tenancy on 30 June.
The landlord could then be left with a two-month void in July and August.
The fact that we had previously served notice for 31 August would not prevent the tenants from serving their own notice and leaving earlier.
Using a date around 30 June therefore gives us the best opportunity to protect the landlord from this type of void.
It does not remove the possibility of an earlier void completely. Tenants still retain their own notice rights and could decide to leave earlier.
What it does is avoid us deliberately creating a later availability date when we do not need to.
What happens when we serve the notice?
Serving notice does not mean that we automatically expect the tenants to leave on 30 June.
We will write to the tenants when the notice is served and invite them to tell us if they want to stay beyond the proposed date.
We will then normally wait around seven days before advertising the property.
If the tenants contact us during that period with a suitable alternative proposal, we will consider it.
What if the tenants want to stay later into the summer?
That is something we are happy to consider.
For example, tenants might tell us they would prefer to stay until:
- the end of July;
- the end of August; or
- another suitable summer date.
There is no benefit in requiring good tenants to leave earlier where a later date works for everyone.
What if the tenants want to stay for another academic year?
We will also consider this.
If the tenants want to remain for another full academic year, the appropriate solution might be to agree a much later possession date the following summer.
For example, tenants due to leave in summer 2027 might ask to remain until summer 2028.
We will consider this with the landlord based on the circumstances of the property and the household.
The purpose of serving the notice is to create a workable future availability date. It is not to prevent existing tenants from staying where the landlord is happy for them to do so.
What if only some tenants want to stay?
Student households do not always make the same decision.
Some tenants might want to remain while others intend to leave. We will deal with those situations individually.
The right approach will depend on the tenancy, the number of tenants remaining and if they want to share with other tenants.
What happens if we do not hear from the tenants?
If we do not receive an alternative proposal within around seven days, we will proceed on the basis of the date stated in the notice.
We will then be in a position to advertise the property from that date for the next student letting cycle.
The tenants will still retain their own right to serve notice later.
What about properties where Ground 4A is not available?
Where Ground 4A does not apply, we will take a different approach.
We will contact student tenants and gently ask whether they know what their plans are for the following academic year.
We will also remind them how they need to give notice if they decide to leave.
We will not treat an informal indication that they intend to leave as confirmation that the property is available.
Until the tenants give us valid notice, we will need to wait before advertising the property with a confirmed availability date.
What landlords need to do
For this first year, we will contact landlords of relevant properties and ask for permission to adopt this approach.
We will record that preference against the property.
In future years, where a landlord has authorised this process, we intend to deal with the Ground 4A notice as part of our normal management of the student letting cycle rather than seeking fresh approval each year.
Our aim is to balance two things:
giving existing tenants flexibility if they want to stay longer, while giving landlords the best opportunity to avoid unnecessary void periods and re-let their property at the right point in the student market.