Suvini v Anderson (2010)

It is well known that notices under section 21(4)(a) of the Housing Act 1988 must give notice to a tenant that “after a date specified … being the last day of a period of the tenancy … possession of the dwelling-house is required”. In Church Commissioners v Meya [2006] EWCA Civ 821, the Court of Appeal made a close reading of section 5 of the Act and held that it should be construed as reading that the length of the periods of a statutory periodic tenancy created by that section “are the same as [the periods] for which rent was last payable under the fixed term tenancy.” In this case a property was let from 18 August 2007 to 17 August 2008 with a rent of £1,200 payable on the 15 August 2007. A further tenancy was granted for another 12 months from 18 August 2008 to 17 August 2009, rent being payable bi-monthly in advance starting on the 11 August 2008. After August 2008 the tenancy continued on a periodic basis. A notice under section 21(4)(a) was served on 1 April 2010 seeking possession “after 17 June 2010 or, if later, the day on which a complete period of your tenancy expires next after the end of two months from the service of this notice.”