A Section 173 will be served by a landlord when they wish to repossess the property that they are currently renting out. It is a no-fault eviction meaning that it isn’t necessarily a bad notice, but a good one. Reasons that landlords may want to serve this is when they are choosing to sell the property or to move back in.

PLEASE, never serve a notice in retaliation i.e. in response to maintenance being reported or a complaint – this could really come back to bite you and you will find it ever so difficult to get repossession of your home.

Before you even think about serving a Section 173 notice, you will need to make sure you that the following is in place:

1. A written statement that has been provided to the tenant before 31st May 2023, or if your tenancy was set up after 1st December 2022 then the contract will have needed to be an occupation contract (not an AST).
2. A landlord or agent address has been provided to the contract holder (this will normally be stated in your occupation contract or written statement).
3. If a deposit was paid, then this would have needed to be stored safely in an authorised deposit scheme like DPS or TDS. The deposit will have needed to be stored within 31 days of the deposit being paid over to the landlord or agent
4. No breaches of the Renting Homes Act 2019.
5. Current EPC is valid, equal or above a rating of E, and has been provided to the contract-holder
6. If it is a HMO, then there will need to be a HMO license in place.
7. You will need to be registered with Rent Smart Wales, and if you manage your own properties, then you will also need to have a license under RSW. However, if you instruct a managing agent, then they should have this
8. Working smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms should be installed in appropriately (more information on this can be found on my previous blog post which can be found here)
9. A valid electrical installation report will need to be in date and satisfactory
10. A valid gas safety certificate will need to be in place 

Further to the long list of what you need... you will also need to make sure that you are serving a Section 173 at the right time. You cannot serve a notice during a fixed term - you will have to wait until the contract becomes periodic. The notice period has increased from 2 months when it was a Section 21, to now being 6 months on the Section 173. Under a periodic contract, the landlord is not allowed to serve a Section 173 until 6 months after the contract start date, but obviously the notice period is 6 months. So, this will mean that tenants will always have a minimum of 12 months at the property. Also, if your Section 173 expires, you will not be able to serve another one for a further 6 months!

However... If your tenancy started before the 1st December, then the old regulations will apply. Therefore, the notice period will be 2 months - just make sure that you have provided the tenants with a written statement by 31st May 2023.

These regulations have been introduced in Wales so that the tenant is protected within a property and that there is more security for them. In turn, this has caused difficulties for landlords, and some landlords have decided not to rent anymore as they are concerned about the eviction changes. 

I will be looking at going into this more with regards to the section 8 and also abandonment in a Part 2 blog post. So any questions in the meantime, please comment below so that we can discuss further very soon. 

Working in property myself, I have found that researching and writing into each and every topic has helped me gain a better knowledge on the property industry, and also see so many sides to a story.

Writing these blogs comes round so quickly – I can’t believe it has already been a week since my last post! I’ve had so much fun creating this for so many people to read, and I’ve loved hearing people’s thoughts.

We want to know your honest opinions on the blog though. Which parts do you like or dislike?  What topics do you want to see more of? What is your opinion on all these new Welsh legislations? Have you found these posts to be useful?