Can You Serve a Section 21 Notice Without a Licence in Lewisham?

Landlords in England can no longer serve section 21 notices for private assured tenancies: the Renters' Rights Act 2025 ended that route on 1 May 2026. Before that date, the Housing Act 2004 also restricted section 21 notices for properties required to be licensed under Part 2 (HMO licensing) or Part 3 (selective licensing) if the property was unlicensed and no valid application had been made. Lewisham's three licensing schemes made that former restriction relevant to many landlords in the borough.

How the Restriction Works

Before 1 May 2026, section 75(3) of the Housing Act 2004 provided that no section 21 notice could be given in relation to a property required to be licensed under Part 2 (HMO licensing) while it was unlicensed. Section 98(1) applied the same restriction to properties required to be licensed under Part 3 (selective licensing).

In plain terms, before the abolition of section 21, if your property needed a licence, was unlicensed, and had no "duly made" application pending, a section 21 notice was invalid. A court could not grant a possession order based on it.

The former restriction applied from the point the licensing requirement took effect — not from the point you became aware of it. For selective licensing in Lewisham, that was 1 July 2024. For additional HMO licensing, 22 April 2022. For mandatory HMO licensing, it applied from the national scheme's 1 October 2018 commencement.

What "Duly Made" Application Means

Before section 21 was abolished, the licensing restriction was lifted once a valid application had been submitted and accepted. Under the Housing Act, an application was treated as "duly made" when:

• All mandatory fields are completed
• All required documents are uploaded (valid EICR, gas safety certificate, EPC, and scheme-specific documents)
• The Part A processing fee has been paid and cleared

Simply creating a MetaStreet portal account or starting a draft application is not enough. The fee must be paid and the application formally submitted.

Once the application was duly made, a landlord could serve a section 21 notice while the application was pending, even before the licence was granted.

The Renters' Rights Act Changes the Landscape

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 abolished section 21 "no-fault" evictions for private assured tenancies on 1 May 2026. Landlords cannot serve a new section 21 notice now.

Landlords seeking possession now must use the applicable section 8 grounds and follow the current possession procedure. The former section 21 licensing restriction remains relevant only to assessing notices and court claims made under the law before 1 May 2026.

What to Do If You Have Already Served a Notice

If you served a section 21 notice before 1 May 2026 while the property was unlicensed and without a duly made application, the notice was invalid under the licensing restriction. For a valid section 21 notice served before 1 May 2026, a possession claim had to be started by 31 July 2026; claims started by that date can continue, but a new claim based on an old section 21 notice cannot now be started.

Be aware that unlicensed operation also exposes you to civil penalties of up to £40,000 for offences committed on or after 1 May 2026 (up to £30,000 for earlier offences) and potential rent repayment order claims from your tenant covering up to 24 months of rent for relevant offences from that date (up to 12 months for earlier offences).

The Practical Takeaway

The section 21 restriction was one of the consequences of operating without a licence in Lewisham. The licensing obligation remains in force, and an unlicensed landlord may face enforcement and rent repayment claims. For possession now, use the applicable section 8 grounds; a licence or pending application does not replace the required ground.

The Lewisham licensing guide covers the full application process, the documents you need, and how to confirm your application has been accepted as duly made.

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