Falcon Chambers Legal Updates Series: Gas Safety Record Compliance and Section 21 Notices 27 May 2026
Refusing to go gentle into that good night, section 21 notices reared their head in this Court of Appeal judgment handed down on 30 April 2026.
The two appeals concerned whether s.21 notices were invalid by the landlord’s failure to provide a gas safety certificate in respect of a check carried out in advance of the tenant first going into occupation. In both of the cases before the Lords Justices, the tenants had first gone into occupation before s.21A Housing Act 1988 (inserted by s.38 Deregulation Act 2015) and associated regulations came into force on 1 October 2015.
Mr Muca had first been granted an AST on 5 February 2014 for a term of 12 months. This became statutory periodic before he was granted a new fixed-term AST for a term of 6 months in 2017, which itself then became statutory periodic. Mr Hubert and Ms Hamdaoui were granted an AST for 12 months in November 2007 and were granted a succession of such ASTs with the last one being granted in November 2019. This last tenancy thereafter continued as statutory periodic. The tenants in both cases alleged that the s.21 notices they were served were invalid as they had not been provided a GSC in respect of a check before they commenced occupation in the first of their respective successions of tenancies.
The Court of Appeal rejected the Landlords’ proposed interpretations of the statutory provisions. These were (1) Only the most recent GSC had to be given to rely on s.21; (2) the duty imposed by reg 36(6)(b) of the 1998 regulations only applies to the last GSC before the tenant occupied the premises pursuant to that specific tenancy (i.e. not the first in a line of tenancies); (3) a landlord need only give a tenant a GSC in respect of the two most recent checks to rely on s.21.
Several previous GSC decisions were considered in this judgment including in Hathaway v Minister [2021] EWCA Civ 936, and Trecarrell House v Rouncefield [2020] EWCA Civ 760. In relation to the latter, the Lords Justices held that they were not bound to reject interpretations (1) and (2) on account of it (though they did so in any event). The County Court appellate decision in Cassell v Sidhu (9 October 2025, Reading) was also considered, and disapproved, in relation to interpretation (3). Bryne v Harwood-Delgado (21 June 2022, Luton) also received a mention.
The Lords Justices held that the failure to provide the GSC in respect of checks carried out in advance of the tenants' first going into occupation of their respective premises, albeit under predecessor tenancies, was fatal to the validity of the s.21 notices served by their landlords.
As a result of the transitional provisions in the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, the days of the s.21 notice may be numbered, but they have not yet exited stage left. This case ought to be read by those parties seeking to rely on, or resist, such a notice in possession proceedings.
Link to judgment here.
Back to articles
