Prove you served the paperwork.
A valid tenancy and a future no-fault Section 21 both depend on the right documents being served, and being able to show when and how. Record each one here and generate a dated written record to keep on file. Free, no sign-up.
Tick each document you served, then add the date and how it was served. Items marked critical are the ones a Section 21 commonly depends on.
- By hand, with a witness — note the date, time and who handed it over.
- Recorded or signed-for post — keep the receipt and tracking. First-class post is usually treated as served two working days later under most tenancy agreements; recorded delivery gives you a signature.
- Email — only if the tenancy agreement allows service by email to a stated address. Keep the sent message and any read receipt.
Information for your own records, not legal advice. This produces a written summary; keep the actual documents (and any proof of postage or email) alongside it. A possession claim should be reviewed by a solicitor before you rely on it. These requirements reflect the prescribed-information regime in England — the rules differ in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Nothing you type here leaves your browser.
Serving isn't enough. You have to be able to prove it.
A no-fault Section 21 notice in England only works if you've done the groundwork. Before relying on one, you generally need to have given the tenant the current How to Rent guide, a valid Energy Performance Certificate, and a gas safety certificate, and to have protected the deposit in an approved scheme and served the prescribed information about it within 30 days of receiving it.
Miss any of these, or serve them late, and a court can rule the Section 21 invalid, which means starting the process again, often months later. It's one of the most common reasons no-fault notices fail. In short, the documents that most often block a Section 21 if missing or served late are: the deposit not protected in an approved scheme (or the prescribed information not served) within 30 days of receipt, no current gas safety certificate given before the tenant moved in, no valid EPC provided, and the correct version of the How to Rent guide not given. A Section 21 also can't be served in the first four months of the tenancy, or where the council has served a relevant improvement or hazard notice.
The catch is that doing it isn't the same as being able to show you did it. If a tenant disputes that they ever received the How to Rent guide or the EPC, the question becomes one of evidence: what was served, on what date, and by what method. A contemporaneous written record made at the time, kept with the documents themselves and any proof of postage or email, is what tends to win a possession claim.
This tool helps you make that record while the detail is fresh. It doesn't replace keeping the documents, and it isn't legal advice. Note too that this reflects the England regime: Wales (under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act), Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own rules and their own paperwork.
Serve it, record it, keep it together.
Stead's landlord tools store tenancy paperwork against each property, track the compliance a Section 21 depends on (gas, EICR, EPC, deposits and prescribed information), and remind you before any of it lapses.