CIH Northern Ireland response to Department for Communities consultation on notice to quit periods

The Department for Communities is introducing much longer notice to quit periods, as provided for in Article 14 of the Private Tenancies (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 as amended by Section 11 of the Private Tenancies Act (Northern Ireland) 2022. Before the longer notice periods can come into effect, regulations must be in place to outline circumstances where this longer notice to quit would not apply.

The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) prepared a research report in 2023 for the Department for Communities (DfC) to carry out the following:

Research existing evidence from outside Northern Ireland on exceptions to the notice periods that private landlords must provide to tenants to terminate a tenancy.
Gather views from landlords and tenants in NI, their representative groups and the district councils on exceptions.
Gather input from the general public on termination for anti-social behaviour specifically.
Present our proposals on exceptions for private landlords in NI, considering human rights and equality laws and the implications for both tenants and landlords including more vulnerable groups.

CIH Northern Ireland welcomes the opportunity to respond to this consultation on exceptions to longer notice to quit periods. We believe they strike a balanced approach for both tenants and landlords, they bring Northern Ireland into alignment with similar regulations in the rest of the world, they reflect the engagement we carried out with relevant stakeholders in preparing our report, and they provide much-needed clarity for all parties.

Responses to individual consultation questions

1. Do you understand why these circumstances and shorter notice periods are being introduced?

Yes.

2. Do you agree with the four circumstances where longer notice to quit periods would not apply? Please select yes/no for each of the circumstances below.

Substantial arrears of rent
Yes.

Serious anti-social behaviour
Yes.

Relevant criminal offence
Yes.

Possession for occupation by the landlord or landlords’ immediate family
Yes.

3. Do you agree with each of the four shorter notice periods as set out in the Regulations?

	Yes	No
Substantial arrears of rent - notice period one month	X
Serious anti-social behaviour - notice period two weeks	X
Relevant criminal offence - notice period two weeks	X
Possession for occupation by the landlord or landlords' immediate family - notice period three months	X

4. Did you find the guidance notes which explain your responsibilities as a tenant/landlord, under the Regulations easy to follow?

Yes.

5. In each circumstance, what types of evidence do you suggest could be required in order to validate a shorter notice to quit.

Substantial arrears of rent - please provide examples of evidence

The landlord should provide a statement of the amount due. The notice to quit should also include a statement that the tenant has the option to prevent termination by settling the outstanding rent, including any additional amount that has become due, by the specified termination date, to void the notice.

Examples of evidence include:

Tenancy agreement, to establish the agreed rent amount and payment frequency
Rent account ledger – a clear, chronological record of payments received and missed to prove the duration and scale of the arrears
Communication logs – copies of letters, emails or records of phone calls showing the landlord has engaged in early intervention and attempted to sustain the tenancy
Repayment plan evidence – documentation of any failed or refused attempts to establish a reasonable repayment plan.

Serious anti-social behaviour - please provide examples of evidence
As stated in our report, examples of serious anti-social behaviour (ASB) that should trigger a shorter notice to quit period include the following:

Using or threatening to use violence
Creating a risk of significant harm to other lawful residents of the home, neighbours or the landlord/agent including their contractors/employees, including through:
- Serious threats, intimidation and harassment
- Hate behaviour targeting people because of differences
Intentionally or recklessly causing serious damage to the home, any contents belonging to the landlord (including safety equipment), or homes in the locality of the dwelling-house
Renting out the home to a third party without the landlord’s authorisation (‘subletting’).
Using or threatening to use the home or any common area for criminal purposes, including production or trafficking of illegal drugs.

Within the draft regulations, DfC defines engaging in serious ASB as:

Using the home, or allowed it to be used, for illegal purposes
Harassing or caused alarm or distress to a person, in, or in the locality of, the home
Causing serious annoyance or nuisance to a person, or repeatedly causing annoyance or nuisance to a person, in, or in the locality of, the home
Deliberately causing substantial damage to the home, or to the landlord’s property within the home.

If a landlord needs to go to court to evict a tenant for ASB, the evidence required to justify tenancy termination could include:

Correspondence – copies of text messages, emails or letters exchanged with the tenant, solicitors or environmental health officers
Official records – existing court orders or police incident numbers
Physical proof – photographs of physical damage to the property or its contents
Insurance records – paperwork related to insurance claims made for damage caused by the tenant.

Relevant Criminal Offence - please provide examples of evidence

As previously outlined in our report, examples of relevant criminal offences that would justify a shorter notice to quit period include:

Using the property for illegal reasons
Letting someone else use the property for illegal reasons
Criminal damage to the property
Violence or threat of violence
Hate behaviour targeting people because of difference
Criminal harassment
Production or trafficking of illegal drugs.

Within the draft regulations, DfC defines a relevant criminal offence as:

An indictable offence:
- Committed wholly or partly in, or in the locality of, the dwelling-house
- Committed elsewhere against a person with a right to reside in, or occupy housing accommodation in the locality of the dwelling-house, or
- Committed elsewhere against—
  - the landlord, or
  - a person employed (whether or not by the landlord) in connection with the exercise of the landlord’s housing functions, and directly or indirectly related to or affecting those functions
An offence involving using the dwelling-house, or allowing it to be used, for illegal purposes.

Given this regulation requires a conviction, evidence could include a certificate of conviction, official court transcript, or public domain evidence that otherwise supports the landlord’s belief of a conviction. Supporting evidence could include other documentation surrounding charges; professional reports like those from utility companies showing bypassed meters; or photographs showing alterations made to the home for illegal purposes.

Possession for occupation by the landlord or landlords’ immediate family - please provide examples of evidence

The landlord should provide alongside the notice to quit a statutory declaration stating the name of the person who will reside in the home, their relationship to the landlord and the planned date of occupation.

The possession for occupation should be genuine and in good faith to avail of this exception to a longer notice to quit. This will be important for maintaining the confidence of tenants and the wider public in the operation of these regulations. Therefore, the process should be conducted in a way to avoid the repossession of the home for a very short period with the intent to list the property for rent after the removal of previous tenants.

We agree with DfC’s proposal to include the requirement of a detailed affidavit, including the requirement under 11(2)(c) to state the expected duration of the occupancy, to warn against abuse of this exception.

Other complementary evidence could include relocation proof – evidence of the landlord or family member selling their current home, a notice to quit from their current landlord, or a job offer letter in the locality of the rental property.

However, we note that no minimum expected duration of occupation is specified. As outlined in the CIH report, in the Australian state of Victoria, possession for occupation in these circumstances must last a minimum of six months. We therefore suggest that the Department for Communitites considers whether a legal requirement could be introduced to ensure that the landlord or their immediate family member occupies the property for a minimum period – such as six months - following the eviction. Failure to meet this requirement could result in the NTQ being rendered void or require compensation be paid to the evicted tenant.

Response to the Equality Impact Assessment

6. We have presented a draft EQIA consultation report on the circumstances where longer notices to quit will not be issued. Do you agree with how we have carried out the EQIA?

Yes.

7. Within the EQIA we have outlined some adverse impacts that the circumstances where longer notices to quit will not be issued could have. Do you agree with the adverse impacts that we have identified?

Yes.

8. We have outlined some possible mitigation measures to address these potential adverse impacts. Do you agree with the mitigating actions we have outlined?

Yes.

Do you have any other suggestions for mitigating measures or alternative policies that could be put in place?

The proposed mitigations are reasonable and appropriate and thoroughly consider the range of possible effects these measures may have, particularly on vulnerable groups.

However, given the extent of the changes these regulations will bring to the private rented sector, both the Department for Communities and the housing sector should prioritise clear communication to ensure that tenants and landlords fully understand their rights and responsibilities under the new legislation.

It would also be important for the Department for Communities to outline how it will evaluate the impacts of these regulatory changes and monitor their enforcement over time.

Contact details

For more information on our response, please contact Georgia Knapp CIHM, policy and public affairs manager Northern Ireland at georgia.knapp@cih.org.