Explanatory Notes

Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016

1

18 January 2016

Commentary on Sections

Part 5 - Provisions Applying Only to Secure Contracts

Chapter 3 - Joint Contract-Holders: Withdrawal
Section 111 – Withdrawal

291.Where this section is incorporated as a term of a secure contract without modification, if there is more than one contract-holder under the occupation contract, any of those contract-holders may cease to be a party to the contract without bringing the contract to an end.

292.In those circumstances, a contract-holder who intends to leave the secure contract must provide the landlord with a ‘withdrawal notice’, stating the date on which they intend to cease being a party to the contract. They must also provide the other joint contract-holders with a written warning of their intention to leave the contract and a copy of the withdrawal notice at the same time as they give the notice to the landlord. As additional protection, the landlord must also provide the other contract-holders with a written warning and a copy of the notice.

293.Under a term of the contract that incorporates this provision without modification if, instead of providing a withdrawal notice under this section, a joint contract-holder gives a notice under a term of the contract that incorporates section 163 (contract-holder’s notice to end contract), that notice has the same effect as a withdrawal notice.

Section 112 - Withdrawal: power to prescribe time limits

294.The section places a duty on the Welsh Ministers to prescribe, for the purpose of section 111, a minimum notice period for withdrawing from a joint occupation contract.