The one-paragraph version
If your landlord wants you out, they now have to say why, in writing, on the correct form, and prove it to a judge. Section 21 died on 1 May 2026, when
the Renters' Rights Act 2025 converted almost every existing assured shorthold tenancy in England into an assured periodic tenancy, ended fixed terms, and stopped landlords issuing new Section 21 notices
. The transitional window has closed too:
31 July 2026 was the final date for a landlord to apply to court on an old Section 21 notice, and those notices are not valid after it
. So if a notice landed on your mat this month, it is a Section 8 notice relying on a numbered ground, and the ground is the whole argument. The most common one, a landlord claiming they intend to sell, carries
four months' notice and cannot be used in the first 12 months of the tenancy
. That is the number to hold on to.
First check: is the notice actually valid
Do this before you do anything else, including replying.
- Is it on Form 3A? Practitioners have been warning since spring that
landlords must now serve a Section 8 notice using the new Form 3A, and using the old form or an informal equivalent puts the notice at risk
. An email saying "we need the flat back by October" is not a notice.
- Does it name a ground and state a date?
A Section 8 notice must state the date by which your landlord is asking you to leave, and must give the required amount of time under each ground
. A notice with the wrong expiry date for the ground relied on is defective.
- Count the days yourself. Four months means four months from service, not from the date typed at the top.
- Did you ever get the paperwork? Existing tenants should have received the government's information sheet.
Landlords with tenancies that were ASTs on 1 May 2026 had to send the Renters' Rights Act information sheet by 31 May 2026, and the penalty for not doing so is a civil penalty of up to £7,000
. New tenancies need a written statement of terms before signing:
a new Section 16D of the Housing Act 1988 requires it, and the sanction runs to £7,000, or £40,000 for repeat breaches
. If yours never arrived, that is worth a call to the borough's private rented sector enforcement team, and it is useful context in any negotiation. Our guide to what to look for in a tenancy agreement covers what the statement should contain.
- Are you even covered? The reforms apply to assured periodic tenancies.
They do not apply to high-rent tenancies with annual rent above £100,000, lodger arrangements, company lets or Rent Act 1977 tenancies
. Plenty of central London flats at £8,500 a month sit outside the regime entirely.
Nothing in the notice obliges you to leave on the date it gives. If you stay,
the landlord has to apply to court for a possession order, and at court must provide evidence of a valid reason
.
Mandatory or discretionary: the distinction that decides your case
Mandatory grounds mean the court must order possession if the landlord proves the facts. Discretionary grounds mean the court also has to decide it is reasonable, and
for discretionary grounds a suspended or postponed possession order is common, letting the tenant stay if conditions are met
.
| Ground | What the landlord is claiming | Court's discretion | Notice period |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Landlord or a close family member will move in | Mandatory |
Four months, and not usable in the first 12 months
| | 1A | Landlord intends to sell | Mandatory |
Four months, and not usable in the first 12 months
| | 4A | Student HMO, to free the property for the next academic year | Mandatory |
Four months, expiring between 1 June and 30 September
| | 7A | Serious antisocial behaviour, conviction or breach of an ASBO | Mandatory |
No notice period
| | 8 | Serious rent arrears | Mandatory |
Four weeks
| | 11, 14 | Persistent late payment, antisocial behaviour | Discretionary | Varies |
Three other grounds turn up in London more than you might expect.
Ground 6, redevelopment or demolition, is mandatory but conditional: the landlord must have acquired their interest before the tenancy started, and the tenancy must have begun at least six months before the notice
.
Ground 6B covers a landlord who needs possession to comply with enforcement action, and the court can order the landlord to pay the tenant compensation
.
Ground 2 is a mortgage lender repossessing
, which is a different fight and one where your deposit and any arrears position matter more than usual.
Grounds 1 and 1A: why a fabricated sale is expensive
This is the part landlords underestimated.
The 12-month restricted period runs from the possession date in the notice, during which the landlord must not re-let the property except to a qualifying family member, and must not market it or authorise anyone else to market it
.
That covers letting, licensing and short-term lets such as Airbnb, and it binds the landlord's agent as well
.
Breach is an offence under the new Section 16J(2) of the Housing Act 1988, with a maximum civil penalty of £40,000 and a starting point in the statutory guidance of £25,000
. Some practitioner guides quote a lower £7,000 first-breach figure; the £25,000 starting point is the one drawn from the statutory guidance, and it is the one councils are told to work from.
Tenants can also apply for a rent repayment order of up to two years' rent
where the relevant breaches apply.
The practical consequence: watch the listings after you leave. If the flat you vacated under Ground 1A reappears on Rightmove or SpareRoom at a higher rent in month four, screenshot it, note the date and the agent, and report it to the local authority. Councils can
impose civil penalties directly without a court hearing
, though the landlord can make representations and appeal to the First-tier Tribunal.
One timing quirk worth knowing, because agents get it wrong:
the notice period is four months, so a landlord can serve after eight months provided the notice expires no earlier than the end of month 12
. A Ground 1A notice arriving in month nine of your tenancy is not automatically void.
Arrears: the three-month line is the whole game
From 1 May 2026 the Ground 8 threshold rose from two months to three months' unpaid rent for a monthly tenancy, or 13 weeks where rent is weekly or fortnightly, and the arrears must reach that level both on the day the notice is served and on the day of the hearing, so a tenant who pays the balance below the threshold before the hearing defeats the ground
.
Where the shortfall exists only because a Universal Credit housing payment has not reached the tenant, that amount is left out of the calculation
.
Cornerstone Barristers made the blunt point about what this means in practice:
a tenant may be four full months in arrears before a claim is even issued at court
.
So if you are behind: get the account statement, work out the exact figure that drops you under three months, and pay it before the hearing date, not on the morning of it. Keep the bank confirmation. If the landlord has bolted on discretionary grounds as a fallback, and most do, expect the judge to look at why the arrears built up and what you have paid since.
London possession court, and the free advice most tenants miss
If it reaches court,
the judge can also make a money judgment for unpaid rent, enforceable separately
, and
the landlord must never remove you personally, which is a criminal offence
. Bailiff enforcement is a further application after the order.
Free representation exists and it is genuinely free.
The Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service provides early legal advice on housing, debt and benefits from the moment you are notified that possession is being sought, plus on-the-day advice and representation at any listed possession hearing
.
You do not have to meet legal aid financial eligibility rules, though you will need to show you are at risk of losing your home
.
The in-court duty scheme runs at all courts across England and Wales where possession proceedings are listed, including alternative hearing venues
, which in practice means Clerkenwell and Shoreditch, Central London, Croydon, Romford, Barnet and the rest.
Shelter's description is the fair one: duty advice is often a last opportunity, and many tenants keep their homes at that late stage
.
Book the early advice as soon as the notice arrives. Waiting for the hearing wastes the more useful half of the service.
Where your bargaining position is strongest
Notice is often the opening of a negotiation, not the end of one, and the local rent picture sets the terms. On the ONS local rent figures for June 2026,
the average private rent in Camden was £2,791, in line with £2,804 a year earlier, a change of 0.5%, while across London rents rose 2.2% to £2,302
. Lambeth went the other way:
£2,523 in June 2026, up 5.1% from £2,401, ahead of London's 2.2%
. Read the monthly rather than annual movement and the split sharpens: one tracker's reading of the June ONS local data has
Camden as the fastest-rising London borough month on month at 1.2% and Lambeth the weakest at -0.2%, with Kensington and Chelsea the most expensive borough at £3,596 and Bexley the cheapest at £1,531
.
Translated: in a flat or falling submarket, your landlord's re-letting risk is real and a deal is available. Try this, in writing, to the agent: "I am not accepting the notice date. I will consider leaving by [date six weeks later than the notice] in exchange for the last month rent-free and the deposit returned in full within seven days, with no deductions beyond an agreed inventory list." A landlord under Ground 1A who has already committed to a sale, and who now cannot re-let for 12 months, has a strong reason to buy certainty from you.
If the notice is really a rent increase in disguise, the route is the tribunal rather than the county court, and it is worth reading how to challenge a London rent increase before you agree to anything. And if you are moving on by choice, remember you now set the pace:
tenants can end an assured periodic tenancy at any time on two months' notice, or less if the agreement says so
.
This week's list
- Photograph the notice, front and back, and diarise the expiry date.
- Check the form number and the ground number. Anything other than Form 3A with a numbered ground is a problem for your landlord, not for you.
- Ring HLPAS-funded early advice or Shelter now, not in three months.
- Ask the agent one written question: "Which ground are you relying on, and on what date did my tenancy begin?" The answer either confirms the 12-month bar or hands you the landlord's own version of the facts in writing.
- Set a monthly reminder to search your own address on the portals for the next year.