Start with the paperwork, not the ground. Since 1 May 2026 a court cannot make a possession order against a private tenant on almost any Section 8 ground if the deposit was not held in an authorised scheme and the prescribed information was not served before the notice went out. Shelter's legal guidance and the NRLA's own briefing to landlords both say the same thing: the only carve-out is for the anti-social behaviour grounds. So a landlord who let a Hackney flat in 2019, took a deposit, protected it late or never sent the prescribed information, and has now served four months' notice to sell, may be holding a piece of paper that goes nowhere. That is the first thing to check, and it takes ten minutes on the deposit schemes' online checkers.
The two dates that matter
Section 21 was abolished on 1 May 2026, when the Renters' Rights Act 2025 came into force. On that date most existing assured shorthold tenancies converted automatically to assured periodic tenancies. A tenancy only stayed an AST if a valid Section 21 or Section 8 notice had already been served.
The transition then closed hard. Keystone Law's summary of the Act sets out that landlords who served a Section 21 notice before 1 May had three months to issue proceedings, and after 31 July 2026 they cannot rely on that notice at all. Shelter's guidance frames it as the earlier of two dates: three months from commencement, or six months from service.
The practical consequence for you: if the document in your hand says "Section 21" or "Form 6A", it is spent. Every live possession route now runs through Section 8, on a prescribed form, naming a specific ground from Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988.
Ground 1A, and why London is seeing so much of it
Ground 1A is the new mandatory ground for a landlord who intends to sell. It is the notice London renters are most likely to receive this year, for a reason visible in the sales data rather than the rental data.
The ONS Private rent and house prices bulletin published on 22 July 2026 recorded an annual fall of 5.9% in Inner London house prices in the 12 months to May 2026, with large falls in local authorities including Westminster and Tower Hamlets. Outer London fell 0.3% over the same period. Rightmove's August house price index had London asking prices down 4.4% on the month and 3.1% year on year, the weakest region in the country. Zoopla's August index put London prices 1% below a year ago. Sources differ on the size, as they always do (asking prices are not sold prices), but the direction is the same, and landlords deciding to get out are the ones serving Ground 1A.
Three features of Ground 1A shape your position.
It is mandatory, so if the landlord proves it, the court must order possession. It requires genuine intention to sell, which the landlord has to evidence to the court, and as Farrer & Co note, the Act does not define what that evidence looks like and there is no case law yet. And it locks the landlord in: the same firm points out that a seller relying on Ground 1A generally has to still own the property at the date of the hearing, so the old trick of selling with a possession claim attached does not work any more.
The four checks to run this week
| Check | What good looks like | Where it goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Ground cited | A numbered Schedule 2 ground on the prescribed Section 8 form | "Section 21", "Form 6A", or no ground at all |
| 12-month protected period | For Grounds 1 and 1A, the earliest possession date falls more than 12 months after the tenancy began | Notice served on a tenancy that started less than a year ago |
| Notice period | Four months minimum for Ground 1 and Ground 1A, counted from service, not from the date typed on the form | Miscounted expiry date, the single most common error |
| Deposit and prescribed information | Deposit in an authorised scheme, prescribed information served before the notice | Late protection, no prescribed information, deposit never protected |
The ground
Read the form and find the number. Ground 1 is the landlord or a close family member moving in, extended by the Act to parent, grandparent, sibling, child or grandchild. Ground 1A is sale. Ground 8 is serious rent arrears, and note that the Act raised the mandatory threshold to three months' unpaid rent for a monthly tenancy, or thirteen weeks where rent is weekly or fortnightly, with the arrears having to still be at that level at the hearing. If an agent mentions "Ground 8A" for repeated arrears, correct them: it was in the old Renters (Reform) Bill and did not survive into the Act.
A notice with no ground, or a ground that does not match the facts, does not start any clock running. It is void, and the landlord has to start again with a fresh valid notice.
The 12-month protected period
Neither Ground 1 nor Ground 1A can be used in the first 12 months of a tenancy. This is the protected period, and it is measured against the earliest possession date the notice can specify, which must fall more than a year after the tenancy began.
Work out your tenancy start date, not your last renewal date, and check it against the date on the notice. If your tenancy began in November 2025 and a Ground 1A notice arrives now with a possession date in early 2027, it may well be fine. If the possession date lands inside that first year, it is not.
The notice period
Four months is the statutory minimum for both Ground 1 and Ground 1A, double the old two months under Section 21. Court proceedings cannot begin until that period has expired.
Count it from the date the notice was served, not the date it was written or dated. If it was posted, allow for deemed service under your tenancy agreement, which is one of the clauses in your tenancy agreement worth finding now rather than later. Landlords and agents miscount this constantly.
Deposit protection and borough licensing
Check your deposit reference against the online checkers run by the three schemes. Then check whether you ever received the prescribed information, which is the document naming the scheme, the deposit amount, the address, and how disputes are resolved. If either is missing, the possession order is blocked until the landlord fixes it, and remedying the breach later does not retrospectively validate a notice already served.
Separately, check your borough's public register of licensed properties. Many London boroughs run selective licensing across whole wards, and additional licensing for houses in multiple occupation is widespread. An unlicensed property where licensing is required exposes the landlord to a rent repayment order at the First-tier Tribunal, which is money back in your pocket regardless of what happens with possession.
There is more coming. Goodlord and other industry trackers report that the Private Rented Sector Database, part of phase two of the Act, is due to roll out from late 2026, and an unregistered landlord will be barred from obtaining possession on all but the anti-social behaviour grounds.
What the landlord gives up by serving Ground 1A
This is the part agents rarely mention. Once Ground 1 or Ground 1A is used, a restricted period of 12 months runs from the possession date stated in the notice. During that year the landlord must not re-let the property, and must not market it for letting or authorise anyone else to do so, except to a qualifying family member.
So if the sale falls through, the landlord is sitting on an empty flat for a year. The NRLA has been warning its own members about exactly this, telling landlords that the old "serve notice, list it, see how it goes" approach no longer works.
If you move out, then see the flat back on Rightmove at a higher rent three months later, that is not bad luck. It is a breach, and it is worth reporting to your borough's private housing enforcement team. Set up a saved search on the address before you leave.
Week one action list
- Photograph the notice, front and back, including the envelope and any postmark. Note the exact date and method it arrived.
- Find your tenancy start date and your deposit certificate. Run the deposit reference through the scheme checker.
- Search your email for the prescribed information and for a gas safety certificate and EPC.
- Check the property on your borough's licensing register.
- Get the notice looked at by Shelter's free helpline, Citizens Advice, or a law centre. Do not wait for the four months to run down.
- Keep paying the rent. Withholding rent hands the landlord a fault ground and undermines everything above.
Do not hand in notice of your own in response. If you leave voluntarily, you lose the protections attached to the ground, and your council will treat you differently if you later need to make a homelessness application.
What to send the agent
Keep it short, dated and in writing. Something like:
Thank you for the notice dated [date], received [date] by [method]. Before I respond substantively, please confirm in writing: (1) the Schedule 2 ground relied on and the date the notice was served; (2) the scheme in which my deposit is protected, the reference number, and the date the prescribed information was served on me; (3) whether the property is licensed by [borough] and the licence number. I am taking advice on the validity of the notice and will not be treating it as ending my tenancy in the meantime.
That email does three things: it dates your challenge, it forces the agent to state a position on the deposit before they have taken advice, and it makes clear you are not surrendering the tenancy. If the response is vague, that tells you something.
Where to escalate in London
Your borough council's private sector housing team, sometimes called the tenancy relations officer, handles harassment, illegal eviction and licensing breaches. Only a court bailiff can evict you, and a landlord who changes the locks or pressures you to go before a possession order commits a criminal offence.
The First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) deals with rent repayment orders and with rent increase challenges, which is a separate fight and one worth reading up on if a Section 13 notice lands alongside everything else: see our guide to challenging a London rent increase at the tribunal. And if you do end up flat-hunting, know what an agent can lawfully ask for before you pay anything: one month upfront and what agents can legally demand covers the Tenant Fees Act 2019 limits, which the Act tightened further by banning rental bidding.
The ONS put average London rent at £2,302 in June 2026, with annual rent inflation in the capital the lowest of any English region at 2.2%. A slower rental market and a falling sales market is an unusual combination, and it is the reason your landlord wants out and the reason you have more time than the notice suggests.