Section 21 Notice Changes:Notice Periods, Grounds, Three Options

Section 21 no-fault evictions were abolished on 1 May 2026. That sentence covers a lot of ground. This guide unpacks what it means in practice: what Section 21 was, what the Renters Rights Act 2025 put in its place, which grounds landlords can now use to recover possession, and the three routes portfolio landlords are working through right now.

1. What Section 21 Was

Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 gave landlords the right to recover possession of a residential property without stating a reason. Serve the notice, give the tenant two months to leave, apply to court if they stayed. No fault required on the tenant’s part.

It applied to assured shorthold tenancies, which were the standard form of private rented tenancy in England since 1997. That made Section 21 the workhorse of the eviction system, used by landlords when a tenancy was ending naturally, when a property was being sold, when a family member needed to move in, and in some cases when a difficult tenancy relationship had broken down.

Critics called it the “no-fault eviction.” That framing stuck, and it ultimately shaped the political case for abolition.

2. What Abolished It and When

The Renters Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025. The tenancy reforms, including the abolition of Section 21, came into force on 1 May 2026.

30 April 2026 was the last day a valid Section 21 notice could be served. Any notice purportedly served on or after 1 May 2026 is invalid. Local authorities can impose a civil penalty of up to £7,000 for each unlawful notice.

From 1 May 2026, Section 21 no longer exists as a possession route. All possession claims in the private rented sector must rely on the expanded Section 8 grounds instead.

The Act also converted all assured shorthold tenancies, whether new or pre-existing, into assured periodic tenancies on the same date. Fixed-term tenancies in the private rented sector are effectively gone. Break clauses became void. Every tenancy is now rolling and periodic by default, with rent periods capped at one month.

3. The Transitional Window: Notices Served Before 1 May 2026

If a valid Section 21 notice was served before 1 May 2026, it continues to have effect under the transitional provisions in Schedule 6 of the Act. The notice does not disappear on the commencement date.

But there is a hard deadline. Landlords must apply to court for an order for possession by 31 July 2026 at the latest. The GOV.UK guidance on possession notices served before 1 May 2026 sets out the full transitional rules. The precise deadline depends on when the notice was served:

Notice served before 30 January 2026 (more than three months before commencement): the landlord has six months from the date of service to apply, which in most cases falls before 31 July. Apply without delay.

Notice served between 30 January and 30 April 2026: the landlord has three months from the commencement date, meaning 31 July 2026 is the absolute deadline regardless.

Notice served on or after 1 May 2026: invalid. No transitional protection applies.

If a landlord misses the 31 July deadline, the notice lapses. The tenancy becomes an assured periodic tenancy and possession must be sought through the Section 8 grounds from that point.

One practical point: the notice must have been valid at the time it was served, meeting all the pre-Act requirements (deposit protection, gas safety certificate, How to Rent guide, no retaliatory eviction bar). A defective notice does not acquire transitional protection simply because it was served before the deadline.

4. The New Framework: Assured Periodic Tenancies

From 1 May 2026, all private residential tenancies are assured periodic tenancies. The practical implications for portfolio landlords are significant.

No more fixed terms. A tenancy cannot have a fixed end date. There is no expiry to rely on, no break clause to activate.

Tenants can leave with two months’ notice at any point, provided the tenancy agreement does not specify a shorter period.

Landlords cannot end a tenancy without a Section 8 ground. There is no equivalent right for landlords to simply give notice and end a tenancy.

Rent periods cannot exceed one month. Weekly, monthly, four-weekly: all fine. Quarterly or longer: not permitted under the new rules for assured periodic tenancies.

A 12-month protected period applies for sale and move-in grounds. A landlord cannot use Ground 1 (moving in) or Ground 1A (selling) within the first 12 months of a tenancy. New tenancies started after 1 May 2026 cannot be ended on these grounds before May 2027 at the earliest.

A written statement of terms must be provided to new tenants before a tenancy begins. From 1 May 2026 this is a statutory requirement, not just good practice.

5. The Three Options Landlords Are Now Weighing

Portfolio landlords with three or more properties are working through the same three paths. None of them are wrong. The right one depends on portfolio composition, existing tenancy structures, and the landlord’s medium-term plans.

Option A: Operate under the new Section 8 framework

This is the default position. The landlord continues to let, manages tenancies under the new rules, and uses Section 8 when possession is needed. The grounds are broader than they were before the Act. Possession for sale and for family occupation is now explicitly available as a mandatory ground, which it was not previously. Rent arrears above three months remain a mandatory route to possession.

The trade-off is that all possession requires court proceedings. The accelerated possession procedure used for Section 21 claims no longer exists. All Section 8 claims need a court hearing, which adds time and cost. Current court timelines for possession claims run to many months in county courts that are already under pressure.

Option B: Sell and exit the private rented sector

Some landlords, particularly those with properties close to high loan-to-value levels or modest yields, are using the transition as a natural point to assess whether continued letting makes financial sense.

For a landlord who intended to sell within five years anyway, the abolition of Section 21 and the change to periodic tenancies may accelerate that timeline. A property with a sitting tenant can be sold. It changes the buyer pool and the achievable price, but it is not impossible.

The key date to remember: if selling is the goal, Ground 1A (intention to sell) requires four months’ notice and cannot be used within the first 12 months of a tenancy. Planning the timeline matters.

Option C: Restructure tenancies and manage proactively

A smaller group of landlords are using the transition to improve their tenancy management practice. Tighter referencing at the letting stage. Closer monitoring of arrears before they reach three months. Better records of communications, warnings issued, and maintenance responses. These are the inputs Section 8 possession claims rely on.

This option is not about finding a workaround. It is about recognising that the new framework rewards landlords who document carefully and act before a problem becomes serious. A Section 8 claim built on good evidence is more straightforward than one where records are incomplete.

6. Section 8 Grounds and Notice Periods

There are now 37 specific grounds for possession in the revised Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988, as amended by the Renters Rights Act. The most relevant for portfolio landlords are set out below.

Grounds requiring four months’ notice

Ground 1 (landlord or close family moving in): The landlord, or a close family member including a spouse, parent, child, or sibling, intends to occupy the property as their only or main home. The 12-month protected period applies: this ground cannot be used within the first year of the tenancy.

Ground 1A (intention to sell): The landlord genuinely intends to sell the property. The 12-month protected period applies. If possession is granted on this ground, the landlord cannot re-let the property on a tenancy of 21 years or less, or market it for re-letting, for 12 months from the earliest possession date stated in the notice.

Ground 6 (redevelopment): The landlord intends to demolish or carry out substantial works that cannot be done with the tenant in occupation.

Grounds requiring four weeks’ notice

Ground 8 (mandatory rent arrears): The tenant has at least three months of unpaid rent (or 13 weeks for weekly or fortnightly payment arrangements) both at the date the notice is served and at the date of the possession hearing. If arrears drop below three months between notice and hearing, the mandatory ground fails, though a discretionary claim may remain. Arrears caused by delays in Universal Credit payments are excluded from the calculation.

Ground 7A (serious antisocial behaviour): The tenant has been convicted of a serious offence, is subject to a criminal behaviour order, or has caused serious nuisance to neighbours. Court proceedings can begin immediately after service. No waiting period.

Discretionary grounds (notice periods vary)

Grounds 10 and 11 (lesser rent arrears and persistent late payment): Where arrears fall below the three-month threshold but payment is persistently late. The court must consider whether granting possession is reasonable, not just whether the ground is technically met.

Ground 12 (breach of tenancy terms): Used for lease violations other than arrears. Discretionary: the court weighs reasonableness.

Ground 14 (antisocial behaviour): Covers conduct causing nuisance or annoyance. A lower threshold than Ground 7A but still requires the court to find possession reasonable.

A key practical point applies to almost all grounds: the court will not make a possession order if the landlord has not protected the tenant’s deposit in an approved scheme and provided the prescribed information within 30 days. The sole exceptions are Grounds 7A and 14. Deposit compliance is now a prerequisite for any Section 8 possession claim, not just a background requirement.

7. What Higher Rent Arrears Thresholds Mean in Practice

Before the Renters Rights Act, mandatory possession under Ground 8 required two months of arrears and two weeks’ notice. The Act doubled both thresholds.

Three months is roughly 13 weeks of unpaid rent for a monthly tenancy. On a property renting at £1,200 per month, a landlord cannot use the mandatory route until the tenant owes £3,600. Then the notice gives the tenant four more weeks, during which time arrears can grow further.

The arrears must also still exist at the date of the possession hearing, not just at the date of service. If a tenant pays enough to bring the balance below three months before the court date, the mandatory ground falls away. The landlord may still argue the discretionary Ground 10 or Ground 11, but those require the court to find possession reasonable, which is not guaranteed.

For portfolio landlords, the practical response is earlier intervention. An informal conversation at four weeks of arrears. A formal letter at six weeks. A review of rent guarantee insurance at the point of issuing Section 8. The window between “problem starting” and “mandatory ground available” is longer than it used to be.

8. What This Means for a Portfolio of Three or More Properties

The change from Section 21 to Section 8 as the sole possession route is not just a procedural shift. It changes the economics and the management overhead of running multiple properties.

Court timelines extend. With the accelerated procedure gone, every contested possession claim needs a hearing. Waiting times in county courts for possession hearings are already measured in months. For a portfolio landlord with one disputed tenancy at any given time, that is manageable. For a landlord managing multiple tenancies simultaneously, it becomes a recurring cost of doing business.

Arrears monitoring becomes a core function. Under the old system, a landlord with a difficult tenancy could serve Section 21 and sidestep the question of proof. Under the new system, every possession claim is evidence-based. That means records matter: tenancy agreements, deposit protection certificates, rent statements, correspondence, maintenance logs.

The 12-month protected period affects acquisition strategy. A landlord buying a property with a sitting tenant, or starting a new tenancy after 1 May 2026, cannot use Ground 1 or Ground 1A for the first 12 months. If the medium-term plan involves either selling or moving a family member in, that timeline needs to be factored in at the point of acquisition, not later.

Rent guarantee insurance takes on more weight. With a longer arrears threshold before mandatory possession and longer court timelines once proceedings begin, the period of unrecovered rental income in a disputed tenancy is longer than it was. Policies that pay out from month two of arrears and cover legal costs are worth reviewing across the portfolio.

Frequently Asked Questions

Published May 2026. Last reviewed May 2026. For information only and not legal advice. Verify current grounds, notice periods, and prescribed forms at GOV.UK. Speak with a qualified solicitor for guidance on your specific circumstances.