Section 21 ‘no-fault’ notices ended on 1 May 2026. To get a property back you now serve a section 8 notice on the new form (Form 3A), naming one or more grounds and setting out their full wording.
Some grounds are mandatory: if you prove them, the court must order possession. Others are discretionary: the court decides whether it is reasonable.
What changed
- Ground 1 (you or close family moving in) and Ground 1A (selling): four months' notice, and the notice cannot end within the first 12 months of the tenancy.
- After using Ground 1 or 1A you cannot re-let or market the property to let from the day you serve notice until 12 months after the notice ends. Breaking this is a criminal offence.
- Ground 8 (serious rent arrears): mandatory, four weeks' notice. Arrears must be at least three months' rent for a monthly let, both when you serve notice and at the hearing.
- Ground 12 (breach of the tenancy) needs two weeks' notice. Ground 14 (anti-social behaviour) can start straight away. Both are discretionary.
- Using a ground you do not reasonably believe you can prove is a breach. Doing it knowingly or recklessly, where the tenant then leaves, is a criminal offence.
What it means for you
- Treat getting possession as a process measured in months. A contested case can run close to a year with court delays.
- If you plan to sell with vacant possession, the earliest a tenant can be required to leave is twelve months into the tenancy, after four months' notice.
- Keep evidence of your intention, such as an agent's instruction or the family member's plans. Sham use of these grounds is how landlords get caught.
- Selling with the tenant in place avoids all of this. The tenancy simply passes to the buyer.
- Serving notices is now easy to get wrong. It is worth having a solicitor do it.