For the first time since the Housing Act 1988 created assured shortholds, a landlord cannot ask for possession of a tenanted property without giving a reason. That is the operational consequence of 1 May 2026: Section 21 is gone, the assured shorthold tenancy regime is gone, and every possession claim now proceeds under a reformed Section 8 architecture with twenty-eight named grounds, prescribed notice periods, and a documentary evidence pack the court will check before granting an order. This page is the working reference for that new procedure.
The content is operational rather than legislative. The statutory background is the Renters' Rights Act 2025 (2025 c. 26), Section 2 (abolition of the assured shorthold tenancy regime), Section 3 and Schedule 1 (the amended grounds for possession) and the Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/421) which appointed 1 May 2026 as the commencement day. The lawful-possession sister page to our enforcement and civil-penalty defence guide, this one walks the operational sequence: which ground on which facts, what notice period, what evidence, what the timeline looks like in practice.
What changed on 1 May 2026 in a single paragraph
Three structural changes landed together. First, Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 was abolished for new assured tenancies, removing the no-fault possession route. Second, the assured shorthold tenancy (AST) regime itself was abolished: all new tenancies from 1 May 2026 are periodic-from-grant assured tenancies under section 1 of the RRA 2025, and existing fixed-term ASTs convert to periodic at commencement. Third, Section 8 was substantially restructured by Schedule 1 of the RRA 2025, adding new mandatory grounds (Ground 1A landlord sale, Ground 6B compliance with enforcement, Ground 7A severe ASB, Ground 8A repeat arrears), reshaping existing grounds, and extending notice periods to ranges from no-notice (Ground 7A) to 4 months (the landlord-discretion grounds).
The tenant-side mirror change, 2 months notice any time
Before discussing the landlord routes, note the equally significant tenant-side change. A tenant in an assured periodic tenancy can now end the tenancy at any point on 2 months' written notice, regardless of how recently the tenancy started. There is no minimum-stay requirement; the notice runs from delivery to landlord (or letting agent if expressly authorised) for two calendar months. This changes the operational economics of a possession claim materially: many disputes will be resolved by the tenant pre-empting the court process and leaving, which is often the cheapest outcome for the landlord (no court fees, no bailiff scheduling, no contested hearing) at the price of no formal possession order and no court-side route to arrears recovery.
The reformed Section 8 grounds, the working table
The grounds split into mandatory (the court must order possession once the ground is proved and procedural conditions met) and discretionary (the court has a discretion on whether possession is reasonable on the facts). Notice periods below run from the date the notice is given to the tenant.
Mandatory grounds, private-landlord-relevant subset
| Ground | Notice | Substance |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 months | Landlord (or family member) moving in. Blocked in first 12 months of tenancy. 12-month re-let prohibition after possession. |
| 1A | 4 months | Landlord selling the property. Blocked in first 12 months. 12-month re-let prohibition after possession (penalty up to £40,000 under RRA 2025 s.15). |
| 2 | 4 months | Mortgagee sale after default. Mortgage lender enforcement, not the landlord directly. |
| 4A | 4 months | HMO student turnaround (June to September academic cycle). Cannot be used if tenancy was agreed more than 6 months before start. |
| 6 | 4 months | Redevelopment or demolition; typically not usable in first 6 months. |
| 6B | 4 months | Possession required to comply with local-authority enforcement action. |
| 7 | 2 months | Death of tenant. Applies where the inheritor was not living at the property; 12-month limitation from death. |
| 7A | No notice (court delay 14 days) | Severe anti-social behaviour or criminal conviction or closure order in connection with the property. |
| 7B | 2 weeks | No Right to Rent under immigration law. |
| 8 | 4 weeks | Serious rent arrears: at least 3 months (monthly rent) or 13 weeks (weekly / fortnightly rent) outstanding both at notice and hearing. |
| 8A | 4 weeks | Repeat rent arrears: at least 2 months' arrears on 3 or more occasions in the preceding 36 months. |
Discretionary grounds
| Ground | Notice | Substance |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | 2 months | Suitable alternative accommodation offered. |
| 10 | 4 weeks | Any rent arrears (below Ground 8 threshold). |
| 11 | 4 weeks | Persistent late payment of rent even where currently up to date. |
| 12 | 2 weeks | Breach of tenancy terms other than rent. |
| 13 | 2 weeks | Property deterioration caused by the tenant. |
| 14 | No notice (court delay 14 days) | Anti-social behaviour by tenant, occupier or visitor. |
| 15 | 2 weeks | Deterioration of furniture. |
| 17 | 2 weeks | Tenancy granted on the basis of a false statement. |
The standard portfolio-landlord pattern uses one mandatory ground plus a discretionary ground in combination. The mandatory ground gives certainty of outcome once procedural conditions are met; the discretionary ground gives the court latitude on costs and on ancillary orders (rent arrears judgment, deposit-handling directions, suspended-possession options).
Ground 1A in detail: the landlord-sale route
Ground 1A is the most operationally consequential new ground for portfolio landlords because it covers the most common contemporary reason for ending a tenancy: the decision to sell. Its mechanics are tighter than the abolished Section 21 route on three dimensions.
First, the 12-month new-tenancy embargo. A landlord cannot rely on Ground 1A within the first 12 months of a new tenancy. A landlord who buys a tenanted property cannot evict the sitting tenant to sell during their first year as landlord. The clock runs from the start of the relevant tenancy under the current landlord, not from purchase date if different.
Second, the 4-month notice. Ground 1A carries a 4-month notice period (significantly longer than the 2-month Section 21 notice it replaced). The landlord planning a portfolio disposal therefore has to build a longer pre-marketing window into the timeline.
Third, the 12-month post-possession re-letting prohibition. Section 16J(1) of the Housing Act 1988, as inserted by Schedule 1 of the RRA 2025, prohibits the landlord from re-letting the property for 12 months after recovering possession on Ground 1A. The point is to prevent the landlord-sale ground being used as a disguised eviction route to relet at a higher rent. Breach is an offence triggering a civil penalty of up to £40,000 under sections 15 to 17 of the RRA 2025. The statutory defence in section 16J(2) is broadly that the landlord intended in good faith to sell when notice was served and the intention changed only for legitimate reasons (sale chain collapse, family medical circumstances, regulatory disposal block). The defence is workable but evidentially demanding.
Ground 8 and 8A in detail: the rent-arrears route
Ground 8 remains the workhorse possession route for tenants in significant rent default. The threshold is unchanged: at least 3 months' rent in arrears for a monthly tenancy (or 13 weeks for a weekly or fortnightly tenancy), with arrears outstanding both at the date notice is served and at the date of the court hearing. Notice period: 4 weeks. Mandatory: the court must grant possession once arrears are proved at both dates.
The recurring weakness of Ground 8 under the pre-2026 framework was the courtroom-door clearance: a tenant who paid down arrears below the threshold before the hearing forced the landlord to switch to discretionary Ground 10 (any arrears) or Ground 11 (persistent late payment), neither of which gives certainty of outcome. Ground 8A, introduced by Schedule 1 of the RRA 2025, plugs that gap. Where the tenant has been in 2+ months' arrears on 3 or more separate occasions within the preceding 36 months, Ground 8A is available even if current arrears are below the Ground 8 threshold or have been cleared shortly before hearing. The notice period is 4 weeks and the ground is mandatory once the documentary pattern is proved.
Practical drafting point: a Ground 8 notice should now usually plead Grounds 8, 8A, 10 and 11 together where the underlying facts support all four. The court takes whichever ground is proved at the hearing date; the landlord avoids being forced to amend mid-process if the tenant clears specific arrears.
The five-document evidence pack
The court will not grant possession on any Section 8 ground if the landlord cannot demonstrate compliance with the underlying legal requirements that the tenancy presupposes. Five documents form the core pack.
- Gas safety certificate (CP12). Issued by a Gas Safe registered engineer; renewed annually. Served on every new tenant before move-in; served on existing tenants within 28 days of each annual renewal. The certificate dates have to align with the tenancy: a gap between the prior certificate expiry and a renewal that overlaps with the tenancy start can defeat the document-pack defence.
- EICR. Electrical installation condition report on a 5-year cycle. Same service requirements: existing tenants within 28 days, new tenants before occupation. Any C1 or C2 defect requires remedial work within 28 days and re-inspection.
- EPC. Energy performance certificate, 10-year validity. Minimum E rating under the PRS minimum energy efficiency standards. Properties below E can let only with a registered exemption.
- Deposit protection. Deposit in an approved scheme within 30 calendar days of receipt; prescribed information served on the tenant within the same 30 days. Failure to protect a deposit triggers a separate civil-law exposure under s.214 Housing Act 2004 (1x to 3x deposit penalty) and can be raised as a counterclaim in the possession proceedings.
- RRA Information Sheet. Served on existing tenants by 31 May 2026 (the transitional deadline for tenancies in place at commencement) and provided to every new tenant before the tenancy starts. The Information Sheet is the prescribed format under SI 2026/421 explaining the new periodic-tenancy framework and the tenant's rights under the Act.
The transitional position for pre-1-May-2026 Section 21 notices
The saving provisions in SI 2026/421 preserve the operative effect of Section 21 notices that were validly served before commencement. The mechanics: a Section 21 notice served before 1 May 2026 continues through the court process if possession proceedings are issued within the 6-month notice-validity window from the notice expiry date. The accelerated possession procedure (CPR Part 55.II) remains available for these saved notices, which is why getting in-flight Section 21 notices through the issue stage promptly is the immediate priority for landlords with a notice currently running.
The transitional cohort will close out organically: every Section 21 notice served before 1 May 2026 will either have been enforced or expired by approximately November 2026 (6-month maximum validity from the latest possible expiry date of a pre-commencement notice). From that point all possession claims proceed under the new Section 8 framework only.
Worked timeline: a contested Ground 8 case
The following is a composite illustration. Names and facts are invented; no real tenant or landlord is described.
Mr Khan lets a two-bed flat in a metropolitan borough on a monthly assured periodic tenancy from August 2025 (converted to a periodic assured tenancy on 1 May 2026 under the RRA 2025 transition). Rent £1,500 per calendar month. In March 2026 the tenant misses two months' rent. By June 2026 the tenant is 3.2 months in arrears. Mr Khan serves a Section 8 notice on 5 June 2026 pleading Grounds 8, 8A, 10 and 11, with a 4-week notice expiring 3 July 2026. The tenant does not vacate or pay.
Possession claim issued in the County Court on 4 July 2026. Court allocates a hearing for 28 August 2026 (8 weeks; the local list is busy). At hearing the tenant has not paid down and arrears are now 4.4 months. Court orders possession on Ground 8, judgment for arrears, 14-day suspension period before warrant. Warrant of possession issued 12 September 2026; bailiff appointment 17 October 2026. Tenant vacates voluntarily 10 October 2026, returning keys to letting agent.
Total timeline from notice served to keys returned: 18 weeks. Total cost: court fee £355, solicitor £2,400 (procedural representation through to hearing), bailiff fee £155, lost rent during the process roughly £5,500. Tax position: the £2,400 solicitor fee is deductible against rental income as a revenue expense of the rental business; the court fee and bailiff fee are similarly deductible; the lost rent is not separately deductible (it never accrued, so there is nothing to deduct). The arrears judgment is recoverable as a debt; recovery rates in practice are typically 30 to 60% of the judgment sum.
Worked timeline: a Ground 1A landlord-sale case
Mrs Singh lets a three-bed terrace in a regional town on a monthly assured tenancy since January 2024 (converted to periodic at 1 May 2026). She decides in March 2027 to sell the property as part of a downsizing of her four-property portfolio. The 12-month new-tenancy embargo is satisfied (the tenancy began in 2024). She serves a Section 8 notice on 1 April 2027 on Ground 1A with a 4-month expiry of 1 August 2027. The tenant accepts the position and leaves voluntarily on 30 July 2027 to avoid a court process.
Marketing instruction issued to local estate agent 25 July 2027. Offer accepted 5 September 2027. Exchange of contracts 18 October 2027; completion 1 December 2027. The property has been continuously held out for sale since possession was recovered; the re-letting prohibition under section 16J is satisfied because the landlord did not re-let. Total timeline from notice to sale completion: 32 weeks. The legal costs of the Section 8 process (modest because the tenant did not contest) are capitalised against the eventual CGT computation rather than deducted against rental income, on the basis that the immediate purpose of the legal work was to facilitate the disposal of the asset.
Tax-side implications, in brief
Legal fees for a possession claim are deductible against rental income where the underlying matter is part of operating the rental business (rent arrears recovery, breach-of-tenancy enforcement, possession to address an operational problem). They become capital in character (and therefore deductible against the eventual capital gain rather than against rental income) where the immediate purpose is the sale of the asset, as in a Ground 1A possession that runs straight into a marketed disposal.
The Section 21 abolition does not directly change the deductibility framework; ITTOIA 2005 s.272 still applies trading-profit principles to property businesses. What it does change is the volume and character of legal work: more contested claims, longer proceedings, more documentary preparation pre-notice, and (in the Ground 1A cohort specifically) a more obviously capital-shaped expenditure profile because possession is the precursor to sale.
Civil-penalty exposure under the RRA 2025 (for example breach of the 12-month re-letting prohibition) is separately not deductible per HMRC BIM38500. The detailed defence position on civil penalties is covered in our enforcement-defence guide; the wider tax-implications context is at our tax-implications page; the deductibility framework is at our complete deductions list.
What to do this week if you are a landlord with a tenanted portfolio
Three operational priorities. First, audit the document pack on every let property against the five-item list above. The cost of getting compliance certificates current now is materially lower than the cost of an evidentiary challenge at hearing six months from now. Second, serve the RRA Information Sheet on every existing tenant before the 31 May 2026 transitional deadline; this is a one-time exercise with a hard cutoff. Third, if there is any in-flight Section 21 notice in the portfolio (served before 1 May 2026 but not yet at court issue), make the decision now on whether to push it through under the saving provisions or to start over on a substantive Section 8 ground. The transitional saving window is six months from notice expiry; once it closes, Section 21 is no longer a route.
Related reading: our first-time landlord pillar for the operational framework into which the new possession regime fits; our HMRC penalties page for the tax-side penalty regime that runs parallel to the housing penalty regime.