Section 21 is abolished: what replaces no-fault evictions

General information only, not legal advice. Verify your specific situation with a solicitor.

For nearly four decades, Section 21 was the landlord’s quiet backstop. Introduced by the Housing Act 1988 in January 1989, it let you take your property back without giving a reason: serve a notice, wait two months, and — in theory — recover possession. On 1 May 2026, that backstop disappeared.

The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025, and the government confirmed the main implementation date — 1 May 2026 — on 13 November 2025. On that date, all existing assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) converted to assured periodic tenancies with no fixed end date. No more Section 21. No more “no-fault” exits. If you want your property back now, you need a reason — and you need to be able to prove it.

That changes everything about how you approach the moment before a tenancy begins.

What has actually changed

Section 21 is gone. No new notices can be served on or after 1 May 2026. A valid Section 21 notice served before that date can still be relied on, but only if the landlord asks the court to issue a claim by 31 July 2026 — otherwise it lapses. That window has now effectively closed.

Fixed terms are gone too. Even if you agreed a 12-month AST in early 2026, it converted to a rolling periodic arrangement on 1 May. You can no longer agree a new fixed-term assured tenancy. Periodic tenancies are the new normal.

The only route to possession now is Section 8, using one of the statutory grounds in Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988 (as amended by the Renters’ Rights Act). Courts must grant possession if a mandatory ground is proved; discretionary grounds give judges a choice.

The grounds that matter most

Ground 1 — landlord or close family member moving in (mandatory). Four months’ written notice. The notice cannot expire within the first 12 months of the tenancy. After you recover possession, you cannot market or re-let the property for 12 months.

Ground 1A — selling (mandatory). Also four months’ notice, and the notice cannot expire in the first 12 months. The same 12-month no re-let restriction applies. Importantly, that restriction runs from when you recover possession, not from when you serve notice — so the safe assumption is that you cannot re-let for a full year after the property comes back to you.

Ground 8 — serious rent arrears (mandatory). The threshold has risen from two months to three months (or 13 weeks for weekly/fortnightly tenancies). The notice period has doubled from two weeks to four weeks. The tenant must still owe at least three months’ arrears both when notice is served and at the hearing — if they pay down enough in between, the mandatory ground falls away. When calculating arrears, any amount unpaid only because a Universal Credit housing payment had not yet been received is disregarded.

Ground 14 — antisocial behaviour (discretionary). No notice period is required, so you can apply to court immediately, but the judge decides whether eviction is reasonable.

Grounds 1, 1A and 6 (redevelopment) all carry a four-month notice period and cannot be used in the first 12 months. At the other end, Grounds 7A (serious antisocial or criminal behaviour, mandatory) and 14 require no notice at all — these are the immediate-action conduct grounds, not a two-week tier.

The court backlog problem

Here is the hard truth the Act cannot fix: the courts are already stretched. In 2025 the median time from issuing a possession claim to recovering a property rose to 27 weeks — the longest in over two decades, excluding the pandemic backlog. In London, county court bailiff appointments are being listed seven to eight months after a possession order. In serious arrears cases the full journey from notice to eviction can approach a year.

Research reported by the High Court Enforcement Officers Association puts average rent losses at the point of eviction at £12,708 nationally, rising to £19,223 in London. These are typical figures, not worst cases. Getting the tenant right first time is no longer just good practice — it is financial self-preservation.

The penalties for getting it wrong

The Act creates two enforcement tiers. A breach — for example failing to give proper written notice of the grounds, or misrepresenting the tenancy — carries a civil penalty of up to £7,000, with no option to prosecute. An offence — such as using a possession ground knowing it does not apply, or re-letting within 12 months after Ground 1 or 1A — can attract a civil penalty of up to £40,000, or criminal prosecution with an unlimited fine. Repeat or continuing breaches can be escalated into the offence tier.

Separately, tenants can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a rent repayment order of up to two years’ rent — double the previous maximum.

What “getting the tenant right” now looks like

A thorough reference check was always sensible. Under the new regime, it is the closest thing landlords have to insurance.

A proper tenant reference should cover:

• Credit history — county court judgments, defaults, insolvency
• Income verification — payslips or accounts, not just a self-declaration. A common industry rule of thumb is gross income of at least 2.5× the annual rent, though this is a convention agencies set themselves, not a legal threshold
• Previous landlord reference — at minimum, confirmation that rent was paid and notice given cleanly
• Right to Rent — a legal obligation regardless, and one to document properly before the tenancy begins
• Employment status — employees, self-employed and benefit recipients carry different risk profiles and need different evidence

A full reference check done properly gives you documented, contemporaneous evidence that you chose your tenant carefully. If you later end up in court on Ground 8 or Ground 14, that paper trail can support your case. See our tenant reference criteria for what we check.

PropertyGoose referencing starts at £14 per reference and typically turns around within 48 hours, with a 24-hour fast-track option. The cost is trivial against a single bad tenancy in the post-Section 21 world.

The practical checklist for 2026 and beyond

1. Serve nothing called a “Section 21 notice”. It has no legal effect.
2. Check which ground applies before serving anything. Notice periods, the first-12-months bar and the post-possession re-let restrictions vary by ground. Using the wrong ground, or the right ground without evidence, is costly.
3. Keep records from day one — signed agreement, rent history, inspection reports, written communications.
4. Build the arrears safety net before you need it. With a three-month threshold for Ground 8, a tenant can accrue significant debt before you have a mandatory ground. Rent & legal protection (PropertyGoose works with Aviva-backed Alan Boswell) helps cover the gap — buy it before the tenancy starts.
5. Reference every adult occupant. If a permitted occupier later becomes a named tenant, their history matters.

The bigger picture

Section 21 is gone, and it is not coming back. The Renters’ Rights Act is the biggest reshaping of private rented sector law since 1988, and the government has signalled that enforcement will be active.

The landlords who weather this best will be those who treat lettings as a professional activity: robust referencing, clean documentation, proper insurance and a clear process from enquiry to tenancy. The Renters’ Rights Act briefing and PropertyGoose referencing exist to help you operate confidently in this new landscape. If you’d like to talk it through, book a call.