Guide to Evicting a Tenant

What changed under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025

Section 21 abolished. Fixed-term assured tenancies abolished. Ground 8 threshold raised to 3 months. Information Sheet required for every qualifying tenancy by 31 May 2026. Read the full guide.

Evicting a tenant in England is now a grounds-based process. Section 21 was abolished on 1 May 2026 by the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, and the only route to possession for a landlord is Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988. This guide sets out, step by step, what a landlord needs to do to recover possession lawfully under the new regime, with the current court fees and a realistic timeline.

Section 21 is gone

From 1 May 2026, Section 21 — the no-reason eviction route — has been abolished. Every landlord-initiated possession now runs through Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988, supported by one or more of 37 statutory grounds set out in the amended Schedule 2. Landlords who served a valid Section 21 notice before 1 May 2026 can still rely on it under the Act’s transitional provisions, but no new Section 21 notice can be served.

Step 1 — Establish a ground

Before doing anything else, work out which statutory ground applies to your situation. There is no general “landlord wants the property back” ground — you must fit the facts to one of the 37 grounds, or the tenancy continues. The grounds most commonly used by private landlords are:

• Ground 1 — the landlord or a close family member intends to occupy the property as their only or principal home. 4 months’ notice. Cannot be used, or expire, within the first 12 months of the tenancy (the “protected period”).

• Ground 1A — the landlord intends to sell the property. 4 months’ notice. Cannot be used, or expire, within the first 12 months of the tenancy. The property cannot be re-let or re-marketed for around 12 months after the earliest possession date given in the notice — breaching this restriction is a criminal offence and can trigger a civil penalty of up to £40,000.

• Ground 6 — the landlord needs vacant possession for substantial redevelopment or demolition that cannot be carried out with the tenant in occupation. 4 months’ notice.

• Ground 8 — the tenant owes at least 3 months’ rent (13 weeks if rent is paid weekly or fortnightly), both when notice is served and at the hearing. 4 weeks’ notice. Mandatory — if proved, the court must grant possession. Arrears caused only by a delayed Universal Credit housing payment do not count.

• Grounds 10 and 11 — some rent arrears, or a history of persistently late payment, falling short of the Ground 8 threshold. 4 weeks’ notice. Discretionary — the court decides whether eviction is reasonable.

• Ground 12 — breach of a tenancy term unrelated to rent (for example, keeping a pet in breach of the agreement, or unauthorised subletting). 2 weeks’ notice. Discretionary.

• Ground 14 — anti-social behaviour by the tenant, a member of their household, or a visitor. No fixed notice period — proceedings can be issued immediately after notice is given — but the court cannot make a possession order until at least 14 days after the date the notice was given.

• Ground 7A — the tenant, or someone living with or visiting them, has been convicted of a serious offence, breached an anti-social behaviour order, or been the subject of a closure order lasting more than 48 hours. Also no fixed notice period, with the same 14-day minimum before an order can be made.

If none of the grounds apply on the facts, you do not have a route to possession and the tenancy continues — this is a real change from the old regime, where the absence of a ground did not prevent a Section 21 notice being used.

Step 2 — Check your procedural position

• Deposit protection. If the tenant paid a deposit, it must be protected in a government-approved scheme and the prescribed information served. The court cannot make a possession order at all while the deposit is unprotected, whatever ground you rely on.

• The Information Sheet or written statement. The “How to Rent” guide was withdrawn on 1 May 2026. For tenancies that already had a written record of terms before that date, most landlords had to give the tenant the official Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet by 31 May 2026. For tenancies created on or after 1 May 2026 (or wholly verbal tenancies that predate it), landlords must instead give written information about the key tenancy terms. Not having done so does not automatically bar a possession claim, but it is a compliance failure a tenant’s adviser will raise, and can attract a separate financial penalty.

• Gas safety, electrical (EICR) and EPC records. These remain ongoing statutory duties regardless of the eviction route, and a landlord who has let them lapse is exposed to separate enforcement action even where they do not directly bar a particular ground.

• Right to Rent. Relevant specifically if you intend to rely on Ground 7B (no right to rent), which depends on a Home Office notice.

• PRS Database registration. Once the Private Rented Sector Database becomes mandatory for your property — the government has indicated a phased rollout during 2026–2027 — registration is expected to become a precondition for most possession routes. Check GOV.UK for the current position in your area before relying on this as settled.

Procedural failures are still the most common reason claims are delayed, adjourned, or dismissed, so resolve every point above before serving notice.

Step 3 — Try negotiation

Possession proceedings typically take six months or more from notice to vacant possession, cost the landlord £415 in court fees alone before any legal costs, and rarely leave the landlord-tenant relationship intact. Before formal action:

• Offer to discuss the situation directly. Many tenancies still end by mutual agreement once the landlord’s genuine need for possession is understood.

• Consider a deed of surrender — a formal document ending the tenancy by mutual agreement on a specified date, giving both sides more certainty than an informal handshake arrangement.

• For arrears cases, consider a payment plan, particularly where the tenant’s difficulties look temporary — this can avoid the Ground 8 threshold being reached at all.

Step 4 — Serve the Section 8 notice

If negotiation fails, serve a Section 8 notice on the prescribed form. Specify every ground you are relying on, the particulars supporting each ground, and the correct notice period for that ground (use the longest applicable period if you cite more than one ground with different periods). Serve the notice on every named tenant individually and keep proof of service — how you served it, on whom, and when — because this is routinely challenged at the hearing.

Step 5 — Issue proceedings

Once the notice period has expired and the tenant has not left, issue a possession claim at court using Form N5 (with the particulars of claim on Form N119). The court fee is currently £415. The accelerated procedure that used to allow Section 21 cases to be decided on paper is not available for Section 8 claims — every claim proceeds to a hearing. For straightforward rent-arrears cases (Grounds 8, 10 or 11), the online Possession Claim Online (PCOL) service may be available as an alternative to the paper route; most other grounds must be issued on paper.

Step 6 — Hearing and order

At the hearing, present your evidence: the tenancy agreement, the Section 8 notice with proof of service, and evidence specific to the ground relied on — a rent statement or ledger for arrears grounds, sale particulars or an estate agent’s instruction for Ground 1A, a family member’s statement for Ground 1, or an incident log and any convictions or orders for Grounds 14 and 7A. For a mandatory ground, the court must grant possession once the ground is proved. For a discretionary ground, the court will only grant possession if it considers it reasonable to do so, weighing factors such as the tenant’s circumstances and any arrears repayment history.

Step 7 — Enforcement

A possession order normally takes effect, and requires the tenant to leave, 14 days after the order is made (the court can extend this in cases of exceptional hardship, up to a maximum of 6 weeks). If the tenant has not left by that date, you must apply for a warrant of possession — you cannot remove the tenant yourself, as doing so is a criminal offence under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. The current fee for a warrant of possession is £152, and county court bailiffs then carry out the eviction. Where county court bailiffs are heavily booked, transferring enforcement to the High Court by sealing a writ of possession (£82 to seal, plus the enforcement officer’s own fees) can sometimes be faster, though this route needs the court’s permission in most residential cases.

Realistic timing

• Notice period: 2 weeks (for example, Ground 12 breach) to 4 months (Grounds 1, 1A and 6), depending on the ground relied on.

• Court claim to order: Ministry of Justice figures put the median at around 7 weeks for landlord cases, though this reflects a mix of claim types recorded before the Renters’ Rights Act came fully into force.

• Court claim to repossession (order plus enforcement): the same MoJ data puts the median at around 27 weeks (roughly 6 months) for landlord cases. Because every Section 8 claim now goes to a full hearing rather than the faster accelerated procedure that used to apply to most Section 21 claims, actual timescales for 2026 onward are widely expected to lengthen as the courts absorb higher claim volumes.

• Total: as a working estimate, 6 to 10 months from serving notice to vacant possession is realistic for an undefended claim, and materially longer for contested or complex cases. Treat any figure you see quoted, including this one, as an estimate rather than a guarantee, and build in contingency when planning around a possession date.

Costs

• Court issue fee: £415 (Form N5 or N5B), the rate applying since 13 July 2026. Check GOV.UK for the current fee before paying, as HMCTS fees are reviewed periodically.

• Legal representation (if used): roughly £500–£3,000+ depending on complexity; industry estimates for a straightforward undefended Section 8 case tend to cluster around £750–£1,500 plus VAT, with defended or multi-ground cases costing more.

• Warrant of possession: £152 for county court bailiff enforcement, or £82 to seal a writ of possession if enforcement is transferred to the High Court (plus the High Court enforcement officer’s fees, which are typically higher than the bailiff fee but can result in faster enforcement).

• Property repair after vacant possession: variable, and not recoverable from the tenant in most cases without a separate money judgment.

Practical advice

Eviction is a managed legal process under the new regime, not a procedural formality. Plan possession needs further ahead than under the old regime, document every step precisely, and treat negotiation as the first option rather than the last resort. For specific scenarios, see:

• How to evict a tenant for not paying the rent

• When should a landlord use a Section 8 notice?

• Section 8 notice template

• Court forms for possession proceedings

This guide is written from a non-practising solicitor background for general information only. It explains the current statutory framework and typical procedure; it is not a substitute for advice on your specific facts, and you should check GOV.UK or take independent advice before relying on any figure or timescale in a contested or high-value case.