New Section 8 Grounds Under the Renters' Rights Act 2025: A Landlord's Complete Guide

What changed under the Renters' Rights Act 2025

Section 21 abolished. All possession now runs through Section 8. Ground 8's rent-arrears threshold raised to 3 months. New mandatory grounds added for selling (Ground 1A) and severe anti-social or criminal behaviour (Ground 7A). Read the full guide.

Since 1 May 2026, Section 21 no longer exists. Every landlord who wants possession of a let property — for any reason — has to serve a Section 8 notice and prove one of the statutory grounds in Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1988, as rewritten by the Renters' Rights Act 2025. Some of those grounds are brand new. Others carry higher thresholds, wider definitions, or longer notice periods than before. This guide sets out what actually changed, which grounds landlords use most in practice, and the notice period each one requires.

Why the grounds matter more than they used to

Before 1 May 2026, a landlord who simply wanted a property back — with no fault on the tenant's side — could serve a Section 21 notice and give no reason at all. That option is gone. If a landlord cannot fit their situation into one of the statutory grounds, they cannot recover possession through the courts, however inconvenient the tenant's continued occupation is. Picking the right ground, evidencing it properly, and serving the correct notice period is now the whole game.

The grounds fall into two categories. Mandatory grounds mean the court must order possession once the landlord proves the ground applies — there's no judgment call on reasonableness. Discretionary grounds mean the court decides whether eviction is reasonable even where the ground is technically made out. There are 37 grounds in total in the rewritten Schedule 2, though most private landlords will only ever need a handful.

New and expanded mandatory grounds

Four grounds are worth flagging specifically, because they are either brand new or changed enough that pre-2026 guidance no longer applies.

Ground 1A — selling the property (new)

Ground 1A did not exist before the Act. It lets a landlord recover possession where they have a genuine intention to sell. It cannot be used in the tenancy's first 12 months, and separately, the property cannot be re-let or marketed to let for 12 months after the tenant leaves under this ground. It cannot be used at all against certain pre-1 May 2026 non-shorthold ("lifetime") assured tenancies. Notice period: 4 months.

Ground 1 — landlord or family moving in (amended)

A landlord-occupation ground already existed before the Act, but it now carries the same 12-month protected period as Ground 1A — notice cannot expire before the tenancy has run for a full year, even if served earlier. Qualifying family members are defined in the Act as a spouse or civil partner, parent, grandparent, sibling, child or grandchild. Notice period: 4 months.

Ground 7A — severe anti-social or criminal behaviour (new)

This mandatory ground is new. It applies where the tenant, or someone living with or visiting them, has been convicted of a relevant offence, breached an anti-social behaviour order, or been subject to a closure order lasting more than 48 hours. No minimum notice period applies before a landlord can apply to court, though the court cannot actually make a possession order until 14 days after the notice is given.

Ground 8 — rent arrears (threshold raised)

Ground 8 already existed, but the bar has gone up. A landlord now needs at least 3 months' arrears (13 weeks' if rent is paid weekly or fortnightly), both when the notice is served and at the hearing — up from 2 months previously. The notice period has also doubled, from 2 weeks to 4 weeks. Arrears that exist only because a Universal Credit housing payment hasn't yet landed don't count towards the threshold.

Two more mandatory grounds are worth knowing. Ground 4A (new) lets a landlord with a qualifying student house in multiple occupation recover possession to re-let to a new group of students for the next academic year, provided advance notice was given and the notice expires between 1 June and 30 September — notice period 4 months. Ground 6 (redevelopment) and Ground 7 (death of a sole tenant, where the person who inherited the tenancy wasn't living there) continue, at 4 months' and 2 months' notice respectively.

Discretionary grounds and their notice periods

Discretionary grounds still require the court to be satisfied it's reasonable to evict, even where the underlying facts are proven.

Ground	What it covers	Notice period
9	Suitable alternative accommodation offered	2 months
10	Some rent arrears (no minimum threshold)	4 weeks
11	Persistent late payment of rent	4 weeks
12	Breach of a tenancy term (not rent)	2 weeks
13	Deterioration of the property through neglect	2 weeks
14	Anti-social behaviour or nuisance	None — apply immediately*
15	Deterioration of furniture	2 weeks
17	False statement that induced the tenancy	2 weeks

*No minimum notice period applies before applying to court, but the court cannot make a possession order until 14 days after the notice is given.

Grounds 10 and 11 are routinely pleaded alongside Ground 8, so a rent-arrears claim doesn't collapse entirely if the tenant pays enough down before the hearing to drop under the mandatory 3-month threshold.

Notice periods at a glance

Notice periods under the rewritten Schedule 2 range from immediate application (Grounds 7A and 14) up to 4 months (Grounds 1, 1A, 4A and 6). Where a notice cites more than one ground with different notice periods, the longest period applies to the whole notice. Only Grounds 1 and 1A carry the additional 12-month protected period, meaning the notice cannot expire before the tenancy has run for a full year, regardless of when it's served. Every other ground is available from the first day of the tenancy if the facts support it.

Using the Section 8 notice

Once the correct ground, or combination of grounds, is identified, notice must be served in the prescribed form, for the correct notice period, citing the specific ground or grounds relied on. Citing a ground without a reasonable belief that it applies carries a financial penalty, so precision matters before serving, not after. For the full list of every ground with detailed thresholds and evidence requirements, see Section 8 Grounds for Possession. For the step-by-step process of completing and serving the notice itself, see How to Serve a Section 8 Notice. For how the old dual-route system compared to today's single-route system, see Section 21 vs Section 8.

A note on scope

This page covers the position for private landlords letting assured tenancies in England as at 1 May 2026. It does not cover social housing (which follows a separate timetable into 2027), tenancies in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, or the transitional rules that applied to Section 21 notices already served before the abolition date. This is general information, not legal advice on your specific circumstances — check GOV.UK for the current prescribed forms and any updates before serving a notice.