Section 21 Eviction: Common Questions

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 tenancy by 31 May 2026. Read the full guide.

Section 21 was abolished on 1 May 2026, but landlords with Section 21 notices already served still face live questions about the transitional rules. This page answers the most common ones from a Founder’s perspective. If your question is not covered here, see our main Section 21 hub or our procedural checklist.

Validity and procedure

Is my Section 21 notice still valid after 1 May 2026?

If it was validly served before 1 May 2026, yes — for a strictly limited transitional period. You must issue possession proceedings at court by the earlier of (a) six months from the notice date, or (b) 31 July 2026. After that, the notice has no force.

What does “served” mean for the deadline calculation?

The deadline runs from the date the notice was given to the tenant — not the date the notice expires. A notice served on 1 March 2026 must have proceedings issued by 1 September 2026 at the latest, but the 31 July 2026 backstop applies first. If service was by post, statutory rules add a deemed-service period; check the agreement and Section 196 of the Law of Property Act 1925 for the precise rule applicable to your service method.

Can I still use the accelerated possession procedure?

For a Section 21 claim served before 1 May 2026 and issued within the transitional window, yes. The accelerated procedure remains available for these transitional claims. Once the transitional window closes, the procedure is retired entirely. Any Section 8 claim, regardless of grounds, requires a court hearing.

My Form 6A is from late 2024. Is it still valid?

The notice form must have been the prescribed Form 6A in force at the date of service. If the form was correct at the time of service, the notice is not invalidated by later changes. However, errors in completion — wrong dates, missing signature, wrong address — defeat a notice regardless of form version. If you have any doubt, take advice before issuing proceedings.

Procedural requirements at the time of service

I forgot to give the tenant the How to Rent guide. Does that defeat my notice?

It can. The Deregulation Act 2015 made certain prescribed-information requirements conditions of a valid Section 21 notice. The How to Rent guide must have been provided at or before the start of the tenancy (or, for renewals, at the renewal). Late service of the guide is sometimes accepted by the court if it was provided before the notice was served — but this is fact-specific and contested. If the guide was never provided, your Section 21 notice is at high risk of being struck out.

My EPC is older than ten years. Is the notice still valid?

An EPC must have been in date when the tenancy was granted and a copy provided to the tenant. If the EPC was valid at the time and was given to the tenant, expiry during the tenancy does not invalidate the Section 21 notice. If the EPC was already expired or never provided, the notice is vulnerable.

Deposit prescribed information was served late. Now what?

Deposit protection is a hard pass-fail for Section 21. The deposit must have been protected within 30 days of receipt and the prescribed information served on the tenant within the same 30-day window. Late protection or late service of the prescribed information bars a Section 21 notice — even if remedied later — unless the deposit has been refunded in full to the tenant before the notice was served. This is one of the most common grounds on which Section 21 notices fail at hearing.

After the transitional window

My Section 21 notice expires after 31 July 2026. What now?

If you have not issued possession proceedings by 31 July 2026, the notice lapses. To recover possession, you must start fresh under Section 8 — establish a ground, serve a Section 8 notice with the correct notice period, and apply to court. There is no extension to the transitional deadline.

Can I serve a fresh Section 21 if the first one fails?

Only if the fresh notice could be served before 30 April 2026 — which by definition will have passed by the time you read this. After 30 April 2026 no further Section 21 notice can be served, even if the first one was technically defective. You will need Section 8.

My tenant is in serious arrears. Should I switch to Section 8 now?

If you have a valid Section 21 notice within the transitional window and arrears are at the Ground 8 threshold (three months’ rent or 13 weeks if rent is paid weekly), running both routes in parallel can make sense — accelerated procedure on Section 21, Section 8 hearing as a backup. After 1 May 2026, Section 8 is the only available route, so for any new arrears situation Section 8 is the answer. See our rent-arrears possession guide.

Practical points

My letting agent says they served Section 21. Should I trust them?

Verify yourself. Ask for: (1) a copy of the served Form 6A; (2) proof of service — recorded delivery receipt, certificate of service, or email-with-acknowledgment; (3) confirmation the tenant received the How to Rent guide, EPC, gas safety record, and deposit prescribed information at the right times. If anything is missing, the notice may not survive challenge in court.

Can I withdraw a Section 21 notice?

You can simply not act on it — the notice expires and proceedings are not issued. But you cannot un-serve it. If you and the tenant agree the notice will be withdrawn, document the agreement in writing to avoid later disputes. Also be aware that, having served Section 21, you cannot serve another in respect of the same tenancy after 30 April 2026.

My tenant is asking for compensation because the Section 21 notice “scared them”. Is that a thing?

A validly-served Section 21 notice does not give rise to compensation. A notice that was a retaliatory eviction (served in response to a complaint about disrepair) can be invalid under the Deregulation Act 2015 and exposes the landlord to harassment claims. The bar for retaliatory-eviction defences is fact-specific. If the tenant raises this defence, take advice.