Section 21 ended on 1 May 2026. There is no longer a no-fault route: every possession claim in England now needs a stated ground under Section 8, and each ground carries its own notice period. Pick the wrong ground or serve the wrong notice and the claim fails — and you start again, months later. Use the finder below to see which ground fits, what notice it needs, and the two traps that sink most claims.
Pick the situation closest to yours. The answer names the ground, says whether the court must grant possession or merely may, and gives the notice period. It runs in your browser and sends nothing anywhere.
Choose a situation and the ground appears here.
Grounds and notice periods reflect the Renters’ Rights Act regime in force in England from 1 May 2026. General information, not legal advice on your tenancy.
If the deposit is not protected in a government-approved scheme, possession will not be granted — whatever ground you rely on, and however strong it is. Check the protection certificate and the prescribed information before you serve anything.
Grounds 1 and 1A — moving in and selling, the two most common reasons a landlord wants a property back — cannot be used at all in the first 12 months of the tenancy. If you may need the property back inside a year, that has to be planned for before you let, not after.
You can plead more than one ground, and often should. But a notice citing a ground the facts do not support gets the claim struck out, and the notice period starts again from zero on the corrected notice.
No. Section 21 was abolished on 1 May 2026. Every possession claim in England now requires a ground under Section 8. If you served a valid Section 21 before that date, take advice on where it stands rather than assuming either way — the position depends on when it was served and whether proceedings were issued.
The notice period is only the first stage. Four months’ notice on Ground 1 or 1A, then issuing a claim, then waiting for a hearing, then any enforcement. Court listing times vary considerably by area, so treat the notice period as the floor rather than the timetable.
Under Ground 8 the arrears must be at the qualifying level both when you serve notice and at the hearing. If the tenant clears enough of the debt before the hearing, the mandatory ground falls away. That is exactly why serious arrears claims are usually pleaded alongside the discretionary rent grounds.
Grounds 7A and 14 carry no notice period, but a possession order cannot take effect until 14 days after the notice is served. Ground 14 is discretionary, so the evidence you have gathered and recorded will decide it.
Yes. Unprotected deposits defeat possession claims regardless of the merits. It is the single most common avoidable reason a landlord loses, and it is checkable in a few minutes.
It depends on the ground and whether the matter is likely to be contested. We will tell you the likely route, the realistic timescale and the fee in writing before you commit to anything. Send us the situation on WhatsApp and we will tell you which ground fits before you give us any details.
Free, before you give us any details, and whether or not you instruct us afterwards.