The Renters' Rights Act 2025 has rewritten the way a landlord in England regains possession of a let property. The most significant change — and the one most landlords are still adjusting to — is the abolition of Section 21, the “no-fault” eviction route that has been the backbone of assured shorthold possession for thirty years. From the Act's commencement date, every possession claim must now be brought under Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988, which means every claim now needs a ground.
This is a substantial shift in practice, not just in paperwork. The grounds, the notice periods, the evidence requirements, and the court timelines have all changed. Some of the new grounds are mandatory; some are discretionary. Some are immediately available; some carry a 12-month lookback that prevents misuse. For a landlord with a problem tenancy or a portfolio decision to make, the question is no longer “how quickly can I serve notice” but “which ground applies, and what does the paper trail need to look like before I get to court.”
Section 21 was the no-fault possession route. A landlord could serve a two-month notice on an assured shorthold tenancy after the fixed term had ended, without giving a reason, and obtain a possession order through an accelerated court procedure that did not require a hearing. It was fast, cheap, and required almost no evidence. It is now gone.
In its place, every possession claim must be brought under Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988. Section 8 has existed alongside Section 21 for decades, but it was always the harder route — it required a specific ground, the right notice period, evidence, and usually a hearing. Now it is the only route. The Renters' Rights Act has added new grounds to reflect the lost flexibility of Section 21, including grounds for a landlord who wants to move back into the property and a landlord who wants to sell. These new grounds come with conditions designed to stop them being used as Section 21 in disguise.
Section 21 has been abolished for all assured shorthold tenancies, including pre-existing ones. There is no grandfathering: a tenancy that began in 2018 is now subject to the same possession regime as a tenancy granted next week.
Mandatory grounds for possession are grounds where, if the landlord proves the case, the court has no discretion — it must grant possession. These are the grounds most landlords with a serious problem will be using.
Ground 8 — serious rent arrears. The mandatory rent-arrears ground requires three months of rent unpaid at both the date of serving notice and the date of the court hearing (for monthly-paid tenancies). The notice period is now two months. The arrears threshold is the critical figure: if a tenant pays down enough rent before the hearing to drop below the threshold, the mandatory ground fails and the case either collapses or becomes discretionary.
Ground 1A — landlord wishes to sell. One of the new grounds. A landlord can recover possession to sell, with four months' notice, but only after the first 12 months of the tenancy, and the property cannot be re-let or re-marketed for letting within 12 months of regaining possession. The court can refuse the ground if it suspects the landlord is using “sale” as a workaround to a Section 21-style eviction.
Ground 1 — landlord or family wishes to move in. Updated under the Act. Four months' notice, available after the first 12 months. The landlord or a defined family member must intend to occupy as their main home. Same anti-circumvention safeguards as Ground 1A.
Ground 6 — redevelopment. For substantial works that cannot be carried out with the tenant in situ. Tight conditions, four months' notice.
Ground 7A — antisocial behaviour with a court order or conviction. Where there is a specified ASB conviction or court order against the tenant, possession is mandatory.
The notice period is no longer uniform. Different grounds carry different notice periods, and serving the wrong notice form, or counting days wrong, can invalidate the claim and force a restart. Landlords used to the Section 21 two-month default need to read the new notice schedule carefully every time.
Discretionary grounds give the court a power to grant possession, but not an obligation. Even if the landlord proves the ground, the court will weigh whether possession is reasonable, considering the tenant's circumstances, the conduct of both parties, and any hardship that would result.
Grounds 10–17 cover a range of tenant defaults: some rent arrears below the Ground 8 threshold, breach of tenancy terms, neglect of the property, false statements made to obtain the tenancy, antisocial behaviour without a conviction, and so on. Ground 14 specifically covers nuisance and annoyance, and is the most common discretionary ground used for problem behaviour that has not reached the criminal threshold.
The practical implication of discretionary grounds is that evidence matters more, and a careful paper trail makes the difference between a successful claim and a refused one. Logs of complaints, written warnings, photographs of property damage, witness statements from neighbours, and copies of communications with the tenant all carry weight. A landlord who has tolerated a problem informally for two years and then files a discretionary claim will struggle to persuade a court that possession is suddenly reasonable.
One of the most common errors under the new regime is using the old two-month default by habit. Notice periods now vary by ground. As a guide:
The notice must be in the prescribed form, served correctly, and reference the specific grounds being relied on. Service by certificate of posting, by hand, or by an accepted electronic method — each route has its own evidential requirements. Where a notice is defective, the claim falls and the clock restarts. For a problem tenancy, that can mean another three to six months of holding the property without rent.
Two of the new grounds replace the practical effect of Section 21 for landlords who want their property back for a legitimate reason — to sell it or to move into it. Both grounds carry the same anti-circumvention safeguards.
The first 12 months of the tenancy are off-limits. A landlord cannot serve notice on Ground 1 or 1A inside the initial year, no matter the circumstances. This is a hard rule designed to give tenants a minimum period of security.
After possession is obtained, a 12-month lookback applies. The property cannot be re-let or re-marketed for letting for 12 months after the tenant vacates. Marketing the property for sale is permitted; marketing it for rent is not. If a court later finds the property was re-let inside the lookback period, the landlord can face penalties of up to two years' rent payable to the displaced tenant, and may be subject to local authority enforcement action.
For a landlord whose plans change — for example, a sale falls through after the tenant has left — the property cannot simply be put back on the rental market. The options become: hold the property vacant, sell at a different price, or wait out the lookback. This is the change that most affects portfolio decisions, and it is the change most landlords underestimate when they serve notice.
Rent increases for all assured tenancies must now go through the Section 13 statutory notice procedure. The rules are uniform: one increase per 12-month period, two months' notice, and the increase cannot take effect more frequently than once a year. The tenant has the right to challenge the increase at the First-tier Tribunal, which will assess it against open market rent for comparable properties in the area.
Informal mid-tenancy rent reviews — the verbal “I'm putting it up to £950 from next month” conversation — are no longer enforceable. If the tenant pays the new amount and then later disputes it, the increase can be unwound. This change disproportionately affects smaller landlords who have historically managed tenancies on a personal basis without formal documentation.
For landlords whose portfolios run on inflation-linked rents, the Section 13 process needs to be diarised annually. Missing the notice window means another 12 months at the existing rent.
The changes in possession law sit on top of an already shifting landlord landscape — Section 24 mortgage interest restrictions, the abolition of the furnished holiday let regime, MTD for Income Tax coming for landlords from April 2027, and a wave of new licensing schemes. Section 21 was not the only thing that has changed for landlords; it is the most visible recent change in a sequence.
For a landlord with a small portfolio held in personal names, the cumulative effect is now significant. Mortgage interest is no longer fully deductible; rental income is fully taxable as personal income at the marginal rate; possession is slower and more expensive; rent increases are slower; and HMO and selective licensing schemes are expanding across many local authorities. Modelling the after-tax yield with all of these factored in is a different exercise from the gross-yield calculation that worked in 2018.
For portfolios held through a limited company (SPV), Section 24 does not apply and finance costs remain fully deductible against corporation tax. Possession law is identical regardless of ownership structure — the company is the landlord — but the economics of holding the same property in a company versus a personal name are now materially different. This is a conversation that needs the mortgage adviser and the accountant working from the same data, not in separate rooms.
Some landlords are responding by reducing the portfolio. Others are restructuring into a company. Others are sitting tight and absorbing the impact. There is no single right answer; the right answer depends on the size of the portfolio, the personal income position of the landlord, the loan-to-value of each property, the local rental market, and the landlord's plans over the next decade. What the Renters' Rights Act has changed is the rate at which a poorly-performing property can be exited — and that affects the calculation of whether to hold or to sell.
The team at Halewood Mortgages & Protection and Halewood Accountancy work together on landlord portfolios so that the mortgage view and the tax view sit alongside each other. The new regime makes that joined-up view more valuable than the old one ever did, because the variables — possession timelines, refinancing options, tax structure, licensing exposure — now interact more than they used to.
For landlords currently dealing with a difficult tenancy under the new regime, a few practical steps make the difference between a clean possession claim and a six-month delay:
(Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change in future.)
No. Section 21 has been abolished for all assured shorthold tenancies, including those that began before the Renters' Rights Act 2025 came into force. From the implementation date, landlords must use Section 8 grounds to seek possession, regardless of when the tenancy started.
A straightforward mandatory-ground claim typically takes between 12 and 24 weeks from notice service to possession order, depending on local court backlogs. Discretionary-ground claims requiring a full hearing usually take longer, often 6 to 9 months. Bailiff appointments to enforce a possession order add a further 4 to 12 weeks in most regions.
You do not need it in the original tenancy agreement, but you must give the tenant written notice that you intend to sell, you cannot have served Ground 1A in the first 12 months of the tenancy, and you cannot re-let or re-market the property within 12 months of regaining possession. If the court suspects the ground is being used as a workaround for the abolished Section 21, possession can be refused.
Mandatory grounds (such as Ground 8 for two months' rent arrears) require the court to grant possession if proven. A tenant cannot defend the principle, but they can challenge the evidence. If arrears are below the threshold at the hearing date, or notice was served incorrectly, the claim can fail. This is why documentation from the first missed payment matters.
Rent increases for all assured tenancies must now go through the Section 13 notice process, capped at once a year, with two months' notice. Tenants can challenge the increase at the First-tier Tribunal, which will assess it against open market rent. Informal mid-tenancy rent renegotiations are no longer enforceable.
For landlords used to a generation of Section 21 flexibility, the new regime requires more planning, tighter documentation, and longer timelines. None of it makes being a landlord unworkable — but it does change the calculation. A property that worked in 2015 on the assumption of a quick exit if it stopped working is now a property that may take six months to exit even when the case is clean. That timeline has to be priced into the decision.
The landlords likely to find the new regime hardest are those holding one or two properties in personal names, where the combined effect of Section 24, slower possession, and licensing creep eats into a yield that was already thin. The landlords likely to find it manageable are those who have already restructured into a company, who run their portfolio with discipline on paperwork and rents, and who have a mortgage adviser and an accountant who talk to each other.
If your portfolio decision has become harder over the last two years, the Renters' Rights Act is part of why. The right next conversation is the one that looks at the mortgage position, the tax position, the licensing exposure, and the practical possession timeline as one picture.