Empty Homes Orders (EDMOs) from 5 November 2026: the Six-Month Rule for Landlords

Since 5 November 2026 a council in England can ask the tribunal for an empty dwelling management order (EDMO) on a home that has been wholly unoccupied for six months. Until then the period was two years. The change is the Housing (Empty Dwelling Management Orders) (Prescribed Period of Time and Prescribed Requirements) (England) (Amendment) Order 2026, SI 2026/1085, and it applies to applications made on or after that day.

Six months empty does not start anything by itself. A council may apply, the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) has to authorise the first order, and the council must have told the owner in writing at least three months before it applies (or made all reasonable efforts to). A home genuinely on the market for sale or letting is one of ten exceptions, and an owner can appeal a final order.

This guide sets out what changed, what each order does, the tests, the exceptions, the owner’s rights, and the trap for a landlord who has served a Ground 1 or 1A notice. Every rule below was read on legislation.gov.uk and GOV.UK on 5 November 2026. It covers England only.

What changed on 5 November 2026

The Order was made on 14 October 2026, laid before Parliament the same day and came into force on 5 November 2026. It makes two changes and leaves the rest of the scheme alone:

How it works:

• The six months is the Act’s own figure. Section 134(2)(a) of the Housing Act 2004 always said "at least 6 months or such longer period as may be prescribed". In 2012 an order prescribed two years (SI 2012/2625, article 2). Article 3 of the 2026 Order removes that article, so six months applies again.
• Two evidence items go. Article 2 removes the nuisance and community support items the 2012 order added to the list a council gives the tribunal.
• Applications already made keep the old rules. Article 4 says the changes do not apply to an application submitted before 5 November 2026.
• The six months can already have run. Nothing in the Order says the six months must start after 5 November 2026, so a home that has stood empty since the spring is already past it.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced the change on 27 September 2026. The Order’s explanatory memorandum puts the number of homes empty for six months or more at around 303,000, and says updated guidance for councils will be published "in due course".

Interim and final orders: what each one does

An EDMO comes in two stages (Housing Act 2004 s.132 and Schedule 7). Neither one transfers ownership. The explanatory memorandum says the council does not acquire an estate or legal interest in the home and so cannot sell it.

While an interim order is in force the council has the right to possession of the home and can do anything the owner could do with it (Sch 7 para 2(3)). A council moves to a final order when it considers that, without one, the home is likely to become or remain unoccupied, and, where it is still empty, that it has taken all the steps it appropriately could under the interim order (s.136(1) and (2)).

At the end of an order

A tenant the council placed may still be living there when the order ends. The memorandum notes that with section 21 abolished, an owner who wants that tenant to leave will need to serve notice on at least one Section 8 ground and go through the court.

The tests the tribunal applies

Section 134 of the 2004 Act lets the tribunal authorise an interim order only if it is satisfied of all five points below, and is not satisfied that one of the exceptions applies:

1. 1The home has been wholly unoccupied for at least six months. Wholly unoccupied means no part of it is occupied, whether lawfully or unlawfully (s.133(2)).
2. 2There is no reasonable prospect that it will become occupied in the near future.
3. 3If an order is made, there is a reasonable prospect that it will become occupied.
4. 4The council has done what section 133(3) asks: made reasonable efforts to tell the owner it is considering an order, and to find out what the owner is doing, or plans to do, to get the home occupied.
5. 5The council has met the prescribed requirements (the 2006 Order, article 4, set out below).

The tribunal also weighs the interests of the community against the effect the order will have on the owner’s rights, and on anyone else’s (s.134(3)).

The owner in these rules is the relevant proprietor (s.132). That is the freeholder, unless the home is let on a lease with 7 years or more left, when it is the leaseholder with the shortest such lease. For a leasehold buy-to-let flat with decades left on the lease, that is the landlord. A home owned by a public sector body is outside the power.

The ten exceptions

The tribunal cannot authorise an order if it is satisfied the home falls within one of these (the 2006 Order, article 3). None of them changed on 5 November 2026.

Three points for landlords:

• Exception (c) is the one most lets rely on between tenancies. The Order does not define "genuinely". Keep the dates the advert went live, where it was listed, the rent asked and the viewings: that is how a home shows it is on the market.
• Exception (j) runs from the grant, not the death. The grant of representation is probate or letters of administration. The memorandum confirms an inherited home stays excepted until six months after the grant, even if it was empty for longer before it.
• Works are not on the list. A home being renovated is not excepted. Where the owner is doing repairs or improvement works, or is waiting on a planning decision, the council must instead give the tribunal its reasons why an order is still needed (article 4(1)(c)).

What the council must do before it applies

Before it goes to the tribunal, the council must (s.133(3) and the 2006 Order, article 4):

• make reasonable efforts to tell the owner it is considering an interim order, and to find out what steps the owner is taking to get the home occupied;
• make reasonable efforts to find out from the owner whether they think any exception applies;
• tell the owner in writing of its decision to apply at least three months before it applies, or have made all reasonable efforts to do so before those three months began;
• give the tribunal details of those efforts, of any advice and help it gave the owner, of how the home is classed for council tax, and all the information it has that suggests an exception may apply, whether from its own enquiries or from what the owner told it.

A worked date

If the council tells you in writing on 10 November 2026 that it has decided to apply, it cannot apply before 10 February 2027. The tribunal then decides on the five tests and the exceptions.

Separately, council tax: the memorandum lists the premium on homes left empty and unfurnished for a year or more among councils’ other powers over empty homes. Council tax on a rental property covers the premium and when it applies.

Your rights as the owner

Before the application

Answer the council’s letters in writing and keep a copy. Say which exception applies and why, what you are doing to get the home occupied, and by when. What you tell it does not stay with the council: it has to give the tribunal the details of the steps you are taking (article 4(1)(b)(ii)) and everything that suggests an exception applies (article 4(1)(b)(iv)).

Asking for an order to be revoked

The owner, or anyone else with an interest in the home, can ask the council to revoke an interim order. The council may revoke it if, for example, the home will become or stay occupied or is to be sold (Sch 7 para 7). A decision to vary or revoke an order, or a refusal to, can be appealed to the tribunal within 28 days of the date in the council’s notice (Sch 7 paras 30 and 31).

Appealing a final order

You can appeal to the tribunal against the council’s decision to make a final EDMO, or against its terms, including the management scheme (Sch 7 para 26). The appeal must be made within 28 days beginning with the date the council’s notice gives as the date the order was made (para 27). The tribunal can allow a late appeal if there is a good reason. The appeal is a re-hearing, and the tribunal can confirm, vary or revoke the order (para 28).

If no appeal is made in time, a final order is final and conclusive on everything an appeal could have raised (para 26(3)). Diary the last day as soon as the notice arrives: the 28 days run from the date in it, not from the day you read it.

Ground 1 and 1A: empty, but not allowed to let

A landlord who serves a Section 8 notice on Ground 1 (moving in) or Ground 1A (selling) starts a restricted period. From the day the notice is served until the last day of the 12 months beginning with the earliest court date the notice gives, the landlord must not let the home on a tenancy of 21 years or less, allow anyone to occupy it under a licence for money, or market it for either (Housing Act 1988 s.16E and s.16M(4)). It applies whether or not the tenancy is still running. Breaking it is an offence (s.16J(2)), and the council can impose a penalty of up to £40,000 instead of prosecuting (s.16K(3)).

The new Order’s explanatory memorandum names the problem: these homes "could therefore become eligible for EDMO whilst landlords are legally prohibited from reletting them". Its answer is the tribunal’s own tests, including whether the home would become occupied if an order were made. Neither the Order nor the 2006 exceptions treat the restricted period as an exception.

The dates, worked

A Ground 1 notice served on 5 November 2026 gives four months’ notice. Say the tenant leaves on the earliest court date and the move-in then falls through:

The home stands empty for almost a year with no lawful way to let it, and for the last six months of that it is past the threshold for an order.

What helps

• Ground 1A, selling. The restricted period stops letting, not selling. A home genuinely on the market for sale is exception (c), so keep it listed and keep the record of the listing.
• Ground 1, moving in. Once you, or the family member Ground 1 names, lives there, the home is occupied and outside the power. If the plan changes, s.16F still allows a letting to one of the people Ground 1 names.
• Either ground. Answer the council’s letter with the date the restricted period ends and what will happen to the home then. The council must report the steps you are taking, and the tribunal has to find no reasonable prospect of occupation in the near future before it can authorise an order (s.134(2)(b)).

Section 8 Grounds 1 and 1A covers the notice itself, and evicting a tenant to move in or sell the whole route.

Keeping the record

Most of what a council asks, and what the tribunal is told, comes down to dates: when the home became empty, when it went on the market and at what rent, who viewed it, when works started or a planning application went in, when probate was granted. Write each one down when it happens, and keep every letter from the council with your reply. An empty home also changes the insurance: many buildings policies set unoccupancy conditions, covered in insurance for an unoccupied rental property.

What LetCompliance keeps. The vacancies board shows every empty property and how far its letting has got, from on the market to the agreement, with the adverts, viewings and applications kept against each property. The occupancy timeline on Insights shows a year per property, with let, empty and not recorded kept apart. When a Ground 1 or 1A notice is sent from the app, or recorded as served by hand or post, the restricted period is stored on the property, and a new advert, or publishing or re-opening one, is refused until the period ends. While no current tenant is recorded, the property page has an Empty home section: note what the insurance policy asks of an empty home, log each visit, and download the visit log as a PDF.