Section 8 notice period

The main provisions take effect on 1 May 2026 in England. From that date Section 21 is abolished, all assured shorthold tenancies convert to assured periodic tenancies, and the rewritten Section 8 grounds in Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988 apply to every new and existing tenancy.

From 1 May 2026 it is at least 3 months’ rent where rent is paid monthly, or 13 weeks’ rent where it is paid weekly or fortnightly, both on the date the notice is served and on the date of the hearing, with 4 weeks’ notice. Before the Act it was 2 months with 2 weeks’ notice. Below the threshold Ground 8 fails, so landlords usually also rely on the discretionary Grounds 10 and 11.

Not to recover the property within that year. Ground 1 (you or a close family member moving in) and Ground 1A (selling) need the tenancy to have begun at least a year before the date given in the notice, and both need four months’ notice. The rent arrears and breach grounds, such as Grounds 8, 10, 11, 12 and 14, have no first-year restriction.

No. Section 21 is abolished entirely on 1 May 2026, including for tenancies that started before that date. Landlords who want to recover possession from then on must use a Section 8 ground.

Four months. After serving notice on Ground 1 or 1A you cannot let or market the property until 12 months after the earliest date for court proceedings given in the notice, unless one of the statutory exceptions applies. Breaching that is a criminal offence, the council can impose a penalty of up to £40,000 instead, and a Rent Repayment Order can follow.

At least 3 months’ rent unpaid where rent is paid monthly, or 13 weeks’ rent where it is paid weekly or fortnightly, and the arrears must be at that level on both the date the notice is served and the date of the hearing. The notice period is 4 weeks. Arrears attributable to an unpaid Universal Credit housing element are disregarded when counting the threshold, so check the cause of the arrears before serving.

It runs from when the notice is served, not from when you decide to send it. How service takes effect depends on the method and on any notice clause in the tenancy agreement, so leave a margin of a few days when you post it. Keep a copy of the notice, a free certificate of posting from the Post Office or a signed-for receipt, and a note of who served it and how. If the tenant later says it never arrived, that record is what the court will look at.

Four weeks, the same as Ground 8. Both are discretionary: Ground 10 is rent lawfully due and unpaid, Ground 11 is persistent delay in paying rent. The court orders possession on them only if it is reasonable, so they are usually relied on alongside Ground 8 rather than instead of it.

Two weeks for Ground 12 (breach of a term of the tenancy other than rent) and Ground 13 (deterioration of the property or common parts through the tenant’s acts or neglect). Both are discretionary, so evidence of the breach and why possession is reasonable matters as much as the notice.

No. Where the tenant is entitled to the housing element of universal credit, rent that is unpaid only because that payment has not yet arrived is ignored when counting whether the 3 months or 13 weeks threshold is met.