Understand the new notice rules and possession grounds.
The Act impacts all Assured Shorthold Tenancies (ASTs), including both new and existing tenancies, but excludes company lets and rents over £100k/year. When you work with us, you benefit from experienced, expert guidance—we’ll help you navigate what these changes mean in practice.
What’s changed with service notice?
Section 21 notices can no longer be used from 1 May, meaning landlords no longer have a “no-fault” route to regain possession of their property. Instead, new Section 8 grounds have been introduced, allowing notice to be served under a wider range of specified circumstances.
The following are a few of the Section 8 Grounds, and are expected to be the most used:
- Ground 1 - occupation by landlord or family
- Ground 1A - sale of property
- Ground 8,10,11 - rent arrears
- Ground 12 - any breach other than rent arrears
- Ground 14 - anti social behaviour
If you want to sell or move back into your property
We’re able to help landlords by serving Section 8 notices on your behalf where possession is sought under Ground 1 (you or a close family member are moving back into the property) or Ground 1A (you’re selling the property) and where the matter is straightforward (e.g. no other grounds are required). Where the situation is more complex and possession is sought under any of the other mandatory or discretionary grounds, specialist legal advice is advised.
The minimum notice you need to give to tenants when selling or moving back to your property is 4 months.
For these two Grounds you have to give a minimum of four months' notice and the notice can’t end within the first 12 months of the tenancy.
You must meet the conditions of the Grounds, and if challenged in the future, be able to prove you, or a family member, have moved back in, or you've marketed it for sale and sold it.
It is important to keep in mind that once you have served a Ground 1 or 1A notice, if you don’t move in or you can’t sell, you cannot relet the property for 12 months following the expiry of the notice.
We’ve outlined an example of this below:
If you serve notice using the selling Ground on 20 November 2026, the notice will expire on 19 March 2027, it means that:
- You will be able to seek possession after this date.
- You wouldn’t be able to re-market the property to let until a further 12 months has passed. This means you would need to wait until 20 March 2028 to relet your property.
Understanding what is meant by “close family” for Ground 1
This term refers to the following relatives of the legal owner of the property:
- A spouse, civil partner, or long-term cohabiting partner
- Parents (including step-parents)
- Children (including step-children)
- Grandparents
- Grandchildren
- Siblings (brothers or sisters)
If your property is owned through a different structure - such as a company or a trust, rather than by a private individual - you will not be eligible to use Ground 1.
If a tenant serves notice under the new legislation
- Tenants must give a minimum of two months’ notice to end the tenancy in line with their rental period
- Where there is more than one tenant, notice served by one binds all and will end the tenancy for all tenants.
We’re Here to Help
You’re not expected to navigate these changes on your own. When you instruct us to let your property, we’ll provide guidance to help you understand the new legislation, answer any questions, and help you make the right decisions for you. Whether you’re planning ahead or wanting to review the situation of your current tenancy we’re always happy to talk things through.