Section 21 is gone: what landlords in England can do now

If a tenant in England stops paying rent, you can no longer serve two months' notice and take your home back without a reason. You now need a legal reason, the right notice and often a court hearing, while your mortgage still leaves your account every month.

This guide explains what changed, what you can still do, and what it costs.

What changed on 1 May 2026?

Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 let a landlord end an assured shorthold tenancy (the standard private tenancy in England) without giving any reason. People called it a "no fault" eviction.

On 1 May 2026, the first part of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 came into force. Landlords can no longer use section 21 to get their property back.

On the same day, most existing tenancies became assured periodic tenancies. That means a rolling tenancy with no end date. The tenancy carries on until the tenant leaves, or until the landlord serves a valid notice and gets a court order.

If you served a section 21 notice before 1 May, the last day to use that notice to apply to court was 31 July 2026. GOV.UK states that a notice not used by then no longer works, and the landlord has to start again under the new rules.

How do you end a tenancy now?

Since 1 May 2026 you can only end a tenancy with a section 8 notice. This is a formal notice telling your tenant which legal reason you are relying on. The law calls each reason a "ground for possession".

GOV.UK states that the landlord has to use the government's Form 3A, give the right amount of notice, and set out the ground and why it applies. A form that is wrong or incomplete can lead the court to dismiss or delay the claim.

Grounds come in two types. With a mandatory ground, the judge must give you your home back if you prove the ground. With a discretionary ground, the judge decides whether giving you your home back is reasonable, even when you have the evidence.

One more condition catches people out. For most grounds, the court will not give you possession unless your tenant's deposit was protected in a government-approved scheme and you gave the tenant the required information about that scheme.

Which reasons can you use to get your home back?

These are the grounds most private landlords will need:

• You want to sell (Ground 1A). Four months' notice. You cannot use this ground in the first 12 months of a tenancy.
• You or close family want to move in (Ground 1). Four months' notice, with the same 12 months of protection for the tenant.
• Serious rent arrears (Ground 8). The tenant must owe at least three months' rent (13 weeks if they pay weekly or fortnightly) when you serve notice and again on the day of the hearing. Four weeks' notice. This ground is mandatory.
• Smaller or repeated arrears (Grounds 10 and 11). Four weeks' notice, but the judge decides.
• Breaking the tenancy or damaging the home (Grounds 12 and 13). Two weeks' notice. The judge decides.
• Antisocial behaviour (Grounds 7A and 14). You can apply to court straight away, but the court cannot make an order until 14 days after you gave notice.

If you use the selling or moving-in ground, the government's guide says you cannot market or re-let the home for 12 months afterwards.

What does eviction cost, and how long does it take?

If your tenant does not leave when the notice ends, you apply to the county court. The fee is £415. Your tenant then has 14 days to send a defence, and the court sets a hearing date.

If you win on a mandatory ground, the tenant usually has to leave within 14 days of the order. A judge can give up to six weeks if leaving sooner would cause extreme hardship.

If they still do not leave, you apply for a warrant so county court bailiffs can remove them. The warrant costs £148, and the tenant gets at least 14 days' notice of the eviction date. The bailiffs will not collect the rent you are owed. You need a separate money claim for that.

Put the numbers together and the gap is plain. Your tenant can owe three months' rent before the mandatory ground even applies. Then you add four weeks of notice, the wait for a hearing and the wait for bailiffs. If you have a mortgage, you cover every one of those payments yourself.

Do the new rules apply to short stays?

The new rules apply to assured tenancies. The NRLA explains that tenancies and licences that are not assured do not have to follow them, including arrangements where the property is not the occupier's main home.

A licence is permission to stay in a property without becoming a tenant. The government's possession guidance also says it does not cover furnished holiday lets or people living under a licence to occupy.

That is why a short-let set up works differently from a tenancy. Each guest has a home elsewhere and a fixed checkout date. Whether your own arrangement counts as a tenancy or a licence depends on the real facts, so check before you change how you let.

For every change the Act makes, from rent rises to pets, read the Renters' Rights Act explained in 10 minutes. If you let for weeks or months at a time, see our guides to medium-term lets in London and contractor stays in Manchester.

What should you do now?

• You can still get your home back, but only with a legal reason, the right form and the right notice.
• Check your deposit protection and paperwork now, before you ever need to serve a notice.
• If you plan to sell or move back in, count four months' notice, plus the first 12 months of any new tenancy.
• If you want to keep control of your home, a short-let set up with guests who live elsewhere may suit you better than a tenancy.

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This is general information, not legal advice. It is our own interpretation of the rules as they stand on the date shown above, and the law can change. Speak to a qualified solicitor before you act on anything here.