What changed under the Renters' Rights Act 2025?
Under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, the private rented sector in England moved to a single tenancy system. Existing tenancies, including those still operating as fixed term tenancies, converted automatically into assured periodic tenancies. Any new tenancy created on or after 1 May 2026 also falls under the new framework.
Landlords should still provide a clear written tenancy agreement, but it can no longer create a fixed end date or override the statutory rules on possession and rent increases.
The same framework now applies across private rented tenancies, whether a landlord owns one property or a larger portfolio.
Rent reviews have limitations
Under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, landlords can generally increase the rent only once in any 12-month period. Any proposed rent increase must follow the statutory process, and the tenant must receive at least two months’ notice before the new rent takes effect.
Rent review clauses in existing tenancy agreements cannot be used to bypass these requirements. The same rules apply to existing tenants and new tenancies.
Landlords and letting agents must also advertise properties at a clear advertised rent, must not encourage rental bidding above that amount and must comply with the restrictions on requesting rent in advance.
Section 21 and assured shorthold tenancies have gone
The most significant change is the abolition of Section 21. A landlord can no longer use the no-fault route to recover possession.
Where a landlord wishes to seek possession, they must rely on a valid statutory ground, serve the correct notice and provide supporting evidence where required.
Assured shorthold tenancies and new fixed term tenancies have also been abolished. Break clauses no longer allow a landlord to end the tenancy earlier, regardless of what an older tenancy agreement may say.
In practical terms, there is no longer a fixed expiry date that automatically gives the landlord a right to recover the property.
Every tenancy is now an assured periodic tenancy
Private rented tenancies now continue from one rental period to the next until they are ended lawfully.
A tenant may end the tenancy by giving the required notice. A landlord must use the correct possession ground and, where the tenant does not leave, obtain a possession order from the court.
The written tenancy agreement remains important because it sets out matters such as rent, repairs, access and tenant responsibilities. However, it cannot shorten a statutory notice period or allow the landlord to recover the property automatically.
Where a landlord wishes to sell, move into the property, address rent arrears or respond to a breach, they must follow the possession process that applies to that specific ground.
Why the Section 8 ground now sets the notice period
Because Section 21 has gone, every possession claim now runs through Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988, as amended by the Renters' Rights Act 2025. Under Section 8 you must state a specific legal ground, and each ground carries its own notice period, ranging from immediate action to four months' written notice. This is why there is no single answer to "how much notice do I give". These tenant notice periods flow directly from the ground you choose.
The grounds fall into two families, and the difference between them is one of the most important things for a landlord to understand.
Mandatory grounds
For a mandatory ground, the court must award possession if the ground is proven. There is no discretion. If you can show the facts are made out, for example that the arrears reach the required level, the order follows. Mandatory grounds include Ground 1 (you or a close family member wish to move in), Ground 1A (you wish to sell), Ground 6 (redevelopment) and Ground 8 (serious rent arrears). Severe anti-social behaviour under Ground 7A is also mandatory.
Discretionary grounds
For a discretionary ground, the court weighs whether eviction is reasonable, even when the ground is technically met. You might prove your case and still not get an order if the judge decides possession would not be reasonable in the circumstances. Discretionary grounds include Ground 10 (any arrears), Ground 11 (persistent late payment), Ground 12 (breach of a term of the tenancy agreement) and Ground 14 (anti-social behaviour).
You can cite more than one ground on the same notice, and landlords often do. Relying only on a discretionary ground means the outcome is never guaranteed. That is exactly why evidence quality matters so much, and why arrears cases are usually built to reach the mandatory Ground 8 threshold rather than resting on the discretionary grounds alone.
One point deserves emphasis before we look at the periods themselves. Serving notice does not end the tenancy and does not remove the tenant, even where you have served a valid notice on the correct ground. The notice period is only the minimum time that must pass before you can apply to court. We come back to what that means in practice further down.
Renters' Rights Act notice periods for the main possession grounds
The table below sets out the grounds most relevant to a private landlord, drawn from the official guidance to the Renters' Rights Act 2025. It shows the ground, whether it is mandatory or discretionary, the notice period, and the key conditions attached. Some grounds need several months' written notice, others a matter of weeks, so check the relevant row carefully.
Use it as a starting point, not as a substitute for advice on your specific circumstances.
Ground |
Type |
Notice period |
What it covers and key conditions |
| 1 | Mandatory | 4 months | You or a close family member want to move in. Cannot be used in the first 12 months of a tenancy. |
| 1A | Mandatory | 4 months | You want to sell the property. Cannot be used in the first 12 months. No re-letting or re-marketing for 12 months after using it. |
| 2 | Mandatory | 4 months | Sale by a lender exercising its power of sale requiring vacant possession. |
| 6 | Mandatory | 4 months | Redevelopment involving demolition or substantial works that cannot be done with the tenant in place. |
| 8 | Mandatory | 4 weeks | Rent arrears of at least 3 months (or 13 weeks if rent is weekly or fortnightly), met both when notice is served and at the hearing. |
| 10 | Discretionary | 4 weeks | Any amount of arrears. |
| 11 | Discretionary | 4 weeks | Persistent delay in paying rent. |
| 12 | Discretionary | 2 weeks | Breach of a tenancy term other than paying rent. |
| 7A | Mandatory | Immediate | Severe or criminal anti-social behaviour (a relevant conviction, breach of an anti-social behaviour order, or a closure order over 48 hours). |
| 14 | Discretionary | Immediate | Anti-social behaviour causing nuisance or annoyance, or conviction for illegal use of the premises. |
A few of these grounds deserve a closer look.
Selling or moving in (Grounds 1 and 1A)
Both require four months' written notice. That four months' notice is the longest notice period of the common grounds and considerably more than the shorter notice period attached to arrears. Neither can be used in the first 12 months of a tenancy, so you cannot grant a new tenancy and then quickly recover the property to sell or occupy. After using Ground 1A to sell, you also cannot re-let or re-market the property for 12 months, with a narrow exception for shared owners.
Ground 8 arrears
This is the mandatory arrears ground, and it changed in two ways. The threshold rose from two months' to three months' arrears, and the notice period doubled from two weeks to four weeks, still a shorter notice period than the four months' notice landlords must give for Grounds 1 or 1A. The three-month level must be met both when you serve notice and again at the hearing, so a tenant who pays down below the threshold before the hearing can defeat a mandatory order. Lesser or persistent arrears fall under the discretionary Grounds 10 and 11.
Breach and anti-social behaviour
A breach of a term of the tenancy agreement other than rent falls under Ground 12, which carries a shorter notice period of two weeks. For anti-social behaviour, proceedings can begin immediately under both Ground 7A (severe or criminal cases, mandatory) and Ground 14 (nuisance and annoyance, discretionary). Only Ground 7A guarantees possession if proven; Ground 14 still leaves the decision to the court.
What must landlords check before serving a possession notice?
The notice period is only one part of a valid notice. If the ground, the form, the period or the evidence is wrong, the whole notice can fail. Before you serve, work through this checklist.
- The right ground: match the ground to the real reason for possession, and cite every ground the facts support. Choosing the wrong ground, or one you cannot yet prove, is a common and expensive error.
- The correct form: private landlords must now use Form 3A, the Section 8 notice for the private rented sector. This is a genuine trap, because "Form 3" has been reassigned to social housing and many older templates and online guidance still tell private landlords to use it. Serving on the wrong form can invalidate the notice.
- The correct notice period: give the full period the ground requires, counted properly. There is no single figure: four months' notice for selling or moving in, four weeks for serious arrears, two weeks for a breach.
- Supporting evidence: build your evidence before you serve, not after. For arrears, that means a clear rent statement showing three months owed. For anti-social behaviour, that means logs, reports and any relevant conviction.
- The 12-month restriction: for Grounds 1 and 1A, confirm the tenancy is at least 12 months old, counted from its start date even though fixed terms no longer exist. You cannot use these grounds inside the first year.
- Compliance gates: as later phases of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 arrive, you will need to have protected the deposit and, in time, be registered on the Private Rented Sector Database to use certain grounds, or a court can refuse possession. These gates do not apply to the anti-social behaviour grounds.
The official guidance is blunt about the form itself: do not change the wording unless the form says you can, or it may not be valid. The exact legal wording for each ground must be entered correctly on Form 3A. Getting this precise can be difficult, and it is one of the main reasons landlords ask us to manage the process. If you require help in serving accurate, compliant notices, AST Assistance can help.
Common mistakes that invalidate a notice
The following errors have each resulted in notices being found invalid:
- Using an outdated Section 21 notice, which can no longer be served.
- Using Form 3 instead of the required Form 3A.
- Relying on Ground 8 where the arrears do not meet the three-month threshold.
- Giving four weeks’ notice where four months are required, or applying a longer period where a shorter statutory period applies.
- Attempting to rely on Ground 1 or Ground 1A within the first 12 months of the tenancy.
- Assuming that an existing break clause still allows possession to be recovered early.
- Providing insufficient evidence to satisfy the court that a discretionary ground is reasonable.
Any one of these errors can require the landlord to restart the process, causing further delay and financial loss.
Failure to comply with the new rules can also lead to civil penalties of between £7,000 and £40,000 for serious or repeated breaches. In addition, rent repayment orders may require a landlord to repay up to 24 months’ rent to the tenant. Civil penalties and rent repayment orders may be pursued for the same breach, with enforcement action taken by the local authority.
For this reason, accuracy at the notice stage is essential. AST Assistance’s Renters' Rights Act triage service can review your position before you proceed, helping to identify the correct ground, notice period and supporting evidence.What happens after the notice period ends?
This is the point most misunderstood under the Renters' Rights Act 2025, so it's worth stating plainly. When the notice period expires, the notice does not end the tenancy and the tenant does not have to leave. The notice period is only the minimum time that must pass before you can take the next step.
If the tenant stays, you must apply to the county court for a possession order. If they still do not leave after an order is made, you apply for a warrant, and repossession is carried out by county court bailiffs. Each stage takes time.
The official figures make the point. In the first quarter of 2026, the median time from a landlord possession claim to actual repossession was 26.4 weeks. Broken down, that was roughly 8 weeks from claim to order, about 16 weeks from claim to warrant, and around 9 weeks from warrant to repossession. The notice period you give is a small fraction of that end-to-end timeline. There are also real concerns across the sector about court capacity, with waiting times already running beyond six months before the reform.
That's the honest picture, and it's precisely why serving the correct notice first time matters so much. A notice struck down for a fixable error does not just cost you the notice period. It resets the whole clock. It's also why so many disputes are better resolved before court where possible, through negotiation or tenant mediation, than fought all the way to a warrant. We resolve the majority of our cases before they ever reach a courtroom.
A note for landlords with property in Wales
Everything above applies to England only. If you let property in Wales, the Renters' Rights Act 2025 and the Section 8 grounds and tenant notice periods in this guide do not govern your lettings. Wales runs under a separate regime, the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, where tenancies are "occupation contracts" with their own rules and notice periods. If your portfolio spans the border, treat the two regimes separately and take advice on the Welsh rules for your Welsh properties. We support landlords across England and Wales and can point you to the right guidance for each.
How AST Assistance can help
AST Assistance is a consultancy serving UK landlords, not a firm of solicitors. Our job is to assess your position quickly and advise on the correct tenant notice periods and ground under the Renters' Rights Act 2025. That might mean four months' written notice, or the shorter notice period attached to arrears. From there, we manage the possession process on your behalf from start to finish. Where legal proceedings or formal paperwork are required, we instruct trusted independent solicitors and coordinate the work for you, so nothing falls through the gaps.
We can help you get the ground right, prepare a valid notice on the correct Form 3A, gather the supporting evidence, and, if the tenant does not leave, manage the court stage through the solicitors we instruct. We also support landlords with Section 8 possession services, rent arrears recovery, breach of tenancy cases, wider tenancy management and Renters' Rights Act compliance.
Request a callback
Facing a possession decision under the new rules? Let's get it right the first time. Call AST Assistance today on 01706 619954, or request a callback via our contact form and a member of our team will be in touch to assess your position and advise on your next step.
