Section 21 is gone. Every possession claim in England now goes through Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988. There are 17 grounds you can rely on, each with its own evidence, notice period, and likelihood of success. Picking the wrong ground is the most common reason possession claims fail. This guide walks you through which Section 8 ground fits your situation.
Before you start: mandatory or discretionary?
Section 8 grounds fall into two categories that matter enormously in practice:
Mandatory grounds. If you prove the ground, the court must grant possession. The judge has no discretion. These are the strongest grounds and the easiest to plan for.
Discretionary grounds. Even if you prove the ground, the court may refuse possession if it considers it unreasonable in the circumstances. These grounds depend heavily on the quality of evidence and the tenant's response.
Whenever you have a choice, rely on a mandatory ground. If you must rely on a discretionary one, build the strongest factual record you can.
Decision tree by situation
Situation 1: The tenant is in serious rent arrears
If the tenant owes at least three months' rent at both the date you serve the notice and the date of the hearing, use Ground 8. This is mandatory and the court must grant possession.
Notice period: two weeks.
The trap: if the tenant pays the arrears down below the three-month threshold before the hearing, the ground fails. A tenant who pays the rent down to two months and 29 days the morning of court will defeat a Ground 8 claim.
Solution: pair Ground 8 with Grounds 10 and 11. Ground 10 covers any arrears at the date of notice. Ground 11 covers persistent late payment regardless of current balance. Both are discretionary but they give you a fallback if the tenant pays down to escape Ground 8.
Situation 2: The tenant is in moderate or sporadic arrears
If arrears are less than three months but the tenant is persistently late, Ground 11 is your best bet. It catches the tenant who always pays late but never quite enough to trigger Ground 8.
Notice period: two weeks.
Ground 11 is discretionary, so evidence matters. Save every overdue reminder, every late payment receipt, every bounced direct debit. A clean spreadsheet of due dates versus payment dates is exactly what judges look for.
Situation 3: You want to sell the property
Use Ground 1A, introduced by the Renters' Rights Act specifically for landlords who want to sell. It is mandatory if proved.
Notice period: four months.
Requirements:
- You have owned the property for at least 12 months at the time of service
- You have a genuine intention to sell with vacant possession
- You did not let the property purely to set up a sale
Evidence: estate agent instruction letter, marketing materials, valuation report, conveyancer correspondence. The court will probe whether the intention is genuine, so the more contemporaneous documents you have, the easier it is to prove.
Risk: if you serve Ground 1A and then do not put the property on the market within a reasonable time, you cannot re-let it to a new tenant for 12 months. Selling means selling.
Situation 4: You or a close family member need to move in
Use Ground 1. Mandatory if proved.
Notice period: four months.
Requirements:
- You or a spouse, civil partner, parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, sibling, or in-law need the property as their only or principal home
- You notified the tenant in writing at the start of the tenancy that you might want the property back under Ground 1, or the court is satisfied it is just and equitable to dispense with that notice
Evidence: proof of the family member's current housing situation, the reason for the move, and the intention to use the property as a main home rather than a holiday home or second residence.
Risk: same as Ground 1A. If the property is not genuinely occupied within a reasonable time, you cannot re-let for 12 months.
Situation 5: The tenant is anti-social, threatening, or breaking the law
Use Ground 14. Discretionary.
Notice period: can be served with immediate effect; possession proceedings can begin the same day.
Ground 14 covers nuisance, annoyance to neighbours, illegal use of the property, and any conviction related to the property. It is the only Section 8 ground with no minimum notice period, reflecting its seriousness.
Evidence is critical. Police incident numbers, neighbour witness statements, antisocial behaviour reports filed with the local authority, photographs, and CCTV all help. Hearsay rarely wins. A documented pattern of formal complaints is what tips a discretionary ground in your favour.
Situation 6: The tenant has lied on the application or breached the tenancy in another way
Use Ground 12 for tenancy breaches other than rent. Discretionary.
Notice period: two weeks.
Examples that have succeeded under Ground 12:
- Subletting without consent
- Keeping a pet against a properly drafted no-pets clause (note: the Renters' Rights Act has limited landlords' ability to refuse pets, so check the current position before relying on this)
- Causing serious damage to the property or fixtures
- Using the property for an unlawful purpose
- Material misrepresentation on the application
Evidence: a copy of the tenancy agreement showing the breached clause, photographs of damage, written correspondence noting the breach and asking for it to be remedied.
Situation 7: You let to a student and the academic year is ending
Use Ground 4A, introduced by the Renters' Rights Act for the student market. Mandatory.
Notice period: four months.
Requirements:
- The property is let to one or more full-time students
- You let to students in the previous academic year
- You intend to let to students again in the following academic year
This ground was introduced to preserve the academic-year cycle for student landlords who would otherwise be stuck with year-round periodic tenancies. It only works where the property is genuinely used for student lettings.
Situation 8: The tenant has died and the tenancy has not been validly succeeded
Use Ground 7. Mandatory.
Notice period: two months.
Requirements:
- The tenancy has devolved on the tenant's estate rather than being succeeded by a spouse or partner
- Proceedings begin within 12 months of the death
Evidence: death certificate, grant of probate or letters of administration, and any correspondence with the estate.
The grounds you should rarely use
Some Section 8 grounds exist but are rarely the best choice in practice.
Ground 2. Mortgage lender wants vacant possession to sell. Only usable where the lender was already entitled to enforce, you gave the tenant notice at the start of the tenancy that this could happen, and the tenancy is registered with the lender. Niche.
Ground 13. Tenant has caused deterioration to the property condition. Useful in dilapidation cases but very evidence-heavy. Photographs at start of tenancy, inventory, and current photographs are essential.
Ground 15. Deterioration of furniture. Even more niche than Ground 13 and almost never decisive.
Notice periods at a glance
| Ground | Type | Notice period |
|---|---|---|
| Ground 1 (landlord needs) | Mandatory | 4 months |
| Ground 1A (sale) | Mandatory | 4 months |
| Ground 4A (student) | Mandatory | 4 months |
| Ground 7 (death) | Mandatory | 2 months |
| Ground 8 (serious arrears) | Mandatory | 2 weeks |
| Ground 10 (any arrears) | Discretionary | 2 weeks |
| Ground 11 (persistent lateness) | Discretionary | 2 weeks |
| Ground 12 (other breach) | Discretionary | 2 weeks |
| Ground 14 (anti-social) | Discretionary | Immediate |
Combining grounds
You can and often should rely on multiple grounds in the same notice. Ground 8 + Ground 10 + Ground 11 is the standard combination for arrears cases, giving you a mandatory ground if the arrears stay above three months and discretionary fallbacks if they do not. Ground 12 can stack with any other ground where there is also a breach.
Each ground you rely on must be specified clearly in the notice. A judge will not infer a ground that was not pleaded.
What about Section 21?
Section 21 no longer exists for tenancies in England. There is no Section 21 alternative inside Section 8. Every possession claim now requires a valid ground and the evidence to prove it. If your old approach was to wait out a problem tenant and serve Section 21 at the fixed-term end, that approach is no longer available. The mandatory grounds in Section 8 are the closest thing to a "no-questions-asked" route, but they always require proof of the underlying fact.
What to do next
For any planned possession claim, run through this checklist:
- What is the underlying problem? (arrears, sale, family need, anti-social behaviour)
- Which ground best fits, and is it mandatory or discretionary?
- What evidence do I have? What evidence can I still gather?
- How long is the notice period, and what does that mean for my timeline?
- Should I rely on a single ground or combine multiple?
- Do I need to send any prior notice or pre-action letters?
- Have I used the prescribed Section 8 form correctly?
The wrong ground costs months and sometimes years. The right ground, paired with good evidence and the correct notice period, usually wins.
City-specific Section 21 abolition impact
The end of Section 21 from 1 May 2026 forces every possession claim through the grounds above. For city-specific guidance on how this changes the local market, see:
- Section 21 abolition in Manchester
- Section 21 abolition in London
- Section 21 abolition in Birmingham
- Section 21 abolition in Leeds
- Section 21 abolition in Bristol
- Section 21 abolition in Liverpool
- Section 21 abolition in Sheffield
- Section 21 abolition in Nottingham
Related reading: Section 13 rent increase mistakes, PRS Database registration, and the wider Section 21 abolition overview.
This article is general guidance, not legal advice. Section 8 possession claims often involve complex facts and competing grounds. For your specific case, consult a qualified housing solicitor or use PropReady's AI document generator to produce a compliant Section 8 notice citing the right grounds.