Section 21 is gone. Possession now runs on evidence.
On 1 May 2026 the Renters' Rights Act ended no-fault eviction in England. Every assured shorthold tenancy became an assured periodic tenancy on the same day, and the route landlords had used for thirty years — serve two months' notice, give no reason — closed. What replaced it is not harder in principle. It is harder in practice, because it asks a question the old route never did: prove it.
This page sets out what actually changed, what the new grounds and notice periods are, and what a defensible tenancy record looks like now. It is not legal advice.
What changed on 1 May 2026
Three things at once, and the third is the one that catches people out.
1. No more Section 21
No new Section 21 notice can be served. Notices served before commencement had until 31 July 2026 to reach court proceedings, and are unenforceable after that. There is no residual no-fault route left in England.
2. Every tenancy is periodic, and fixed terms no longer end anything
A tenancy now continues until the tenant ends it or a court grants possession on a ground. The expiry of a twelve-month term is no longer an event with legal consequences for possession — it is just a date passing.
3. Possession became an evidential exercise
Under Section 21 the paperwork was a gate: get the prescribed information, the deposit protection and the certificates right, and the claim went through without anybody examining how the tenancy had actually been run. Under Section 8 the paperwork is the case. A judge is now looking at how a specific landlord handled a specific tenancy over years — and a disrepair counterclaim is the routine answer to an arrears claim, which means your maintenance history is on trial alongside the rent ledger.
The grounds and notice periods that matter most
| Ground | Threshold | Notice |
|---|---|---|
| Ground 8 — serious arrears (mandatory) | 3 months' rent unpaid (13 weeks if rent is weekly or fortnightly), and still unpaid at the hearing | 4 weeks |
| Ground 10 — any arrears (discretionary) | Any rent lawfully due and unpaid | 4 weeks |
| Ground 11 — persistent late payment (discretionary) | A pattern of late payment, whether or not arrears exist today | 4 weeks |
| Ground 1 — landlord or family moving in | Not available in the first 12 months of the tenancy | 4 months |
| Ground 1A — selling the property | Not available in the first 12 months, with restrictions on re-letting afterwards | 4 months |
Ground 11 is the one worth understanding properly. It does not require arrears to exist right now — it requires a demonstrable pattern of late payment, which is precisely the thing a landlord cannot prove from a bank statement and can prove from a rent ledger with dated due dates against dated receipts.
What a defensible tenancy record contains
None of this is exotic. The difficulty is that it has to be contemporaneous — built as the tenancy runs, not assembled the week a dispute starts, when the gaps are already permanent.
Signed tenancy agreement
On file and linked to the tenancy, not in an email thread from three years ago.
Deposit protection with its scheme reference
Protection alone is not enough — the reference is what proves it, and its absence is a defence to a claim.
Gas safety, EICR and EPC in date, continuously
A gap in the middle of a tenancy is visible in the record even if the certificate is in date today.
A rent ledger showing what was due and what was paid
Ground 8 turns on the arrears figure holding up at the hearing, which needs dated periods, not a running total.
Repair history with dates and outcomes
A counterclaim for disrepair is the standard response to an arrears claim. The answer to it is a maintenance log.
A log of what you told the tenant, and when
“The landlord never responded” against “I called them on the 3rd” is the most contested category there is, and almost nobody keeps a record of it.
LetBuddy builds that record for you, from day one
Not as a “start a case” workflow you have to remember to open — by the time a landlord thinks to open one, the eighteen months of evidence they needed is already missing. Every tenancy in LetBuddy has a case record that assembles itself continuously from the rent ledger, the compliance calendar, the maintenance log, the notices you have served, and a conversation log for the calls and texts nothing else captures.
- · A readiness checklist that says, in plain yes-or-no terms, which pieces of evidence are missing right now — while you can still fix them.
- · A single PDF export with the full dated timeline and the certificates and photos embedded inline, for your solicitor or the court.
- · Section 8 notices generated with the correct post-May-2026 grounds, the 3-month arrears threshold, and the 4-week proceedings date calculated for you.
- · Included on every account, including the free one. This is not a premium module.
Readiness checklist
Signed tenancy agreement on file
Uploaded 14 Mar 2025
Deposit protected with a reference recorded
MyDeposits · ref ending 4471
Gas safety, EICR and EPC in date
Earliest expiry 2 Feb 2027
No open repair older than 28 days
Boiler service open 31 days
Timeline
2 Aug · Phone call · You → Tenant
Discussed missed July rent, agreed a plan
14 Jul · Repair logged
Boiler not firing — engineer booked
1 Jul · Rent due, unpaid
£700 · balance now £1,400
Your first property is free forever. No card required.
Common questions
- Has Section 21 been abolished?
- Yes. Section 21 'no-fault' evictions ended in England on 1 May 2026 under the Renters' Rights Act. No new Section 21 notice can be served, and pre-commencement notices became unenforceable for the purpose of issuing proceedings after 31 July 2026. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland run on their own separate possession regimes and were not changed by this Act.
- What replaces Section 21 for landlords?
- Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988, with a revised and expanded set of grounds. Every possession claim now has to name a ground and be supported by evidence a judge will accept — arrears records, correspondence, compliance certificates, or proof of intention to sell or move in.
- How much rent arrears are needed for Ground 8 now?
- Three months' rent unpaid for a monthly tenancy, or thirteen weeks where rent is paid weekly or fortnightly — raised from two months on 1 May 2026. The arrears must still be at that level at the hearing, not just when the notice was served, which is why a clean, dated rent ledger matters more than it used to.
- What notice period applies to a Section 8 notice?
- Four weeks for the rent arrears grounds (8, 10 and 11), raised from two weeks. Four months for Ground 1 (landlord or family moving in) and Ground 1A (selling the property), and neither of those can be used in the first twelve months of a tenancy.
- Are all tenancies now periodic?
- In England, yes. Assured shorthold tenancies converted automatically to assured periodic tenancies on 1 May 2026. Fixed terms no longer end a tenancy by themselves, so the tenancy continues until it is ended by the tenant or by a successful possession claim on a ground.
- What evidence does a landlord need for a possession claim now?
- In practice: a signed tenancy agreement, proof the deposit was protected with the scheme reference, in-date gas safety, electrical and EPC certificates, a rent ledger showing exactly what was due and what was paid, a maintenance history showing repairs were handled, and a log of what was communicated to the tenant and when. The communication log is the piece most landlords do not have, and it is the one most often disputed.
- Do I need special software for the Renters' Rights Act?
- No — but the record-keeping burden went up sharply, and a shoebox of certificates and a bank statement is a weak position in front of a judge. What matters is that the evidence is contemporaneous, dated, and complete for the whole tenancy, rather than reconstructed from memory after a dispute starts.
General information about the law in England as at August 2026, not legal advice. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate possession regimes. Grounds, thresholds and notice periods are set by statute and can be amended — check the current position, and take advice from a solicitor before serving any notice or issuing proceedings.