Section 8 grounds for possession in 2026: the grounds a London landlord will actually use
Short answer: Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 is now the only route to possession of an assured tenancy. Schedule 2 to that Act sets out 26 mandatory grounds, where the court must order possession if the ground is proved, and 11 discretionary ones, where it may. Most private London landlords will only ever use five of them.
Section 21 is gone. Since 1 May 2026 every possession claim rests on a named ground, and the ground has to be proved. That changes what a landlord needs on file long before anybody thinks about a notice.
The full ground-by-ground table, with the notice period and statutory reference for each, is at /section-8-grounds. This article answers the shorter question: of the 37 grounds, which does a private landlord letting a London flat realistically use, and what must you be able to show for each?
How many grounds for possession are there?
Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1988 splits into two parts: Part I holds the mandatory grounds, Part II the discretionary ones. Reading the Schedule as it stands at 1 May 2026, and counting lettered grounds such as 5A to 5H separately, Part I contains 26 mandatory grounds and Part II contains 11. That is 37 in total.
Older articles give different numbers for a reason. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 omitted Ground 3 entirely, and moved the old Ground 16, the employment-linked tenancy, out of Part II and into Part I as Ground 5C. The mandatory count went up and the discretionary count went down in the same moment.
Mandatory or discretionary: what is the difference?
On a mandatory ground the court has no choice. Prove the ground and possession follows.
On a discretionary ground the court asks a second question: is it reasonable to order possession? It can refuse, suspend the order, or grant possession on conditions, which in practice often means an arrears repayment schedule and the tenant staying put.
That difference is the whole strategy. A discretionary ground is not a weaker mandatory one. It is a different kind of case, argued on conduct and circumstances rather than on arithmetic.
What changed under the Renters' Rights Act 2025?
Four things matter to a private landlord.
The sale ground is new. Ground 1A lets a landlord recover possession where they intend to sell the freehold or leasehold interest, or grant a lease of more than 21 years. Before the Act, section 21 was the only clean route to sell with vacant possession.
Grounds 1 and 1A carry a protected period. Both require that the current tenancy began at least one year before the relevant date. Government guidance puts it plainly: you cannot ask a tenant to leave on these grounds within the first 12 months of a new tenancy, and while you may serve notice earlier, it cannot expire before those 12 months have run.
The Ground 8 arrears threshold rose. It moved from eight weeks to 13 weeks for weekly or fortnightly rent, and from two months to three months for monthly rent. The Act also added a disregard: any amount unpaid only because the tenant has not yet received a universal credit housing payment is ignored.
Using Ground 1 or 1A restricts what you do next. Where a landlord relies on either ground, section 16E of the Housing Act 1988 prohibits letting the property on a term of 21 years or less, or licensing it for money, within a restricted period. It also prohibits marketing it for either, or authorising an agent to. The length of that restricted period, and the exceptions to it, are set by the Act (section 16F carries the exceptions). Read both before relying on either ground.
Which grounds will a London landlord actually use?
| Ground | What it covers | Type | Notice period | What you must be able to evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Landlord, or a close family member, moving in as their only or principal home | Mandatory | 4 months | Who is moving in and their relationship to you — the ground lists spouse, civil partner, cohabiting partner, parent, grandparent, sibling, child, grandchild. Plus that the tenancy began at least a year before |
| 1A | Landlord intends to sell the freehold or leasehold, or grant a lease over 21 years | Mandatory | 4 months | A genuine, documented intention to sell. Plus the same one-year tenancy condition |
| 8 | Serious rent arrears | Mandatory | 4 weeks | At least 3 months' rent unpaid if rent is monthly, or 13 weeks' if weekly or fortnightly — at the date of the notice and at the date of the hearing. A clean rent ledger |
| 12 | Breach of any tenancy obligation other than rent | Discretionary | 2 weeks | The clause breached, and a record of the breach and of what you asked for. Reasonableness is in play |
| 14 | Nuisance or annoyance to neighbours, visitors, you or your staff; or conviction for an indictable offence in or near the property | Discretionary | None — proceedings may begin on the day of service | Dated, specific incident records. Third-party corroboration where you can get it |
Two discretionary arrears grounds sit underneath Ground 8: Ground 10, some rent lawfully due and unpaid, and Ground 11, persistent late payment even where nothing is owed on the day. Both carry four weeks' notice, and both are the realistic route where arrears sit below the Ground 8 threshold.
Which brings up the trap in Ground 8. The threshold has to be met twice, at notice and at hearing. A tenant who clears £200 of a three-month debt the week before defeats the mandatory ground outright. Citing Ground 10 alongside it is ordinary practice for that reason.
One more piece of arithmetic. Section 8(4) provides that where a notice specifies Ground 14, with or without other grounds, the date in the notice need not be later than the date of service. Combining Ground 14 with Ground 1 does not give you a four-month notice, it gives you an immediate one. That is powerful, and exactly why it should not be reached for casually.
We won't serve a notice on a ground we can't evidence
That is not only our position. It is now a statutory duty. Section 16E(1)(e) of the Housing Act 1988 provides that a landlord or agent must not rely on a Schedule 2 ground where they do not reasonably believe the landlord is, will, or may be able to obtain a possession order on it. Serving a speculative notice to apply pressure is no longer merely poor practice.
So the work happens upstream. On the tenancies we manage, the rent ledger, the inventory, the correspondence trail and the deposit protection are kept as evidence from day one, because by the time a ground is in play it is too late to build them. Under the Housing Act 2004 as amended by the Renters' Rights Act 2025, the court may make a possession order on an assured tenancy only if the deposit is held in an authorised scheme and the scheme's requirements have been met. An unprotected deposit has to be put right before possession is available at all.
This matters most on the new-build blocks where much of our work sits. An investor who may want to sell in three years needs Ground 1A available and clean when the time comes, which means a tenancy set up properly at the start. We cover that groundwork in new-build lettings and property management, and the wider reforms at /renters-rights-act-2025.
One caution. Legislation.gov.uk notes that further changes to the Housing Act 1988 may be brought into force later. Check the current text before you serve anything.
Sources
- Housing Act 1988, section 8 (notice of proceedings for possession), point-in-time text as at 1 May 2026 — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/50/section/8/2026-05-01
- Housing Act 1988, Schedule 2 (grounds for possession), point-in-time text as at 1 May 2026 — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/50/schedule/2/2026-05-01
- Housing Act 1988, section 16E (other duties), as at 1 May 2026 — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/50/section/16E/2026-05-01
- Housing Act 1988, section 16F (exceptions from letting and marketing prohibitions), as at 1 May 2026 — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/50/section/16F/2026-05-01
- Renters' Rights Act 2025 (c. 26), contents — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/26/contents
- Grounds for possession: guidance for landlords and letting agents, GOV.UK — https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/grounds-for-possession-guidance-for-landlords-and-letting-agents/grounds-for-possession-guidance-for-landlords-and-letting-agents
Thinking about your options on a London tenancy? Book a free rental appraisal and we will talk you through where you stand.