Section 21 has gone: how possession works now

Section 21 was abolished when the Renters' Rights Act commenced on 1 May 2026, and 31 July 2026 was the final deadline for Section 21 claim forms before the remaining notices lapsed. There is no residual version of it, no transitional route back to it, and no wording you can put in a tenancy agreement to recreate it. If you want possession of a property in Doncaster, Rotherham, Sheffield or Barnsley now, you serve a section 8 notice on one of the revised statutory grounds and, if the tenant does not leave, you ask a court to make an order.

That is a real change in how the private rented sector works, not a procedural tidy up. Under the old system you did not have to explain yourself. Now you do, in writing, on a specified ground, with evidence behind it.

Why landlords keep looking for Section 21 anyway

A lot of the advice online still describes Section 21 as if it exists, because it was the default route for decades and older pages have not been updated. Search results are misleading on this point. So are some tenancy agreement templates still circulating, which contain break clauses and end dates that no longer have any effect.

All assured shorthold tenancies converted to assured periodic tenancies on commencement. Fixed terms went with them. Tenancies now roll on a periodic basis with no end date, and new tenancies are periodic from the start. A tenancy no longer runs out, so there is no natural point at which you regain the property. Something has to happen, and you have to name it.

If you want the wider picture of what changed on 1 May, we set it out in our guide to the Renters' Rights Act for landlords. This post deals only with getting the property back.

What the Section 8 route actually involves

Possession is now available only through the revised Section 8 grounds. Each ground has its own conditions and its own notice period, and you have to pick the right one at the point you serve. The notice tells the tenant which ground you are relying on and why.

A section 8 notice is not a formality you fire off and forget. Broadly, the grounds fall into two types. Some, if you prove the facts, oblige the court to make a possession order. Others leave it to the judge, who will weigh whether it is reasonable to make an order in the circumstances. That distinction matters more than it used to, because there is no longer a no-fault route sitting behind it as a fallback. If your ground fails, you are back at the start.

A tenant, by contrast, can end the tenancy by giving 2 months' notice to quit at any time. The obligations are not symmetrical, and it is better to know that now than to discover it mid-dispute.

Notice periods are longer than most landlords expect

Many of the grounds now require 4 months' notice. Not two. Four. Then, if the tenant stays put, there is the court timetable on top of that, which is outside your control and outside ours.

Plan on that basis. In practice it means:

• A property you want back for your own use is a decision to take months ahead, not weeks
• Any refurbishment, sale or re-let timetable needs a long lead time and a fallback if the date slips
• Serving early to "keep options open" is not sensible, because a notice on a ground you cannot prove is worse than no notice at all

The government's overview of the Renters' Rights Act for landlords sets out the framework. Read it before you serve anything.

Rent arrears: three months has to be owed

For the rent arrears ground, 3 months' rent must be owed for the court to make a possession order. That is the threshold, and it is a real one. A tenant who is chronically late but stays under it does not meet the test, however aggravating the pattern.

This changes the arithmetic on arrears. By the time the threshold is reached and the notice period has run and a hearing has been listed, the sum outstanding can be substantial. Two things follow. First, chase arrears early and in writing, from the first missed payment, because a documented history is worth having whether or not it ever reaches a court. Second, do not let a tenant pay down to just under the threshold and then treat the matter as closed, because you may simply be repeating the cycle.

Some landlords buy rent guarantee insurance from an insurer or broker to cover this exposure. That is a general market option and nothing to do with us. GMS does not sell or arrange insurance, and we no longer offer any guaranteed rent product.

Antisocial behaviour is the one faster route

Antisocial behaviour has a shorter notice period than the other grounds, and the landlord can apply to the court immediately rather than waiting out the notice period first. It is the only part of the new system that moves quickly.

It also carries the highest evidential burden in practice. Complaints from other residents, incident logs with dates and times, correspondence with the council or the police, your own written warnings to the tenant: that is what a case is built from. General assertions that a tenant is a nuisance will not carry a hearing. If you are dealing with a serious antisocial behaviour case, get a solicitor involved at the point you start logging, not at the point you serve.

You cannot sell or move in during the first 12 months

Two of the grounds landlords ask about most, selling the property and moving in yourself or housing a close family member, are prohibited during the first 12 months of a tenancy. They are not available at all in that period.

That has consequences for how you buy and let. If you are letting a property you may want to sell inside a year, or one you might want back for a family member, factor the block in before you sign the tenancy rather than afterwards. There is no way to contract out of it.

Deposit compliance decides whether you get an order at all

This is the one that catches people out, and it is worth being blunt about it. Under the Renters' Rights Act, a court possession order is only available if the deposit was properly protected, returned to the tenant, or the dispute over it resolved. Get that wrong and the ground you are relying on becomes irrelevant, because you do not get past the threshold question.

Deposits must be protected in a government approved scheme within 30 days of receipt, and returned within 10 days of both parties agreeing the amount. The three approved schemes are the Deposit Protection Service, MyDeposits, and the Tenancy Deposit Scheme. GMS holds deposits under the Tenancy Deposit Scheme, membership number G13462, with Client Money Protection C0142235.

Before you serve a section 8 notice, check the deposit position for that specific tenancy. Not the one you think applies across your portfolio, that one. Confirm the protection date, confirm the prescribed information was served, and confirm you can produce both. The government guidance on tenancy deposit protection sets out the duties. Deposit failures are also worth reviewing alongside the rest of your obligations, which is why we treat them as part of general landlord compliance across Doncaster and South Yorkshire rather than as a separate exercise.

Record keeping is now part of the job

The old route did not require you to prove much. The new one does, and the records you need mostly cannot be created retrospectively without looking exactly like what they are.

What is worth keeping, continuously, for every tenancy:

• A rent account showing every payment, every arrear and every date, not a bank statement you would have to reconstruct
• Written arrears correspondence, sent and dated, from the first missed payment onwards
• Dated logs of complaints, incidents, inspections and repairs, with what you did in response
• Deposit protection certificates and proof the prescribed information was served
• Gas, electrical and EPC records, and evidence you gave the tenant what you were required to give them

None of this is difficult. It is just consistent, and consistency is where self-managing landlords tend to come unstuck, because the records get made when there is already a problem.

Take proper advice on a contested case

We are a letting agent and a Propertymark member, not a law firm, and nothing here is legal advice. If a tenant defends a possession claim, disputes the ground, raises a counterclaim about disrepair, or challenges your deposit handling, speak to a solicitor who does housing work. The cost of advice early is usually smaller than the cost of a claim that fails on a technicality after four months of notice.

Where GMS fits

Serving correctly, keeping the rent account straight and holding the evidence in one place is routine work for us, and it is included in the property management service we run across Doncaster under one all-in fee with no setup, renewal, inspection or admin charges. If you have a tenancy heading towards possession and you are not sure the paperwork behind it stands up, get in touch with the office on 01302 244104 and we will tell you what we can and cannot help with.