Section 21 Eviction Notice: A Landlord's Guide for 2026

What Is a Section 21 Notice?

A Section 21 notice, sometimes called a "no-fault eviction" notice, is the mechanism under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 by which a landlord can seek to recover possession of a property let on an assured shorthold tenancy. The key feature of Section 21 is that the landlord does not need to prove that the tenant has done anything wrong. The tenancy can simply be brought to an end by giving the tenant the required notice.

This distinguishes Section 21 from the alternative route -- Section 8 -- which requires the landlord to prove one or more specific grounds for possession, such as rent arrears, damage to the property, or anti-social behaviour.

Section 21 has been available since the Housing Act 1988 and was intended to give landlords confidence that they could always regain possession at the end of a tenancy, encouraging more private landlords to let their properties. In recent years it has become increasingly controversial, with tenant groups arguing that the threat of Section 21 puts renters in insecure housing situations. The Renters' Rights Bill, currently progressing through Parliament, proposes to abolish it.

Key Conditions Before You Can Serve

Serving a Section 21 notice is not as simple as writing a letter. A number of conditions must be satisfied before a notice will be valid. If any of these are missing, the notice is invalid and a court will refuse to grant possession.

Energy Performance Certificate. The landlord must have provided the tenant with a valid EPC for the property before or at the start of the tenancy. An EPC lasts for ten years from the date of issue. If the property does not have a current EPC, you cannot validly serve a Section 21 notice until one has been obtained and given to the tenant.

Gas safety certificate. If the property has any gas appliances, the landlord must carry out an annual gas safety check by a Gas Safe registered engineer. A copy of the gas safety record must have been given to the tenant before they moved in (or within 28 days of the annual check if the tenancy is ongoing). If this has not been done, the Section 21 notice will be invalid.

How to Rent checklist. The landlord must have given the tenant the government's current How to Rent guide. This is a document published by the Ministry of Housing and is updated periodically. The version given must be the version that was current at the start of the tenancy (or the current version if the tenant renewed or a new fixed term was agreed). If the wrong version was given, or it was never given, the notice is invalid.

Deposit protection. If the landlord took a deposit, it must have been protected in a government-approved deposit protection scheme within 30 days of receipt, and the prescribed information about the scheme must have been given to the tenant. Failure to protect the deposit, or failure to give the prescribed information, prevents the landlord from serving a Section 21 notice.

Timing restrictions. A Section 21 notice cannot take effect in the first four months of the original tenancy. This means in practice it cannot usually be served in the first two months.

Retaliatory eviction protection. If a tenant has complained about disrepair or other conditions, and the local authority has served an improvement notice or emergency remedial action notice on the landlord within the last six months, a Section 21 notice served after the complaint but before the local authority action cannot be relied upon.

The Prescribed Form: Form 6A

Since 1 October 2015, all Section 21 notices for assured shorthold tenancies in England must use the prescribed Form 6A. Using a non-prescribed form, or making significant errors on Form 6A, renders the notice invalid.

Form 6A is available on GOV.UK and requires you to complete:

• The landlord's name and address
• The tenant's name
• The property address
• The date the notice is served
• The date by which possession is required (which must be at least two months from the date of service)

The form includes a declaration that the landlord has complied with the relevant legal requirements. If you sign this declaration incorrectly, it could be used against you in possession proceedings.

The Two-Month Notice Requirement

The notice period under Section 21 must be at least two months. However, for periodic tenancies (where there is no fixed end date and the tenancy rolls from month to month or week to week), the notice must also expire on the last day of a period of the tenancy.

For a monthly periodic tenancy where rent is due on the first of each month, a notice served on 1 June must expire no earlier than 31 July, and to align with a rent period it should expire on 31 July (the last day of July). If you serve notice on 15 June, the earliest valid expiry date is 14 August, but to align with the rent period it would need to run to 31 August.

In practice, this means landlords should aim to serve Section 21 notices slightly earlier in a rent period rather than later, to avoid the effective notice period stretching by nearly an extra month.

What Happens If the Tenant Does Not Leave?

If the tenant remains in the property after the Section 21 notice expires, the landlord cannot physically remove them. Changing the locks, removing belongings, or cutting off utilities constitutes illegal eviction and can result in significant civil and criminal penalties.

The landlord must apply to the court for a possession order. For Section 21 cases, there is a dedicated route called the accelerated possession procedure, available using the N5B court form. This is a paper-based process -- no hearing is required unless the court decides one is needed -- which makes it faster than the standard Part 55 possession route.

The court will check that:

• The tenancy was an assured shorthold tenancy
• The Section 21 notice was valid
• The notice has expired
• The claim is being brought within six months of the notice expiry date

If the court is satisfied, it will issue a possession order. The order will typically give the tenant fourteen days to vacate, though this can be extended to six weeks in cases of exceptional hardship.

If the tenant still does not leave after the possession order, the landlord must apply for a warrant of possession, after which court bailiffs will attend to carry out the eviction.

The Renters' Rights Bill and the Future of Section 21

The Renters' Rights Bill, introduced to Parliament in late 2024, proposes to abolish Section 21 in its entirety. Under the proposals, all tenancies would move to a single periodic tenancy structure with no fixed end dates, and landlords would only be able to recover possession by establishing one of the Section 8 grounds.

New and strengthened Section 8 grounds are proposed, including a ground for landlords who want to sell the property or move in a family member. However, these will require notice periods and in some cases will be mandatory (the court must grant possession) or discretionary (the court can consider all circumstances).

The trajectory is clear: Section 21 is likely to be abolished within the next few years, and landlords need to be prepared. This means understanding Section 8 grounds, keeping robust records of tenancy agreements and any issues during the tenancy, and ensuring that all compliance obligations are met so that possession proceedings are not complicated by procedural failures.

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