What is Section 8 Notice?

Full Definition

A Section 8 notice, made under Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988, is the fault-based route a landlord in England and Wales can use to seek possession of a property let on an assured or assured shorthold tenancy, relying on one or more of the statutory grounds for possession set out in Schedule 2 of the Act. Unlike the no-fault Section 21 procedure, a Section 8 notice requires the landlord to specify which ground or grounds apply and, if the tenant does not leave voluntarily, to prove those grounds to a court, which then decides whether to grant a possession order. Grounds are split into mandatory grounds, where the court must grant possession if the landlord proves the ground is met (for example, Ground 8: at least two months' or eight weeks' rent arrears both at the date of the notice and at the court hearing), and discretionary grounds, where the court additionally considers whether it is reasonable to grant possession even if the ground is technically proved (for example, Ground 10 or 11, covering some or persistent rent arrears below the Ground 8 threshold, or Ground 12 and 14, covering breach of tenancy terms or anti-social behaviour). The minimum notice period a landlord must give varies by ground: as little as immediate service (effectively no notice period) for the most serious grounds such as significant anti-social behaviour, two weeks for rent arrears grounds, and up to two months for some other grounds such as the landlord's intention to redevelop the property. A landlord can serve a Section 8 notice at any point during a tenancy, including within a fixed term, unlike a Section 21 notice, which -- other than in a periodic tenancy -- generally cannot expire before the end of the fixed term. Worked example: a tenant falls behind on rent by two full months; the landlord can serve a Section 8 notice citing Ground 8 (mandatory) alongside Grounds 10 and 11 (discretionary, as a fallback in case arrears reduce below the Ground 8 threshold by the court date), giving the minimum notice period for rent arrears grounds, and if the tenant has not paid down the arrears sufficiently by the court hearing, the court must grant possession under the mandatory ground regardless of the tenant's personal circumstances. Under proposed reforms to abolish Section 21, Section 8 (with expanded and adjusted grounds) is intended to become the sole mechanism for landlords to regain possession of any residential tenancy, making familiarity with its grounds and notice periods increasingly important for landlords currently used to relying on the simpler Section 21 route.

Related Calculators

See Also