Hello Readers,
Now that the Renters’ Rights Act is in force, landlords are needing to adjust but one thing that may easily be overlooked is the deadline for possession proceedings on Section 21 notices issued before 1st May.
You might not know this, but 31st July is the final date landlords can submit a possession claim to the court using a Section 21 notice served before 1st May. If the claim has not been issued by then, the Section 21 notice can no longer be relied upon and landlords will instead need to start again using the new Section 8 process.
Not just this, but landlords will need to ensure they serve the tenant info sheet as it did not need to be issued where there was a live Section 21 notice.
Here’s what I mean by ‘starting possession proceedings’
- Must have served a valid Section 21 notice on the tenant
- Wait for the notice period to expire which is two months
- If the tenant doesn’t leave, issue a possession claim in court. This is what “starting possession proceedings” means
- The court considers the claim. If everything is valid, it usually grants a possession order
- The tenant is given a date to leave. If they still don’t leave, a Warrant of Possession must be applied for.
- County Court bailiffs or High Court Enforcement Officers attend the property to carry out the eviction
In my view, this cut-off date is a significant issue, because of delays in the court system. For example, the Ministry of Justice outlines how the median time from claim to repossession was 26.4 weeks in the first quarter of 2026, and that was before the first full quarter of the Renters’ Rights Act came into effect. This is certainly not fair to good landlords who lose out because of the inability of the system to be administered properly!
If you have a Section 21 notice that has not yet progressed to court, don’t assume there is still plenty of time. My advice here is that if you’re in the situation where you have a Section 21 notice in the queue to seek specialist legal advice so as you can handle proceedings in the right way.
If you need any advice or support on this issue, or any other tenancy or propertymanagement query, feel free to reach me by emailing hasan@home-share.co.uk
Hasan