Evicting a tenant in England: Section 8 possession claims

How JLN help

• Pre-service notice review. A fixed-fee review of your draft Section 8 notice, the ground or grounds you intend to rely on, the notice period, and your supporting evidence – before anything leaves your hands.
• Drafting and serving Section 8 notices. We prepare the notice on Form 3A, ensuring the correct ground, wording, notice period, and service method, with a clean record of service.
• Possession claims. We issue the claim, prepare witness evidence and supporting documents, and represent you at the court hearing.
• Enforcement. Once a possession order is granted, we apply for a warrant of possession and instruct county court bailiffs or, where appropriate, High Court enforcement officers.
• Check before you serve. We check your grounds, your notice, your evidence and how you plan to serve it. We confirm what the check covers and what it costs before we start.
• If your notice has a mistake. We look at how serious it is and whether it can be put right, or whether you need to serve a new notice.
• Defending rent repayment order applications. Where a tenant applies to the First-tier Tribunal on the basis that a possession ground was knowingly misused, we defend the claim.

Common situations we advise on

Tenant in rent arrears: Ground 8 is the main ground for serious rent arrears. Your tenant must owe at least three months’ rent (or 13 weeks if they pay weekly or fortnightly) when you serve notice and again on the day of the court hearing. You must give four weeks’ notice. Rent that is unpaid only because a Universal Credit housing payment is delayed does not count.

We check whether you meet the limit. We can also add Ground 10 (any rent arrears) and Ground 11 (repeated late payment) as a back-up. The court decides whether to give you possession under these two grounds, so the result is not certain.

See how we helped a residential landlord secure possession and recover substantial rent arrears.

You want to sell the property. Ground 1A is the mandatory ground for sale and requires four months’ notice. It cannot be used in the first 12 months of the tenancy. Critically, re-letting the property within 12 months of service — including via short-term platforms — is prohibited. We advise on timing, evidence and the consequences of getting this wrong.

You or a family member want to move in. Ground 1 has been widened to cover close family members. The same 12-month re-letting restriction applies. We help landlords structure the timing and gather the evidence the court will require.

Anti-social behaviour or nuisance. For antisocial behaviour you can use Ground 7A (serious cases) or Ground 14 (other antisocial behaviour). You can start court proceedings straight after you serve notice, but the court cannot make a possession order until 14 days after the date of the notice.

Under Ground 7A the court must order possession if the conditions are met, for example a relevant conviction, a breached court order or a closure order. Under Ground 14 the court decides whether eviction is reasonable. You need good evidence either way, and we help you collect and present it.

Tenant has not left after the notice period. Serving the notice is only the first step. We issue the possession claim, attend the hearing, and take enforcement action where needed.

Student HMO at the end of the academic year. Ground 4A lets you take back a shared house let to full-time students so you can let it to a new group. You must give four months’ notice. The house must be needed for a new group of students in line with the academic year, between 1 June and 30 September. You must also have told the tenants in advance that you might use this ground, and rules apply to when the tenancy was agreed. Not every student let qualifies. We check this with you before you serve.

Your deposit was not protected on time. If you did not protect your tenant’s deposit properly, the court usually cannot give you a possession order. There are ways to put this right, for example by returning the deposit. You may still face a claim from your tenant even if you fix the problem. These rules do not apply to Grounds 7A and 14. A deposit must be money. If you took anything else, you must give it back before you can get possession on any ground.

Contact us before you serve any notice and we will check your position.

To make an enquiry, you can email us at wewillhelp@jonathanlea.net, complete our contact form, or call us on 01444 708640.

Note: This page applies to residential tenancies in England only. Wales operates a separate regime under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016.

This is intended for general information only, applies to the law at the time of publication, is not specific to the facts of your case and is not intended to be a replacement for legal advice. It is recommended that specific professional advice is sought before relying on any of the information given. © Jonathan Lea Limited