The section 21 era ended in two stages, and the second one has just passed. No-fault notices were abolished for England on 1 May 2026, and landlords holding notices served before that date had until the earlier of six months from service or 31 July to issue their court claim. That window is now shut. From this month, every possession case in England runs on grounds, in front of a judge, with evidence.
Most of the commentary covers what this means for landlords who want tenants out. The more interesting question for our readers is what it does to the buying and selling of tenanted stock, because harder and slower possession lowers the value of the vacant possession option, and that should widen the discount on tenanted stock. The dates below are checked against the government’s guide to the Renters’ Rights Act, and the Ground 1A mechanics against Schedule 1 to the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 and the new sections 16E to 16I of the Housing Act 1988 it inserts, per the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, as in force on 2 August 2026.
The section 21 era is over
Under the old regime, an owner could serve two months’ notice without giving a reason and rely on an accelerated paper process. Under the new one, possession needs a statutory ground: the main ones for ordinary landlords are selling, moving in yourself or a close family member, serious rent arrears and antisocial behaviour. Each carries its own notice period and its own evidential burden, and a judge decides whether the ground is made out.
The practical consequence is that possession has become a project with legal risk, not a formality with a timetable.
Selling now runs through Ground 1A
The ground most owners will meet is Ground 1A, the selling ground, and it comes with three constraints worth knowing cold. The notice period is four months. The ground cannot be used in the first twelve months of a tenancy, which gives every new tenant a year of security against a sale-driven or move-in-driven eviction specifically. Arrears and conduct grounds carry no such floor. And once a landlord has used it, the property cannot be re-marketed or re-let for twelve months, so a sale that falls through leaves the owner with an empty property and no lawful way to earn from it.
That third constraint is the one the market has not fully priced. Using the selling ground is now a one-way door, and owners who serve notice speculatively, hoping a sale materialises, are taking a year of income risk to do it.
Possession timelines are the real story
Add the pieces together for an owner who wants vacant possession to sell from a young tenancy: a Ground 1A notice cannot expire before the tenancy turns twelve months old, so the four-month minimum notice runs inside that first year rather than stacking on top of it, and then comes a court process that trade reporting describes as backlogged for months in busy areas. On that arithmetic, end-to-end timelines for a contested case would run comfortably beyond a year once the court stage is added, while an established tenancy faces only the four-month notice and the court queue. A rush of last-minute section 21 claims issued before the July deadline is in front of the courts already, which will not shorten that queue.
None of this is a judgement on the policy. It is arithmetic that every valuation of tenanted stock now has to carry.
The case for cheaper tenanted stock
Sellers who need out and cannot wait a year for vacant possession have one honest option: sell tenanted, and accept the discount that comes with it. Buyers who are happy to own the tenancy, because the rent stacks and they never needed vacant possession, are on the right side of that trade. The discount exists to compensate for an option the buyer was not going to exercise anyway.
The discipline is to underwrite the tenancy you are buying, not the vacant building you imagine. Our tenanted purchase checklist covers the file to demand, and the wider deadline mechanics are in our section 21 deadline guide. Any plan that quietly depends on obtaining possession, for refurbishment, conversion or resale, now needs a named ground, its notice period and a court timeline priced in from day one.
What this means for property investors
Buy tenanted stock because you want the tenancy, and price any vacant possession ambition as an uncertain project measured in months and court lists. When you sell, decide early whether you are selling tenanted or committing to Ground 1A with its four months of notice and the year-long re-letting bar behind it, because switching lanes midway is now expensive. And when a vendor offers you a discount for taking the tenants, remember that discount is the price of a possession option you probably never needed.
Browse the current stock at our live listings or join the insider list to see tenanted deals before they reach the market.