Section 21 abolition: what ended on 1 May 2026 and what replaced it

Since the Housing Act 1988, a landlord in England could end an assured shorthold tenancy without giving a reason. That ended on 1 May 2026. This guide explains what section 21 actually did, precisely what the Renters' Rights Act 2025 removed, what happened to notices that were already in circulation, and what possession looks like now that every eviction has to be justified on a stated ground.

What section 21 was

Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 allowed a landlord to give notice ending an assured shorthold tenancy without alleging any fault on the tenant's part. It became known as the no-fault or accelerated route, because the landlord did not have to prove anything beyond having served a valid notice and complied with a list of preconditions, such as protecting the deposit and providing a gas safety record and an energy performance certificate.

In practice, section 21 shaped the whole relationship. It was the reason a tenant who complained about damp might think twice, and the reason a fixed term ending in four months felt less like a milestone than a countdown. Its abolition is the structural change in the Act - almost everything else follows from it.

What changed on 1 May 2026

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025, and the main tenancy reforms were brought into force on 1 May 2026 by commencement regulations (SI 2026/421). From that date:

• Section 21 notices can no longer be served. A notice served on or after that date has no legal effect, whatever the tenancy agreement says.
• The change applies to existing tenancies as well as new ones. There is no grandfathering. A tenancy granted in 2019 lost the section 21 route on the same day as one granted the week before commencement.
• Assured shorthold tenancies as a category ceased to exist. Tenancies became periodic assured tenancies with security of tenure - see periodic tenancies explained for what that means month to month.

Notices that were already in circulation

The Act did not invalidate every notice overnight. Section 21 and section 8 notices served before commencement kept their effect for a transitional period, but the landlord had to issue possession proceedings in the county court by 31 July 2026. A section 21 notice that ran out of time sooner, or a section 8 notice more than 12 months old, could not be used even before that date. A notice that was not backed by issued proceedings in time simply ran out. That deadline has now passed, so in practice every possession claim starting today runs on the new rules.

What replaced it

Possession now runs entirely through section 8 of the Housing Act 1988. The landlord serves a notice specifying one or more grounds from schedule 2 to that Act, waits out the notice period attached to the ground, and then applies to the court. Grounds are either mandatory, where the court must order possession if the ground is made out, or discretionary, where the court also has to be satisfied it is reasonable to order possession.

The Act expanded and rebalanced the grounds so that landlords with a genuine reason to recover a property still can. The most commonly used ones:

Two restrictions matter more than any other. A notice on ground 1 or 1A cannot name a date for starting court proceedings earlier than one year after the tenancy began, so the tenant gets a protected first year automatically. And a landlord who relies on either ground cannot re-let the property, or market it to let, from the day the notice is served until 12 months after the notice period ends, which removes the obvious workaround of claiming a sale and then quietly re-letting at a higher rent. The full picture is in section 8 possession grounds explained.

What this means if you are a landlord

The practical effect is that possession now needs planning rather than paperwork. If you may want to sell within the next year, that decision now has a 4-month notice period and a 12-month protected period attached to it, so timing a tenancy start date is a real commercial decision. Arrears are the other big change: ground 8 now needs at least three months of arrears rather than two, so early, documented engagement with a tenant who falls behind matters more than it used to.

Record keeping also matters more. Every ground has to be proved, which means dates, correspondence, rent statements and inspection notes are now the evidence base for any future claim rather than optional admin.

What this means if you are a tenant

You cannot be asked to leave without a reason. Any notice you receive should specify the ground relied on, and the notice period should match that ground. A notice that says "section 21" or gives no ground at all is not a valid basis for possession, and you do not have to leave on the strength of it. You also cannot be evicted without a court order - only a court can bring the tenancy to an end against your wishes, and only a court-appointed bailiff or High Court enforcement officer can carry out an eviction.

It is worth reading a notice carefully rather than reacting to it. Check the ground cited, the notice period, and whether the ground is even available - a landlord cannot use ground 1 or 1A to start proceedings within the tenancy's first year. See tenant rights under the Act for the wider picture.

What has not changed

A tenant can still leave. The end of fixed terms means you give notice rather than wait out a term - two months in writing, ending on a day the rent is due or the day before. Landlords still owe the same repairing, gas, electrical and fitness obligations they did before. Deposits still have to be protected, and the Act extended those rules to all assured tenancies. And the Act applies to England only. Scotland ended no-fault eviction for private residential tenancies from 1 December 2017 under the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016. Wales took a different route: under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 a landlord can still end a periodic standard contract without giving a reason, but must give at least six months' notice and cannot serve it in the first six months of occupation. Northern Ireland has its own rules.