Section 21 notice

In England and Wales, a section 21 notice, also known as a section 21 notice of possession or a section 21 eviction, is a notice under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, that a landlord must give to their tenant to begin the process to take possession of a property let on an assured shorthold tenancy without providing a reason for wishing to take possession. The expiry of a section 21 notice does not bring a tenancy to its end. The tenancy would only be ended by a landlord obtaining an order for possession from a court, and then having that order executed by a County Court bailiff or High Court enforcement officer. The Renters' Rights Act 2025, which received royal assent on 27 October 2025, will abolish section 21 notices when it comes into force on 1 May 2026.

Such an order for possession may not be made to take effect earlier than six months from the beginning of the first tenancy unless the tenancy is a demoted assured shorthold tenancy. If the court is satisfied that a landlord is entitled to possession, it must make an order for possession, for a date no later than 14 days after the making of the order unless exceptional hardship would be caused to the tenant in which case possession may be postponed to a date no later than six weeks after the making of the order. The court has no power to grant any adjournment or stay of execution from enforcement unless the tenant has a disability discrimination, public law or human rights defence, or the case is pending an appeal.

Where a landlord is seeking possession on the basis of a section 21 notice where the tenancy is, or where there are successive tenancies on the same terms as, the original tenancy comprised in a written tenancy agreement, the landlord may bring a claim for possession under the accelerated procedure if no other claims are being made at the same time. Unlike a standard possession claim, the accelerated possession version is decided by a judge on paper without a hearing unless the paperwork does not appear to be in order, or the tenant has raised an important issue in defence. The mean time between claim for possession under the accelerated procedure being issued at court and eviction in 2019 was 27.4 weeks, with a median of 18.7 weeks.

Ministry of Justice statistics for July to September 2025 showed landlord possession claims fell 8% year-on-year to 23,327, while repossessions by county court bailiffs rose 9% to 7,641. The median time from claim to repossession increased to 27.4 weeks, up from 24.4 weeks in the same period of 2024. London accounted for 33% of all landlord claims and orders. Ministry of Justice data from early 2026 showed significant regional variation in possession claim wait times. Courts in London and Birmingham averaged 16 weeks from claim to hearing, while courts in areas such as Blackpool averaged 6 weeks.