Keeping up with Section 21 and Section 8 possession notices

As you may already know, what came with the rise of Covid 19 was a number of alterations to the pre-existing Section 21 notice process. Section 21 is a part of the Housing Act which permits Landlords to regain possession of their property. However, under the 2020 Corona Virus Act, the government deemed it appropriate to make changes due precarious financial situations and general public wellbeing derived from the pandemic. For these reasons, Parliament introduced a temporary eviction ban, whereby the courts were suspended from actioning an eviction thus allowing tenants to maintain right of tenure for an extended term.  

As of the 1st June 2021, the restrictions placed on Section 21 of the 1988 Housing Act have not been lifted, but eased in line with the relaxation of government rules regarding Covid 19. Now, Landlords are required to give at least four months’ notice in order to serve a Section 21. This could all change again come October 1st 2021, in which a secondary review will decide whether the notice will be relaxed further into its original state of a two month notice period. Of course, as with most things during this unusual period, nothing is certain and anything regarding this notice in the future cannot be stated with certainty.

Under Section 8 of the 1988 Housing Act, alternations made on the 1st June are not limited to the four month notice period. This notice remains aware of adverse situations, and consequently, can be made much shorter in serious circumstances. For example, antisocial behaviour can be from immediate up to four weeks’ notice, domestic abuse in the social sector is between two and four weeks, false statements are between two and four weeks, rent arrears over four months has a four-week notice, breaching the right to rent immigration rules is two-weeks, and lastly, the death of a tenant is a two-month notice period.

According to the BBC[1] and Property Industry Eye[2], parliament are expecting a total of 400,000 eviction notices to be issued in line with the easements of Section 21. It is then anticipated a large backlog of eviction cases will be going through the courts for the foreseeable future. As mentioned previously, it’s important to clarify the ambiguity of the state and the decisions that will be made going forward. Allow this blog to act as an informer of the current changes that have been made, and the predictions received from the BBC.

If you have any questions or queries at all regarding these changes, please don’t hesitate to give Antony Rummins a call on 01273 202089.


[1] Eviction ban: A million are in fear of losing their homes, charity says – BBC News

[2] Around 400,000 renters told to expect eviction notices – Property Industry Eye

By Parks Letting | 3 June 2021

I have been dealing with Parks for over two years now and in that time I have found them incredibly helpful and honest. I would recommend using Parks both as a Landlord and also as a Tenant.

Paul Cronin, Landlord, May 2017

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