Which possession proceedings?

The New Possession Grounds

The Renters Rights Act 2025 amends many of the possession grounds and brings in new grounds.  Many of these will not be relevant for private sector landlords.

Most landlords in the PRS will be looking to use one of the following three grounds.  The first two are ‘no fault’ grounds:

Ground 1 – The landlord wants the property for himself or his family to live in

This is an amended form of the old ground one, but

• The landlord no longer needs to have lived in the property himself (which is unlikely if the property has been bought for a retirement home) and
• The landlord no longer needs to give notice of any intention of this ground in the tenancy agreement.

Ground 2 – The landlord wants the property back to sell it

This means that landlords cannot be stuck renting a property out to tenants, for example if they want to retire and sell up.

Rules about ground 1 and 1A

• They cannot be used during the first 12 months of the tenancy
• The landlord must not re-let the property for 12 months after your notice is served or issue of proceedings (known as the ‘restricted period’)

If landlords re-let the property, or advertise it for letting, or even tell someone that it may be available to let during the restricted period, this will make them subject to a Civil Penalty fine of up to £40,000 (with a recommended starting point of £25,000).

Ground 8 – Serious Rent Arrears

This is largely the same as before, save that the rent must be 3 months or 13 weeks or more in arrears at the date of the notice and the date of the Court hearing (as opposed to two months/8 weeks under the old regime).

The notice period has increased to four weeks.

Landlords looking to use any of the other grounds under the legislation should take legal advice.

For example, from one of the panel solicitors on our   telephone advice service.

This is the end of this guide.  I hope it has been helpful to you.