For 37 years, renters have had no real security in their homes. Landlords could ask tenants to leave at any time with two months' notice and no reason. Even if you were the perfect tenant who paid rent on time, looked after your home, and never caused a problem, you could still have your home taken away from you in as little as two months. If a landlord issued a valid Section 21 notice, courts had no choice but to grant possession and effectively make the tenant homeless.
Around 30,000 Section 21 court claims were filed in England in 2023 alone, and since the government first pledged to abolish it in 2019, more than 109,000 Section 21 claims have gone through the courts. A record 25,910 households went to their council for help after being served one in 2023, making loss of a private tenancy the single biggest cause of homelessness in England, and Section 21 is the main driver of that.
From May 1st, 2026, just over seven years since the previous Conservative government announced their plans to abolish Section 21, that all changed.
When the Housing Act 1988 came into force, Section 21 gave landlords a route to take back a property without having to give a reason in court. Usually referred to as "no-fault evictions" for this reason, the only thing a landlord had to do to evict a tenant was issue a valid Section 21 notice with two months' notice. And because the Housing Act 1996 made assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) the default type of tenancy, nearly every private renter in England fell under the scope of Section 21.
Whether a Section 21 is valid, however, depends on a checklist of requriements:
Any one of those failing invalidates the Section 21 notice, and a lot of landlords get it wrong. When a Section 21 is invalid, it's considered null and void, and landlords must re-issue it again, which restarts the two-month clock.
This is super important to know because if you received a Section 21 before May 1st, but it turns out to be invalid after May 1st, your landlord is out of luck; their Section21 is void and, most importantly, they cannot issue a new one.
The Renters' Rights Act doesn't just abolish Section 21, but removes the entire AST regime from English law. Section 2 of the Act removes Chapter II of Part I of the Housing Act 1988, which is where Section 21 was enshrined in law. Section 1 of the Act creates a new tenancy type to replace it: the assured periodic tenancy, set out in a new Section 4A of the 1988 Act.
From 1 May 2026, every existing AST in England automatically becomes an assured periodic tenancy. You don't sign need to sign or agree to anything, no matter what your landlord or their agent tells you; everything happens automatically. It's important to note that your exisitng tenancy agreement and all its (lawful) provisions still applies, even if it was signed as an assured shorthold tenancy.
All this is explained by the government's official Information Sheet, which your landlord must give to you before May 31st. If they don't, they face a fine of up to £7,000.
From day one of the new regime (May 1st, 2026):
A Section 21 notice served before May 1st can still be valid for a short window after abolition. Schedule 6 of the Renters' Right Act sets out the transition rules, and they create three scenarios.
1. Court claim already filed: If your landlord has already filed a court claim, the notice remains valid until those proceedings finish, and your tenancy remains as an AST in the meantime pending the court's decision.
2. Section 21 served: If a Section 21 has been served but no court claim has been filed, your landlord has to file the claim by either six months from the date the notice was served, or July 31st, 2026 at the latest. A landlord who serves a notice on April 25th, for example, doesn't have until October; they have until July 31st. If they miss that deadline, the notice is invalid and it can't be issued again.
3. No notice served: If no Section 21 notice was served by April 30th, 2026, no Section 21 can be served at all. Any notice dated May 1st or later is automatically invalid.
A valid Section 21 notice can never be served in the first four months of a tenancy. That rule has been in place for years. Since Section 21 was abolished on May 1st, this means that any tenancy starting on or after January 1st, 2026 hit May 1st before that four-month blocker expired. By the time your landlord would have been legally allowed to serve a Section 21, it doesn't exist anymore.
For example: If you signed a tenancy starting on January 15th, 2026, the earliest your landlord could serve a valid Section 21 would be May 15th, 2026. By then, Section 21 would already have been abolished, and any Section 21 notice served from May 1st onward isn't worth the paper it's printed on (and serving one can trigger a civil penalty of up to £7,000!)
Even if you've been issued a Section 21 before May 1st, there's a good chance it's invalid; a huge proportion of Section 21 notices fail when they reach court. Landlords use the wrong form, miss a prescribed document, get the dates wrong, or forget that the deposit was never properly protected. An invalid notice is unenforceable, and the court will throw the claim out.
The most common reasons for a Section 21 being invalid are:
In addition, a Section 21 notice will be invalid if it doesn't give you at least two months' notice, or if it wasn't served using Form 6A.
Use our interactive tool to check whether your Section 21 notice is valid or invalid.
Run the notice through our check tool above. If it's invalid, your landlord won't be able to issue you with a new, valid one after fixing the problem that invalidated it in the first place.
Remember that a Section 21 doesn't end your tenancy on its own. Even after the notice expires, your tenancy continues until your landlord gets a court order and bailiffs are sent to the property. Don't leave voluntarily and don't hand back keys. The court process takes months from the date the notice expires, and at every stage there are opportunities for the claim to fail or be delayed.
If you haven't been served a Section 21, you don't need to do anything; your tenancy converted automatically. You should receive the government's Information Sheet from your landlord by May 31st; if you don't, ask for it. From May 1st, your landlord can only end your tenancy by proving a valid Section 8 ground in court. You can leave at any time by giving two months' notice.
If you've been served a Section 21 or you're worried about your tenancy, these services are free. Shelter's helpline is available on 0808 800 4444. Citizens Advice can help online or through your local bureau. Your council's housing options team has a legal duty to help you if you're at risk of homelessness. If you're facing court action, the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service (HLPAS) provides free housing-specific legal advice.
Yes. Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 was abolished on May 1st, 2026, under the Renters' Rights Act 2025. No Section 21 notice can be served on or after that date, and any landlord who attempts to serve one faces a civil penalty of up to £7,000.
No. From May 1st, 2026, your landlord must use a Section 8 ground for possession and prove it in court. Every ground requires a specific reason, such as wanting to sell, wanting to move in, or rent arrears. The court has discretion to refuse possession on most grounds.
If the court claim has already been filed, the notice remains valid until proceedings conclude. If no court claim has been filed, your landlord must file one by July 31st, 2026, at the latest, or the notice lapses permanently. No new Section 21 notice can be served to replace it.
No. Your existing tenancy agreement still applies. The conversion from an assured shorthold tenancy to an assured periodic tenancy happens automatically by operation of law. Your landlord must give you the government's official Information Sheet by May 31st, 2026, but you don't need to sign anything new.
A valid Section 21 notice can't be served in the first four months of a tenancy. Any tenancy starting on or after January 1st, 2026, hits the May 1st abolition date before that four-month window expires. By the time your landlord would have been legally allowed to serve a Section 21, it no longer exists. If your tenancy started in 2026, you can't receive a valid Section 21 at all.
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