Section 21s continue to rise ahead of looming ban
The latest research industry insight from LegalforLandlords Section 21 “no-fault” evictions continued to rise in 2025, increasing by 1.7% following a sharp 20.4% surge the previous year. This sustained growth highlights landlords’ continued reliance on Section 21 notices, raising important questions about how possession will be regained once they are outlawed under the Renters’ Rights Act, which comes into force in May.
A Section 21 no-fault eviction allows landlords to evict a tenant without having to give any reason for doing so, with just two months’ notice.
LegalforLandlords analysed eviction data in England* and found that there were an estimated 11,586 Section 21 evictions in 2025. This marks a 1.7% increase on 2024’s total of 11,389 cases, which itself represented a significant annual rise of 20.4%.
Despite the annual increase, the final quarter of 2025 saw a decline of 7.5%, suggesting a possible early response to anticipated legislative reform and changing behaviour among landlords.
However, when issued with a Section 21 notice, most tenants move out before the end of the notice period expires, to avoid the eviction claim going to court. This means that official repossession statistics represent only part of a much larger issue.
With landlords continuing to lean on Section 21 notices to regain possession of their properties, the upcoming Renters’ Rights Act (RRA) will fundamentally reshape the eviction landscape by making such evictions illegal. This raises critical questions about what options landlords will have when seeking to reclaim their properties from tenants unwilling to leave.
What happens next? Do answers lie in new Section 8 rules?
As Section 21 evictions are abolished, the RRA will also abolish assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) and replace them with a new system of periodic assured tenancies. This marks the end of typical fixed-term tenancies of, for example, 6 or 12 months, and introduces open-ended tenancies where the tenant chooses when they are going to leave the property.
This begs the question of what power landlords will have over their own property assets, and the answer lies in Section 8 notices.
To evict a tenant from 1st May, landlords will need to serve a Section 8 notice of seeking possession, citing one or more legally defined grounds. Such grounds will include failure to pay rent on time, anti-social behaviour, property damage, and so on.
However, and this is vitally important for landlords to understand, the RRA also states that a Section 8 notice can also be issued due to changes in the landlord’s own circumstances. These may include a need to sell the property, move into the property themselves, or house close family members.
These changes are designed to increase security for tenants, while still allowing landlords to regain possession under legitimate circumstances.
Sim Sekhon, Group CEO at LegalforLandlords, commented:
“The Renters’ Rights Act marks a fundamental shift in the private rental sector, removing Section 21 and placing greater emphasis on justified possession. While that may feel like a loss of control for some landlords, it doesn’t remove their ability to protect their assets, it simply changes how they do it.
The key will be understanding and correctly using the expanded Section 8 grounds, whether that’s addressing rent arrears, responding to tenant behaviour, or reclaiming a property to sell or house family. Landlords who take a proactive, informed approach, supported by the right legal expertise, will still be able to regain possession where there is a legitimate need, while remaining fully compliant in a more structured regulatory environment.”
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