When is last day to serve valid Section 21 notice?

This post explains the transition arrangements for the abolition of Section 21, and the rules regarding how long a landlord will have to apply for an order for possession before the valid section 21 notice (form 6A) becomes time-barred.

Section 21 “no fault” evictions are due to be abolished on the Commencement Date of the Renters’ Rights Act, which is the date when the new tenancy system set out in Chapter 1 of Part 1 of the Renters’ Rights Act will come into force. This has been set for 1 May 2026.

It will be a “big bang” Commencement Date in that (almost) all existing assured shorthold tenancies will become “Section 4A assured tenancies”, or assured periodic tenancies, on that date. Further, no new assured shorthold tenancies will be able to be created after that date. As part of this, landlords will not be able to serve Section 21 notices after the Commencement Date.

However, the transition arrangements of the Renters’ Rights Act make an exception for those Section 21 notices that have already been served before the implementation of the new tenancy reforms on 1 May.

The notices will continue to be valid and the tenancy will continue to be an assured shorthold tenancies for a short three month window after 1 May, during which landlords will need to ask the court to issue a claim form, otherwise the notice will lapse and the tenancy will become an assured periodic tenancy.

Once that period of time ends, the Section 21 notice will be invalid and the landlord will not be able to apply for an order for possession.

The current time limits for serving Section 21 notices

Currently, landlords may terminate a tenancy agreement and obtain possession of a property by serving the tenants with a valid section 21 notice. 

As well has needing to have served the relevant compliance documentation, the landlord must do the following:

- The notice must be served at least four months after the tenancy began.

- The landlord must give at least two months’ notice to each tenant using Form 6A. If the notice is served during a periodic tenancy, the notice does not need to coincide with the end of a rental period.

- Although the notice cannot expire during the fixed term period of the tenancy, unless there is a break clause that allows this, the landlord can serve the notice during the fixed term so long as the two months’ notice expires at or after the end of the fixed term.

- If the tenants ignore the notice and don’t move out when it expires, the landlord must apply for an order for possession within six months of serving the notice.

This all means that landlords need to be very careful that they don’t serve the notice too early by serving it within the first four months of a tenancy. They must also leave themselves enough time to issue proceedings for an order for possession within the six month window of having served the notice if the tenants don’t move out.

Transition rules for serving Section 21 notice under Renters’ Rights Act

Under Para 4, Schedule 6 of the Renters’ Rights Act, Section 21 notices that are served before the Commencement Date (1 May 2026) will still be valid, and the tenancy will remain an assured shorthold tenancy “until proceedings in reliance on the notice become time-barred or are concluded”.

The landlord will therefore be able to enforce the notice by bringing an order for possession until it becomes time-barred under the transition provisions in the Act.

If a valid Section 21 notice is served before close of business 30 April 2025, the tenancy will remain an AST, until the landlord obtains possession and the tenancy ends, the notice lapses or a judge decides that the notice is invalid, and it becomes an assured periodic tenancy.

When will Section 21 notices become time-barred under the Renters’ Rights Act?

Here is a summary of the timetable for the transition provisions in Schedule 6 of the Act after which Section 21 notices can no longer be enforced.

- The landlord must have served a valid Section 21 notice before the Commencement Date, 1 May 2026.

- The final date and time for service of a valid Section 21 notice will theoretically be before 4:30pm on the last working day before the Commencement Date, ie Thursday 30 April 2026. A landlord must not serve a Section 21 notice after 30 April.

- “Service” means that the tenant must have been served the notice, ie received the notice. To be on the safe side, I recommend serving it (posting it by first class or giving it to the tenant in person) by Monday 26 April at the latest.

- If the tenants do not move out when the notice expires, the landlord will need to request the court to issue the claim form for an order for possession under Section 21 of the 1988 Act in reliance on a valid notice within 3 months of the Commencement Date, ie before 31 July 2026.

- However, if the notice was served more than 2 months before it was due to expire (say, 3 months before the end of a fixed term), the landlord will have the earlier of 4 months from the expiry of the notice and 31 July 2026 to request the court to issue a claim for an order for possession. This is to stop landlords from issuing the notice early, in an attempt to serve it before 1 May 2026.

- If the Section 21 notice expires more than 3 months after the Commencement Date, ie after 31 July 2026, the landlord will not be able to apply for an order for possession from the court.

The notice will need to be valid on the day it is served under the pre-Renters’ Rights Act rules, and the notice will lapse if the landlord doesn’t ask the court to issue an claim form before 31 July.

This means that if there is a fixed term without a break clause that ends on 30 November 2026, the landlord will not be able to serve a valid notice, as it will expire after 31 July.

What happens to pending section 21 notices – worked examples

- Landlord served notice 5 months before the Commencement Date (before 1 December 2025): they will have one month to apply for an order for possession, as they need to apply for it within 6 months of the service of the notice.

- Landlord serves notice 2 months before the Commencement Date (before 1 March 2026): they will only have 3 months from the Commencement Date to apply for an order for possession, ie until 31 July, and not the usual 6 months.

- Landlord serves notice 1 day before the Commencement Date (on 30 April 2026): assuming the notice expires 2 months later, they will have just under 1 month to apply for an order for possession before they become time-barred.