News from 13 April 2026
Read the current guide to tenancy rules in England.
The government published guidance explaining the possession grounds and notice periods to apply in England from 1 May 2026. This April report describes the guidance before the new tenancy system began.
What GOV.UK has published
The new landlord guidance sets out the different grounds for possession and the notice periods attached to them once the changes take effect on or after 1 May 2026. GOV.UK’s wider landlord overview makes the same core point: Section 21 will fall away, landlords will need a legal reason to seek possession, and in many cases the notice period will be four months.
The guidance also makes clear that some rules will work differently from what many landlords are used to now. For example, where possession is sought because the landlord wants to move in or sell, those grounds will not be available during the first 12 months of a new tenancy. That is a material planning point for landlords who have been treating flexibility as a given.
Sale, moving in and other possession grounds
For mainstream private landlords, the headline issues are likely to be the sale ground, the moving-in ground, rent arrears, antisocial behaviour and notice periods. The detailed guidance covers many more situations, including specialist and social-housing cases, but the broad message is that possession becomes more structured and more rule-dependent.
There is also an important deposit protection reminder in the guidance. A court will not be able to make a possession order if the tenancy deposit rules have not been handled properly. In other words, weak admin in the background can still derail a possession case later on.
If you have been following the wider reform timetable, this fits with the pattern already visible in other recent updates. Our earlier piece on the Renters’ Rights timetable looked at the bigger implementation picture, while our guide to possession notices around 1 May 2026 focused on the transition between the current and incoming systems.
