Section 8 Eviction Notices

A Section 8 eviction notice begins the eviction process under the Housing Act. It is used when a landlord can't come to a mutual agreement with the tenants as to when the tenancy should end.

Yes. As long as you meet the statutory criteria to serve a Section 8 notice, you can use our notice tool.

For tenancies arranged through OpenRent's Rent Now service, we'll fill in the information we already know to help make the process smoother.

A section 8 notice can only be served if the tenancy is in England and began after 1 October 2015. Eviction must be based on very specific grounds such as the landlord or family member moving in, sale of a property, rent arrears, or anti-social behaviour.

Please note these are only the most important requirements. There are other statutory requirements that our Section 8 notice tool will help you check. Our Help Centre has more information on the requirements you'll need to meet.

No. Most tenancies come to an end by mutual agreement between the landlord and the tenants. You only need to serve an eviction notice if you can't come to a mutual agreement with your tenants.

This will depend on the tenancy agreement you have with your tenants, and whether it specifically allows for notice by email. If your tenancy was arranged through our Rent Now service, you'll be using our standard AST agreement and notice can be served by email.

If your tenancy agreement doesn't allow service by email, or you want that extra peace-of-mind, you can usually serve notice by first-class post or by physically giving it to the tenants (known as service by hand). If you do this, we recommend retaining evidence that you have served your tenants, such as by taking a photo.

As a result of the Renters’ Rights Act, all new tenancies in England are periodic and any existing assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) will have been converted to periodic and as such no longer have a fixed-term or break clauses which can be used to end a tenancy.

It is also no longer possible to serve a section 21 notice to tenants to end a tenancy. The only way to serve notice to tenants now is through serving a section 8 notice

If your tenants don't leave by the date specified on the Section 8 notice, you can apply to the County Court for a possession order, and subsequently, a warrant of possession to be enforced by bailiffs.

We recommend seeking legal advice in applying for these orders as there are strict requirements both as to the procedure and the timing of applications to Court. Failure to comply may result in additional costs and having to restart the eviction process from the beginning.