Rent arrears and a Section 8 notice

Section 21 has ended. A landlord who needs the property back uses a Section 8 notice on Form 3A, on one or more grounds. This guide follows the arrears route.

Who this is for: letting agencies and landlords.

Arrears: the amount, the periods and the Ground 8 threshold date.

The rent account on the tenancy.

What you are deciding

Whether, and on which grounds, to serve a Section 8 notice, and when.

Your options

• Ground 8 (mandatory). At least 3 months' rent (13 weeks' if weekly) unpaid when the notice is served and at the hearing. four weeks' notice.
• Grounds 10 and 11 (discretionary). Some rent unpaid, or persistent late payment. Four weeks' notice. The court decides whether it is reasonable.
• Wait. Keep recording payments. Abide.Rent shows when the Ground 8 threshold will be reached.

The journey at a glance

When	Step	Who	The law
Each rent day	Rent due and payments recorded on the rent account	Landlord side	—
14 and 7 days before, and on the day	Reminders that the Ground 8 threshold is coming	Abide.Rent	—
Threshold reached	3 months' rent unpaid (Universal Credit payments due but not yet paid are taken off)	—	Housing Act 1988 Sch. 2 Ground 8
Serve	Form 3A on every named tenant, with the deposit protected	Whoever has authority to serve	Housing Act 1988 s.8
four weeks later	The earliest date for court proceedings on Grounds 8, 10 and 11	—	s.8(4AA)
At the hearing	Ground 8 needs the threshold still met	Court	Sch. 2 Ground 8

Other grounds have other periods: four months for Grounds 1, 1A, 2 and 6 (and Grounds 1 and 1A cannot be used in the first 12 months), two weeks for Grounds 12 and 13, and Grounds 7A and 14 can start straight away.

What each party does

Letting agency or landlord

1. Keep the rent account up to date; the threshold date moves with each payment.
2. Before serving, check the deposit is protected; Abide.Rent warns if it is not.
3. Generate Form 3A, check the grounds and dates, sign and serve on every named tenant, and record how.
4. On a rent collection service, the agency can serve only with the landlord's written instruction.

Tenant

• You are told what the notice means: it does not end the tenancy on its own; a court decides. Free advice is available from Shelter and Citizens Advice.

When Abide.Rent reminds whom

• The Ground 8 threshold date: 14 and 7 days before, on the day it.
• The earliest date for proceedings: 60, 30, 14, 7, 3 and 1 days before, on the day it.
• A possession hearing: 30 days before, on the day it.

A worked example

Rent is £1,200.00 a month, due on the 1st, and nothing has been paid since Tuesday 1 December 2026. The rent due on 1 December, 1 January and 1 February is 3 months' rent, so Abide.Rent shows the Ground 8 threshold date as Monday 1 February 2027. The landlord side is reminded on Monday 18 January, Monday 25 January and on 1 February 2027. Form 3A on Grounds 8, 10 and 11 is served by hand on Tuesday 2 February 2027. The earliest date for proceedings is Tuesday 2 March 2027. At the hearing at least £3,600.00 must still be unpaid for Ground 8.

What Abide.Rent does for you

• Works out the threshold date from the rent account and moves it with each payment.
• Checks the notice period for every ground chosen and takes the longest.
• Warns before a notice is generated while the deposit is unprotected.

If something goes wrong

• The Ground 8 date keeps moving
  What to do: It moves with each payment. A part payment can take the arrears below the threshold.
• “The deposit is not recorded as protected.”
  What to do: Record the protection before serving, or take advice: an unprotected deposit can stop some notices.

Common mistakes

• Serving the day the threshold is reached without checking it is still met at the hearing.
• Using Ground 1 or 1A in the first 12 months of the tenancy.

What to do next

• Ground 8: rent arrears
• Section 8 grounds and notice periods
• Open notices