Can you serve before the first 12 months are up?
Yes. For these grounds the law looks at the date specified in the notice, not the day it is served. The tenancy must have begun at least a year before that date (Housing Act 1988, Schedule 2, Grounds 1 and 1A, with “relevant date” defined in Part 5 as inserted by the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, Schedule 1). The notice period itself is four months (section 8).
A worked example
| Step | Date |
|---|---|
| Tenancy began | Saturday 1 August 2026 |
| First 12 months end | Sunday 1 August 2027 |
| Latest helpful serving date (by hand) | Thursday 1 April 2027 gives exactly four months |
| Date given in the notice | Sunday 1 August 2027 |
| Re-letting restriction | Thursday 1 April 2027 to Monday 31 July 2028 |
Served earlier, say on 15 February 2027, the notice still cannot give a date before 1 August 2027. Serving earlier gains nothing and starts the re-letting restriction sooner.
The re-letting restriction
After serving on Ground 1 or 1A, the home must not be let, licensed for money or marketed for letting during the restricted period, even if the sale or move falls through (section 16E). Exceptions in section 16F include letting to the family member the notice was for. Read the re-letting restriction in Abide.Rent.
What Abide.Rent does
Abide.Rent shows each tenancy’s 12-month date, builds the Section 8 notice from the tenancy, records how and when it was served, and puts the re-letting restriction on the property so nobody re-lists it by mistake. See the possession tracker, Section 8 grounds and notice periods and selling a property with the tenant in place. For other grounds, use the Section 8 notice period calculator.