In England and Wales, a Section 8 notice,[1] also known as a Section 8 notice to quit or Form 3, is a notice required to be given in England and Wales by the landlord to the tenant of an assured tenancy or assured shorthold tenancy who wishes to obtain a possession order from the court, thereby ending the tenancy, for a reason based on a circumstance entitling the landlord to possession under the grounds pleaded.
An assured shorthold tenancy may also be ended by the execution of a possession order based on a Section 21 notice.
The landlord can seek to regain possession of the property before or after the fixed term of the tenancy comes to an end based only on these grounds.
It is usually customary to allow a minimum of three working days for the Section 8 notice to arrive at the address of the tenant.
The Section 8 notice expires two weeks or two months after this date, depending on which of the 17 grounds have been cited.
It is only once the Section 8 notice has expired, and the issue has not been resolved, that the landlord can apply for a possession order from the County Court.
If the possession order is granted then it takes effect fourteen days after it has been issued, although in some cases this may be extended to six weeks where it is deemed that the tenant will face serious hardship as a result of the repossession.
When the Section 8 notice is served, the landlord must base the decision to apply for a possession order on one or more of 17 grounds.
With exceptions for significant rent owed and anti-social behaviour, most periods of notice were set to be six months.
Written notice must be given before or at the start of the tenancy that possession might be recovered based on this ground.
Used when the tenant is not legally permitted to occupy the dwelling due to their immigration status, and the government (usually the Home Office) has given the landlord notice to this effect.
This ground states that alternative accommodation will be available for the tenant in the case that the possession order is made and that the landlord has to pay reasonable removal expenses.
This ground only applies to property which is owned by a charitable housing trust or registered social landlord.