MV/N-021 · Possession
Ground 8 now needs three months, not two
The single most consequential change for anyone recovering rent arrears is not the abolition of section 21. It is the quiet reset of Ground 8.
Ground 8 is the mandatory rent arrears ground. Where it is made out, the court has no discretion: possession follows. That made it the backbone of arrears recovery, and it is the ground most landlords assumed they could fall back on.
Under the Renters' Rights Act 2025 the threshold has moved. A tenant must now be three months in arrears rather than two, and the notice period has been extended to four weeks — double what it was.
Why the arithmetic matters more than the principle
The change is often reported as a month's grace. It is not. The threshold must be met both when the notice is served and at the hearing. A tenant who pays a small sum in the interim can take the arrears below three months on the day of the hearing and defeat the mandatory ground entirely.
That was true before, at two months. At three months it is materially easier for a tenant to do, because the sum required to drop below the line is the same while the balance is larger. The practical consequence is that a claim resting on Ground 8 alone is now a more fragile thing than it was.
Grounds 10 and 11 are no longer optional extras
Ground 10 covers arrears at the date of the notice and the date of proceedings. Ground 11 covers persistent late payment, whether or not there are arrears when the claim is issued. Both are discretionary: the court must be satisfied it is reasonable to make an order.
Pleading all three together is now the ordinary approach rather than a belt-and-braces one. Where a tenant reduces the balance to defeat Ground 8, Grounds 10 and 11 remain live. Where payment history is erratic, Ground 11 does work that Ground 8 cannot do at all.
This raises the evidential bar. A discretionary ground is decided on reasonableness, and reasonableness is decided on the papers a landlord brings. A reconciled rent account, a complete schedule of payments and dates, and a clear record of what was demanded and when are no longer background material. They are the case.
What this changes in practice
- The earliest possible date for a mandatory possession claim has moved back by around six weeks.
- Arrears must be monitored against a three-month line, not two, and monitored again immediately before any hearing.
- A claim should plead Grounds 8, 10 and 11 together as a matter of course.
- Payment records need to be reconciled to a standard that will support a discretionary ground, not merely evidence a balance.
None of this makes arrears irrecoverable. It makes the preparation that precedes a claim considerably more important than it was, and it punishes files that were assembled loosely.