Evicting a tenant for antisocial behaviour

To evict a tenant for antisocial behaviour, you serve a Section 8 notice relying on Ground 14 (nuisance or annoyance, a discretionary ground) and, where there has been a conviction or court finding, Ground 7A (serious antisocial behaviour, a mandatory ground). Neither ground has a minimum notice period, so you can start court proceedings as soon as the notice is served. If those are the only grounds made out, though, the court can't make an order that takes effect within 14 days of service.

Ground 7A or Ground 14: which one applies?

	Ground 7A	Ground 14
Type	Mandatory: the court must order possession if proved	Discretionary: the court decides if it's reasonable
What you must show	One of five triggers (below)	Nuisance or annoyance, or certain convictions
Notice period	None	None
Service deadline	12 months after the conviction or finding (3 months for a closure order)	None
Can the court dispense with notice?	No	Yes, if just and equitable
Deposit bar	Doesn't apply	Doesn't apply

Ground 7A's five triggers. The tenant, someone living there or a visitor:

1. was convicted of a serious offence in or near the property, against neighbours, or against you or your housing-management staff;
2. was found by a court to have breached an antisocial behaviour injunction;
3. was convicted of breaching a criminal behaviour order;
4. is subject to a closure order that bars access for more than 48 hours; or
5. was convicted of breaching a noise abatement notice or order.

None of these counts while an appeal is pending, or if the appeal succeeds.

Ground 14 (antisocial behaviour and nuisance) covers conduct by the tenant, a resident or a visitor that caused, or was likely to cause, nuisance or annoyance to people in the area, or to you or your staff in connection with managing the property. It also covers a conviction for using the property for immoral or illegal purposes, or for an indictable offence in or near it. A separate ground, Ground 14ZA, covers riot convictions and needs 2 weeks' notice.

Notice period and deadlines

• Ground 14: the date in the notice can be the day you serve it.
• Ground 7A: the same, but you must serve within 12 months of the conviction, finding or final appeal, or within 3 months of a closure order or its appeal.
• Both: if the court accepts only 7A and/or 14, the order can't take effect within 14 days beginning with the date of service.
• Proceedings must start within 12 months of service.

Parliament has passed changes to Ground 7A in the Crime and Policing Act 2026 (adding respect orders), but they were not in force when that Act received Royal Assent and we have not confirmed a start date. Form 3A tells you to use the GOV.UK legal wording for each ground, so copy that document word for word into question 4.2.

Evidence checklist

For Ground 7A:

• a certificate of conviction, the court order or finding, or the closure order;
• the date of any appeal and its outcome.

For Ground 14:

• a dated incident log (what happened, when, who was affected);
• witness statements from neighbours or staff;
• police reports, crime reference numbers or council correspondence;
• photos, video or recordings, where lawfully obtained;
• any warning letters you sent.

Witness statements must be filed and served at least 2 days before the hearing.

Timeline to evict a tenant for antisocial behaviour

For a Ground 14 notice served by hand, with no other grounds:

1. Monday 2 November 2026: serve Form 3A on Ground 14, with today's date in question 2.1.
2. Monday 2 November 2026: issue the claim on paper the same day (forms N5 and N119; tick the antisocial behaviour box in section 3.2 of N5).
3. 30 November to 28 December 2026: first hearing, at least 28 days after issue and normally within 8 weeks.
4. Around 28 December 2026: possession order at the median of 8.0 weeks from claim. On Ground 14 the judge may instead make a suspended order on conditions.
5. Around 23 April 2027: repossession by bailiffs at the median of 24.6 weeks from claim.

The medians are from the Ministry of Justice's mortgage and landlord possession statistics for April to June 2026 (published 13 August 2026), private landlords' standard claims. The figures are provisional, and most of those claims rested on notices served before 1 May 2026. Suspended orders run much longer: across all landlords, the median from claim to repossession was 77.7 weeks for suspended orders against 26.0 weeks for outright orders.

Costs

• Issuing the claim: £415. Antisocial behaviour claims can't use Possession Claim Online.
• Warrant of possession: £152.
• Our Section 8 notice: £39; our court pack: £79.

See eviction costs for more.

What to avoid

Watch out: don't confront the tenant, change the locks or ask anyone other than court bailiffs to remove them, however bad the behaviour. Illegal eviction can bring a council penalty of up to £40,000 or prosecution.

• Paraphrasing Ground 7A. Use the official legal wording, then explain the facts in question 4.3.
• Missing the 7A service deadline. If you're past it, Ground 14 may still be available.
• Thin evidence on Ground 14. Because it is discretionary, the judge weighs everything, and a vague complaint is unlikely to win an outright order.
• Relying on 7A when an appeal is still pending.

Read illegal eviction for the full list of penalties. This guide covers England only. Wales (Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016), Scotland and Northern Ireland have different law.

What to do next

Create your Section 8 notice on Ground 14 or 7A; our builder inserts the official wording and lets you set the date as the date of service. Then follow the possession claim guide and read what happens at the possession hearing. For other reasons to end a tenancy, see how to evict a tenant.