Evicting a tenant who has no right to rent

To evict a tenant who has no right to rent, you need a written notice from the Home Office saying that the tenant, or an adult living with them, is disqualified from renting because of their immigration status. With that notice, you can serve a Section 8 notice on Ground 7B, which needs just 2 weeks' notice and is mandatory. Without it, Ground 7B isn't available: your own suspicion, or a failed check you ran yourself, is not enough.

How Ground 7B works

Point	Ground 7B
Trigger	The Home Office has given you written notice identifying the tenant(s), or adult occupier(s), as disqualified by immigration status from occupying the property
Type	Mandatory: the court must order possession if proved
Minimum notice	2 weeks
Can the court dispense with the notice?	No
Joint tenants	The court may transfer the tenancy to a qualifying joint tenant instead
Deposit rules	Apply: the order is blocked if the deposit isn't protected
Online claim (PCOL)	No: file on paper with forms N5 and N119

Read the full conditions on our Ground 7B page.

A separate route under the Immigration Act 2014

The Immigration Act 2014 has its own procedure (section 33D) for ending a tenancy where the Home Office gives written notice that the occupiers are disqualified. GOV.UK's written-information guidance says a tenancy can end without a court order in that situation, and the court rules require permission before a High Court writ of possession is issued in a section 33D case. We don't cover its steps here. Read the Home Office notice carefully and take advice from a solicitor before choosing between it and Ground 7B.

Right to Rent checks you must still make

Ending the tenancy doesn't remove your checking duties. Under the Home Office codes in force from 1 October 2026:

• Who: every adult aged 18 or over who will live in the property as their only or main home, named on the tenancy or not, regardless of nationality.
• How: a manual document check, the Home Office online check using a share code, or a digital identity check through a registered provider.
• When: before the tenancy. For a time-limited right, check no earlier than 28 days before the tenancy agreement.
• Follow-up checks: make them before your statutory excuse runs out. If a follow-up check fails, report it to the Home Office to keep the excuse.
• Records: keep copies for the tenancy plus at least 1 year.

Breach	Civil penalty
Letting to an adult occupier without the right to rent	£10,000 first breach; £20,000 repeat within 3 years
Letting to a lodger without the right to rent	£5,000 first breach; £10,000 repeat
Knowingly letting, or having reasonable cause to believe	Criminal offence: up to 5 years' imprisonment and/or a fine

A first-breach penalty is reduced by 30% if paid within 21 days. See Right to Rent checks for the documents you can accept.

Evidence to gather

• The Home Office written notice, with the date you received it.
• The tenancy agreement and a list of everyone living at the property.
• Your Right to Rent check records, including any follow-up checks and your report to the Home Office.
• The deposit protection certificate and prescribed information.
• Proof of service of your Form 3A (form N215).

Timeline to evict a tenant with no right to rent

After a Home Office notice received in late October 2026, with Form 3A handed to the tenant:

1. Monday 2 November 2026: serve Form 3A on Ground 7B, quoting the Home Office notice in question 4.3.
2. Monday 16 November 2026: earliest court date (2 weeks). Issue on Tuesday 17 November 2026 on paper.
3. 15 December 2026 to 12 January 2027: first hearing, at least 28 days after issue and normally within 8 weeks.
4. Around 12 January 2027: possession order at the median of 8.0 weeks from claim, with possession usually 14 days later and never more than 6 weeks.
5. Around 8 May 2027: repossession by bailiffs at the median of 24.6 weeks from claim, if the tenant hasn't left.

The medians are from the Ministry of Justice's mortgage and landlord possession statistics for April to June 2026 (published 13 August 2026), for private landlords' standard claims. The figures are provisional, and most of those claims rested on notices served before 1 May 2026.

Costs

• Court fee to issue: £415.
• Warrant of possession, if needed: £152.
• Our Section 8 notice: £39; our court pack: £79.

See eviction costs for the alternatives.

What to avoid

Watch out: never change the locks, or ask anyone other than court bailiffs or High Court enforcement officers to remove the tenant, because of their immigration status. Changing the locks or using anyone else to remove a tenant is illegal eviction, with prosecution or a council penalty of up to £40,000. See illegal eviction.

• Serving on Ground 7B before you have the Home Office notice.
• Checking only some occupiers, or only people of certain nationalities. The checks apply to every adult, regardless of nationality.
• Missing follow-up checks, which can leave you exposed to a civil penalty.

This guide covers England only; the Right to Rent scheme itself applies in England only. Wales (Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016), Scotland and Northern Ireland have different law.

What to do next

Once you have the Home Office notice, create a Section 8 notice on Ground 7B; our builder applies the 2-week period and the official wording. When the notice ends, follow the possession claim guide. For other situations, go back to how to evict a tenant.