Evicting a tenant to move back into your home

To evict a tenant to move back in, you serve a Section 8 notice on Ground 1 giving at least 4 months' notice, with a date that falls at least 12 months after the tenancy began. Ground 1 is mandatory: if the court accepts that you genuinely need the property as your only or principal home, it must order possession. Once you rely on it, you can't re-let the property to anyone else for a year after the date in your notice.

Who can use Ground 1

For a landlord moving back in, Ground 1 is the ground to use. Ground 1 applies when the landlord, or at least one joint landlord, requires the property as the only or principal home of:

• the landlord;
• the landlord's spouse, civil partner or cohabiting partner; or
• certain close relatives, covered in evicting a tenant for a family member.

Since 1 May 2026 you don't need to have lived in the property before, and you don't need to have warned the tenant at the start of the tenancy. Ground 1 is also available on older full assured tenancies that started before 1 May 2026 (only Ground 1A is blocked for those).

Notice period and the first-year bar

• Notice: at least 4 months, counted from the day you serve.
• Protected period: the date in question 2.1 of Form 3A must be at least one year after the tenancy began, counting both the start day and the notice date. GOV.UK says you can serve during the first year, but the notice can't expire before the 12 months have ended.
• Older tenancies: for a former shorthold that became periodic on 1 May 2026, we read the law as counting from the start of the original fixed term.
• Deadline: you must start court proceedings within 12 months of serving the notice.

If the tenancy began on 1 June 2026, the earliest safe notice date is 1 June 2027, so the earliest you could serve is 1 February 2027. More detail is in the protected period.

Evidence the court will expect

Because the ground is mandatory, the main question at the hearing is whether your need is genuine. Gather:

• a statement of who will move in and why;
• evidence of timing, such as notice to end your current tenancy, a sale listing for your current home, or a job move;
• anything showing this will be your main home, not a second home;
• your explanation in question 4.3 of Form 3A, written in your own words with as much detail as you can give;
• the deposit protection certificate and proof you gave the prescribed information, if you took a deposit.

Watch out: if you took a deposit and it isn't protected, or the prescribed information wasn't given, the court can't make a possession order on Ground 1 until you put that right or return the deposit.

How long it takes to evict a tenant to move back in

For a tenancy that started in 2024, with the notice handed to the tenant:

1. Monday 2 November 2026: serve Form 3A on Ground 1, and fill in form N215 as proof of service.
2. Tuesday 2 March 2027: earliest court date. Issue the claim on paper with forms N5 and N119 (Possession Claim Online is for rent arrears only). On N5, tick the box for "the landlord or one of their family members want to move in".
3. 30 March to 27 April 2027: first hearing, at least 28 days after issue and normally within 8 weeks.
4. Around 27 April 2027: possession order, at the median of 8.0 weeks from claim. The possession date is usually 14 days later, and never more than 6 weeks.
5. Around 21 August 2027: repossession by bailiffs at the median of 24.6 weeks from claim, if the tenant hasn't left.

The medians come 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. If you need to be back in by a fixed date, such as the end of your own lease, serve as early as the rules allow.

Costs

• Court fee to issue the claim: £415.
• Warrant of possession, if bailiffs are needed: £152.
• Our Section 8 notice: £39; our N5 and N119 court pack: £79.

See eviction costs for the comparison with doing it yourself or using a solicitor.

The 12-month re-letting ban

Relying on Ground 1 starts a restricted period. It runs from the day you serve the notice to the end of 12 months beginning with the date in the notice. During it you must not let the property on a tenancy of 21 years or less, grant a licence for money, or market it to rent, whether or not the tenant leaves.

The one exception for Ground 1 is letting or licensing to one of the listed family members, or where such a person also lives there as their only or principal home. Breaking the ban is a criminal offence, or can bring a council penalty of up to £40,000 instead, and the tenant can apply for a rent repayment order of up to 2 years' rent.

What to avoid

• Serving a notice with a date inside the first year of the tenancy.
• Using Ground 1 as a cover for selling or re-letting at a higher rent. Relying on a ground without a reasonable belief that you can get possession can bring a penalty if the tenant leaves within 4 months, and doing it knowingly or recklessly is an offence.
• Changing the locks or taking over the property before the tenant has left or been evicted by bailiffs. That is illegal eviction, with a possible penalty of up to £40,000. See illegal eviction.

This guide covers England only. Wales (Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016), Scotland and Northern Ireland have different law.

What to do next

Check your earliest notice date with the notice period calculator, then create a Section 8 notice on Ground 1. If you're selling rather than moving in, read evicting a tenant to sell. Once the notice expires, the possession claim guide covers the court stage. For other reasons, see how to evict a tenant.