How long does it take to evict a tenant in 2026?

How long does it take to evict a tenant in England? For private landlords, the latest Ministry of Justice figures show a median of 24.6 weeks from issuing a possession claim to repossession by bailiffs (April to June 2026), on top of a notice period of between none and 4 months depending on the ground. A typical rent arrears case takes around 7 months from notice to eviction, and defended claims take longer.

How long does it take to evict a tenant at each stage?

Stage	Time	Where the figure comes from
1. Notice period	None to 4 months, by ground	Housing Act 1988, section 8
2. Preparing and issuing the claim	From the day after the notice date; within 12 months of service	Section 8 and Form 3A
3. Issue to first hearing	At least 28 days, normally no more than 8 weeks	Civil Procedure Rules 55.5
4. Claim to possession order	Median 8.0 weeks	MoJ, April to June 2026
5. Order to possession date	Up to 14 days on mandatory grounds (6 weeks for exceptional hardship); any date on discretionary grounds	Housing Act 1980, section 89
6. Claim to warrant	Median 13.3 weeks	MoJ, April to June 2026
7. Notice of eviction	At least 14 days before the bailiffs attend	Civil Procedure Rules 83.8A
8. Warrant to repossession	Median 8.7 weeks	MoJ, April to June 2026
Whole court stage	Median 24.6 weeks, mean 33.6 weeks	MoJ, April to June 2026

Medians for separate stages don't add up exactly to the whole court stage, so use the whole-court-stage figure for planning.

Notice periods by ground

Notice	Grounds
None	7A, 14
2 weeks	7B, 12, 13, 15, 17 (and 4, 14ZA)
4 weeks	8, 10, 11 (and 5E, 5F, 5G, 18)
2 months	5, 5A, 5C, 7, 9
4 months	1, 1A, 2, 2ZB, 2ZD, 4A, 6, 6B

With several grounds, the longest period sets the earliest court date, unless Ground 7A or 14 is included. Grounds 1 and 1A also need the date to fall at least 12 months after the tenancy began, Ground 6 needs 6 months, and Ground 4A needs a date between 1 June and 30 September. See notice periods for every ground.

What the official statistics say

The Ministry of Justice publishes mortgage and landlord possession statistics every quarter. The April to June 2026 release (published 13 August 2026, updated 19 August 2026, figures provisional) gives these medians, in weeks, for England and Wales:

Median weeks	Private landlords (standard claims)	All landlord claims	Accelerated (Section 21)
Claim to order	8.0	7.6	6.7
Claim to warrant	13.3	14.9	13.4
Warrant to repossession	8.7	9.4	10.6
Claim to repossession	24.6	27.1	27.6

By order type, across all landlords, outright orders took a median of 26.0 weeks from claim to repossession and suspended orders 77.7 weeks.

Two caveats. These figures cover only the first two months after the Renters' Rights Act changes, and most of those claims rested on notices served before 1 May 2026. Later releases will include more claims made on notices served under the new rules.

Worked examples with real dates

Rent arrears (Ground 8, 4 weeks' notice)

Serve on 2 November 2026 → earliest court date 30 November 2026 → issue 1 December 2026 → hearing between 29 December 2026 and 26 January 2027 → median repossession around 22 May 2027. That's about 29 weeks from notice to repossession, in line with the rough estimate of 4 weeks' notice, 1 to 2 weeks to prepare and 24.6 weeks in court.

Selling (Ground 1A, 4 months' notice, tenancy over a year old)

Serve on 2 November 2026 → earliest court date 2 March 2027 → hearing between 30 March and 27 April 2027 → median repossession around 21 August 2027, about 9.5 months after serving.

Antisocial behaviour (Ground 14, no minimum notice)

Serve and issue on 2 November 2026 → hearing between 30 November and 28 December 2026 → median repossession around 23 April 2027. On a discretionary ground like this, a suspended order would stretch the timeline.

These are estimates built from medians, not promises. Our eviction timeline calculator works them out for your own dates and grounds.

What makes evictions take longer

• A defended claim. If the claim is genuinely disputed on grounds that appear substantial, the court can give directions and allocate it to a track, which means a later, fuller hearing.
• A discretionary ground. The judge may adjourn or make a suspended order on conditions.
• A Breathing Space on an arrears claim, which pauses notices, new claims and evictions.
• A defective notice, which can mean starting again with a new one.
• An unprotected deposit, which blocks the order on most grounds.
• The tenant applying to suspend the warrant, which GOV.UK says is usually possible only where a discretionary ground was used.

How to keep things moving

1. Serve by hand and complete form N215, so service can't be disputed.
2. Have forms N5 and N119 ready before the notice ends, and issue on the first available day.
3. Keep a rent schedule covering the last 2 years, with a running balance, and update it for the hearing.
4. Attend the hearing; a claim can be dismissed if you don't.
5. Apply for the warrant (£152) as soon as the possession date passes.

Never try to speed things up by changing the locks or removing the tenant yourself: that is illegal eviction, with penalties of up to £40,000. This guide covers England only. If you're asking how long to evict a tenant in the UK more widely, Wales (Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016), Scotland and Northern Ireland have different law and different timescales.

What to do next

Create your Section 8 notice with every date worked out, then follow the possession claim timeline for the court stage. If time is the priority, read how to evict a tenant quickly. For the full process, see how to evict a tenant.