What happens after a Section 8 notice expires

Section 8 notice expired and the tenant is still in the property? The notice doesn't end the tenancy and the tenant doesn't have to leave on the date in the notice. Your next step is to apply to the county court for a possession order, which you can do from the date in question 2.1 of Form 3A until 12 months after you served the notice.

Section 8 notice expired: does the tenant have to leave?

No. A Section 8 notice only tells the tenant that you may start court proceedings from a certain date. Under the Housing Act 1988, a landlord can end an assured tenancy only through a court order and its execution. Until then the tenancy carries on, including the tenant's duty to pay rent and your duties as landlord.

That means you must not change the locks or harass the tenant into leaving. Only county court bailiffs or High Court enforcement officers acting under a warrant or writ can carry out an eviction. Anything else risks prosecution for illegal eviction or harassment, or a council civil penalty of up to £40,000. See illegal eviction and harassment.

Your window to start a possession claim

You can issue a claim from the date in question 2.1 until 12 months from the date of service. It isn't settled whether that 12 months counts the service day, so to be safe issue before the anniversary of service.

Example: you served a Ground 8, 10 and 11 notice by hand on Monday 2 November 2026. The date in question 2.1 is Monday 30 November 2026. You can issue from then and, to be safe, no later than Monday 1 November 2027.

Some grounds have tighter clocks:

• Ground 7 (death of the tenant): proceedings must begin within 12 months of the death, or of you becoming aware of it if the court allows.
• Grounds 2ZC and 2ZD (superior lease ended): within 6 months of becoming the landlord.
• Ground 8: the arrears threshold must still be met at the hearing, so delay can work against you if the tenant pays some off.

If the tenant enters a debt-respite breathing space, you can't start a claim on an arrears notice until it ends, and the notice's life can be extended by 8 weeks from the end of the breathing space. Our guide on how long a Section 8 notice is valid has more examples.

Step by step: from expired notice to possession

1. Check your notice and evidence. Confirm the notice was valid, you can prove service, and the ground is still made out. For Ground 8, update your rent schedule.
2. Check the deposit. If you took one, the court can make an order on most grounds only if it is protected and the prescribed information was given, or the deposit has been returned. Have the certificate and prescribed information ready.
3. Choose your route. If the claim is only for rent arrears, you can use Possession Claim Online (not with Help with Fees, and not while the tenant is in a breathing space). Every other claim, including one that mixes arrears with another ground, goes on paper.
4. Complete the court forms. Use the current (05.26) versions of form N5 and form N119; older versions risk being returned unissued. For arrears, the particulars need a schedule of all payments due and made for the 2 years before issue (or since the first missed payment, if later), with a running total.
5. Pay the fee and file. The fee is £415, the same on paper and online. Paper claims go by post or email to the county court that deals with possession for the area. See possession claim court fees.
6. Prepare for the hearing. The court fixes the date when it issues the claim: at least 28 days later and usually within 8 weeks, with the tenant served at least 21 days before. File and serve any witness statements at least 2 days before the hearing, and bring arrears figures updated to the hearing date.
7. Attend. If you or your representative don't attend, the claim can be dismissed.
8. If the tenant doesn't leave by the date in the order, apply for a warrant of possession (form N325, £152). The tenant must get at least 14 days' notice of the eviction, and you must return the bailiffs' appointment paperwork at least 3 working days before or the eviction may be cancelled.

What can the court order?

At the hearing the court can make:

• an outright possession order, requiring the tenant to leave by a set date;
• a suspended possession order, letting the tenant stay while they keep to conditions such as paying rent plus an amount towards arrears;
• a money order for arrears, court fees and costs, with or without possession;
• an adjournment, for example if the claim is genuinely disputed; or
• a dismissal, if the process wasn't followed, you don't attend, or (for arrears) the tenant has paid.

On a mandatory ground such as Ground 8, the court must order possession if the ground is proved and nothing else stops it, and the possession date can be put back by no more than 14 days, or 6 weeks for exceptional hardship. On discretionary grounds the court can suspend or postpone. See possession orders for what each type of order means.

How long does it take after the notice expires?

Ministry of Justice figures for April to June 2026 (provisional) give these medians for private landlords' standard claims:

Stage	Median time
Claim to order	8.0 weeks
Claim to warrant	13.3 weeks
Warrant to repossession by county court bailiffs	8.7 weeks
Claim to repossession	24.6 weeks (mean 33.6 weeks)

As a rough estimate rather than an official figure, an undefended Ground 8 case is about 7 months at the median from serving the notice to getting the keys back: 4 weeks' notice, a week or two to prepare and issue, then the median claim-to-repossession time. Defended cases take much longer. These figures cover only the first two months after the new rules began, and most of those claims were based on older notices. Our possession claim timeline breaks this down.

If the tenant leaves, or offers to

If the tenant says they'll go, get it in writing. A tenant can end the tenancy by giving at least 2 months' written notice to quit, ending on a rent day or the day before one, or you can both agree a shorter period in writing. If the tenant moves out and hands back the keys, record the date, take meter readings and photos, and confirm the end of the tenancy in writing.

Be careful if the tenant simply disappears. There is no statutory abandonment procedure, and retaking possession without a surrender or a court order risks an illegal eviction claim. If they leave owing rent, you can still pursue the arrears; see recovering rent arrears after the tenant leaves.

What to do next

If the date has passed and the tenant is still there, prepare your claim. The ValidNotice court pack fills in your N5 claim form and N119 particulars from your notice answers, adds a rent schedule and a court fee note, and gives you a filing guide. You check, sign, pay the fee and file it yourself. For the full court process, read the possession claim guide, and go back to the Section 8 notice guide if you need to serve a fresh notice.