Ground 1A: selling the property

Section 8 Ground 1A lets you recover possession of a let home in England because you intend to sell it. It is a mandatory ground with a 4-month notice period, but the date in your notice must fall after the first 12 months of the tenancy. The biggest risk comes afterwards: you cannot re-let the property for a year after that date, even if the sale falls through.

What Ground 1A means in plain English

You must intend to do one of these:

• sell your freehold or leasehold interest in the property; or
• grant a lease of more than 21 years, for a fixed term that cannot be ended early.

The ground isn't available if the tenancy arose by succession under the Rent Act or the Rent (Agriculture) Act. It is also closed to non-profit registered providers, registered social landlords, charitable housing trusts and profit-making registered providers letting social housing.

These rules apply to private assured tenancies in England only. Wales (Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016), Scotland and Northern Ireland have different law.

Who can and can't use Ground 1A

Most private landlords can use it, with one important exception. It cannot be used on a legacy assured tenancy: an assured tenancy that began before 1 May 2026 and was not an assured shorthold tenancy. Former assured shorthold tenancies that became periodic on 1 May 2026 can use it. Our guide to Section 8 for existing tenancies explains the difference.

If you need the home for yourself or family rather than to sell, use Ground 1 instead. Shared owners selling their share have their own rules; see the shared ownership exemption. For the practical steps of a sale, see evicting a tenant to sell your property.

Section 8 Ground 1A notice period and the 12-month bar

You must give at least 4 months' notice, counted from the day you serve it. The date in Form 3A question 2.1 must also fall outside the 12-month protected period: the tenancy must have begun at least a year before that date. The only exception is where a compulsory acquisition notice has been given and you intend to sell to the acquiring authority.

A worked example for a fictional tenancy that began as an assured shorthold tenancy on 1 March 2025:

1. On our reading of the transitional rules, the tenancy counts as starting on 1 March 2025, so the protected period ended in March 2026.
2. You serve the notice by hand on 9 November 2026.
3. Four months beginning with that day ends on 8 March 2027, so the date in question 2.1 is 9 March 2027.
4. You must start court proceedings within 12 months of service. To be safe, issue by 8 November 2027.
5. The re-letting ban runs from 9 November 2026 to 8 March 2028, roughly 16 months.

Our Section 8 notice period calculator does this arithmetic for you.

Evidence to gather

You need to show a genuine, settled intention to sell, not a vague plan. Useful evidence includes:

• the estate agent's signed terms of business, instructing them to sell;
• a valuation or market appraisal;
• your conveyancer's engagement letter;
• any offers, a memorandum of sale, or correspondence with buyers;
• if you are granting a long lease, the draft lease showing a term of more than 21 years.

How to explain Ground 1A in Form 3A question 4.3

In question 4.2 you copy the full legal wording of Ground 1A from GOV.UK's legal wording document. In question 4.3 you explain, in your own words, why it applies. A short example for a fictional landlord:

Ground 1A. I intend to sell my freehold interest in the property with vacant possession. I instructed Example Estates to market it for sale on 20 October 2026 (agency agreement attached) and have instructed a conveyancer (engagement letter attached). The tenancy began on 1 March 2025 as an assured shorthold tenancy, so it is not a legacy assured tenancy, and the date in question 2.1 is more than 12 months after it began.

What the court does

Ground 1A is mandatory. If you prove your intention to sell, the court must order possession, subject to the limits in section 7 of the Housing Act 1988 and any human rights defence. The possession date is usually within 14 days, or up to 6 weeks for exceptional hardship.

If you took a deposit, the court can only make the order once the deposit is protected and the prescribed information has been given, or the deposit has been returned. This blocks the order, not the notice.

Pitfalls and penalties

Watch out: the re-letting ban applies whether or not the tenant leaves, and whether or not the sale goes through.

• Restricted period. From service until 12 months after the date in question 2.1, you must not let the property on a tenancy of 21 years or less, grant a paid licence, or market it for letting. This covers anyone acting for you, including your letting agent. Letting a buyer, or the person taking a long lease, occupy under a licence before completion is allowed.
• Penalties. Breaking the ban is a criminal offence, or the council can impose a civil penalty of up to £40,000. The tenant can also seek a rent repayment order of up to 2 years' rent.
• No real intention to sell. Relying on the ground without reasonable belief that you could get possession risks a penalty of up to £7,000 if the tenant leaves within 4 months. Doing so knowingly or recklessly, where the tenant then leaves within 4 months, is an offence.
• Wrong tenancy type. Serving Ground 1A on a legacy assured tenancy means the ground fails, and a defective notice can itself attract a penalty of up to £7,000.

What to do next

Confirm your tenancy type and dates, then prepare Form 3A. Our notice builder checks the protected period and inserts the GOV.UK wording for Ground 1A. Next, read how to serve a Section 8 notice, or see every option in the full list of Section 8 grounds.