Ground 4A: student HMO lets

Ground 4A lets you recover possession of a student HMO in England so you can re-let it to new students. It is a mandatory Section 8 ground with a 4-month notice period, and the date in your notice must fall between 1 June and 30 September. It only works if you told the tenants in writing, before the tenancy began, that you might use it.

What Ground 4A means in plain English

All six conditions must be met:

1. the property is, or is part of, a house in multiple occupation (HMO);
2. when the tenancy was entered into, every tenant was a full-time student, or you reasonably believed they would become one;
3. before the tenancy was entered into, you gave a written statement that you wished to be able to recover possession on this ground;
4. the tenancy was entered into 6 months or less before the tenants became entitled to move in;
5. the date in your notice falls between 1 June and 30 September;
6. you intend to re-let the property to students.

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 it

Private landlords of student HMOs can use Ground 4A. You can't use it for an ordinary family let, for a group that includes a non-student, or without the written statement. GOV.UK says the ground cannot be used at all without that prior notice. See the written statement of terms for how to include it in new tenancies.

Tenancies that began before 1 May 2026 could only use Ground 4A if you gave the statement by 31 May 2026. For those tenancies, condition 4 doesn't apply. For "qualifying student tenancies", where you or your manager follow a specified code of practice, conditions 1 and 5 don't apply either. Our guide for HMO landlords under the Renters' Rights Act covers the wider changes.

Ground 4A notice period and the June to September window

You must give at least 4 months' notice, counted from the day you serve. The 2-month transitional period for older tenancies applied only to notices served between 1 May and 30 July 2026, and has ended.

Because the date in Form 3A question 2.1 must land between 1 June and 30 September, your serving dates are fixed by the calendar. For a 2027 date:

If your date would fall in October, you have missed that year's window, and the next possible date is 1 June the following year. Our Section 8 notice period calculator applies the window for you.

Evidence to gather

• HMO status: your HMO licence if the property needs one, or a note of the households and shared facilities.
• Student status for each tenant at the start: university enrolment confirmations or student status letters.
• The written statement: a copy, and proof of the date you gave it, which must be before the tenancy was entered into.
• Tenancy dates: the date it was signed and the date the tenants could move in, to show condition 4.
• Intention to re-let to students: marketing aimed at students, or signed agreements with next year's group.

How to explain Ground 4A in Form 3A question 4.3

In question 4.2, copy the full legal wording of Ground 4A from GOV.UK's legal wording document. In question 4.3, explain the facts in your own words. A short example for a fictional landlord:

Ground 4A. The property is a five-bedroom HMO. All five tenants were full-time students at the University of Example when the tenancy was signed on 15 May 2026 (enrolment letters attached). I gave them a written statement on 15 May 2026, before they signed, that I might recover possession on Ground 4A (copy attached). The tenancy began on 1 September 2026. I have agreed to let the property to a new group of students from 1 September 2027 (agreements attached).

What the court does

Ground 4A is mandatory. If every condition is proved, 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 it is protected and the prescribed information has been given, or the deposit has been returned. See deposit protection.

Pitfalls and penalties

Watch out: a single missing condition sinks the whole ground. Check every tenant's student status and the date of your written statement before you serve.

• Date outside the window. A date in May or October fails condition 5, even by a day.
• Licensing. An unlicensed HMO doesn't stop a Section 8 claim, but it exposes you to a civil penalty of up to £40,000 and rent repayment orders of up to 2 years' rent. Check your HMO licence position.
• Defective notice. Serving a notice that doesn't comply with section 8 can attract a penalty of up to £7,000.
• No reasonable belief. Relying on the ground without reasonable belief that you could get possession risks a penalty of up to £7,000 if the tenants leave within 4 months.

What to do next

Diary your serving deadline for next summer, collect the evidence above, then prepare Form 3A. Our builder checks the window and inserts the GOV.UK wording. Read evicting student tenants for the full process, or compare options in the full list of Section 8 grounds.