Ground 5A: home needed for an agricultural worker

Section 8 Ground 5A lets you recover a let home in England because you need it to house a qualifying agricultural worker. It is a mandatory ground with a 2-month notice period, and it mainly suits farms and rural estates. The worker must be your employee, or work wholly or mainly for you through another employer or as a contractor.

What Ground 5A means in plain English

You, the landlord, must need the property to house a qualifying agricultural worker. "Qualifying agricultural worker" is a defined term in the ground, so check the full wording before you rely on it. The ground looks at the worker you want to house. It doesn't depend on what the current tenant does for a living.

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 use it: Case A and Case B

The ground has two routes, depending on who employs the worker:

Case B covers, for example, a herdsman employed through an agency who works full time on your farm. It doesn't cover a contractor who works for you a few days a month and mostly for others.

If the current tenant was let the home because of their own job, and that job has ended, Ground 5C for tied accommodation may fit better.

Section 8 Ground 5A notice period and timing

You must give at least 2 months' notice, counted from the day you serve. The date in Form 3A question 2.1 should be the day after that period ends. If you add a ground with a longer period, the longest one sets the date; see Section 8 notice periods.

For Case B, the 6-month work condition runs from the date in the notice, not from service. A worked example:

1. You serve the notice by hand on 1 February 2027.
2. Two months beginning with that day ends on 31 March 2027, so the date in question 2.1 is 1 April 2027.
3. The worker's arrangement with you must be intended to continue until at least 1 October 2027.
4. Court proceedings must start within 12 months of service, so by 31 January 2028 to be safe.

There is no 12-month protected period. Ground 5A is also one of the grounds you can flag in the written statement of terms for tenancies that began on or after 1 May 2026. If you didn't, you risk a civil penalty of up to £7,000, but the court can still order possession. The duty doesn't apply to existing tenancies that were wholly or partly in writing.

Evidence to gather

• Case A: the worker's contract of employment or offer letter, with their start date and role.
• Case B: the contract with the worker's employer or with the contractor, showing they work wholly or mainly for you, and its intended length.
• A short statement of why the worker needs this particular home, such as being on site for livestock.
• Evidence of where the worker lives now and when they will move in.

How to explain Ground 5A in Form 3A question 4.3

In question 4.2, copy the full legal wording of Ground 5A from GOV.UK's legal wording document. In question 4.1 you can also tick the box for Grounds 4A, 5A and 5C. In question 4.3, explain the facts in your own words. A short example for a fictional landlord:

Ground 5A. I farm at Example Farm and need the cottage to house Sam Pritchard, who will be employed by me as a full-time stockman from 1 April 2027 (offer letter and signed contract attached). He needs to live on the farm to care for the dairy herd, including at calving. He currently lives 25 miles away.

What the court does

Ground 5A is mandatory. If the court is satisfied the conditions are met, it 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 it has been returned.

Pitfalls and penalties

Watch out: for Case B, a short or open-ended arrangement with no clear intended length makes the 6-month condition hard to prove. Put the arrangement in writing first.

• Role doesn't qualify. If the worker isn't a qualifying agricultural worker, the ground fails.
• Wording. Quoting only "Ground 5A" in question 4.2 can make the notice invalid, and serving a defective notice 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 tenant leaves within 4 months.

What to do next

Get the worker's contract or arrangement in writing, then prepare Form 3A. Our builder works out the date and inserts the GOV.UK wording. Read Form 3A explained and how to serve a Section 8 notice, or compare options in the full list of Section 8 grounds.