Ground 6B: complying with enforcement action

Section 8 Ground 6B lets you recover possession in England when keeping the tenant there would mean breaking a banning order, a council order or notice, a licensing decision or planning enforcement. It is a mandatory ground with a 4-month notice period and no time bar. The court can, however, order you to compensate the tenant, so it is a way out of a compliance problem rather than a free pass.

What Ground 6B means in plain English

Any one of these six situations is enough:

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

Any private landlord facing one of those formal decisions can use Ground 6B. It depends on the council, a court or tribunal, or a planning authority having acted. If you simply haven't applied for a licence yet, there is no refusal, so the ground isn't available, and the fix is to apply. Check your position on HMO licences and selective licensing. For the wider enforcement regime, see council powers under the Renters' Rights Act.

Section 8 Ground 6B notice period

You must give at least 4 months' notice, counted from the day you serve. There is no protected period, so you can use the ground at any point in the tenancy. A worked example for a fictional landlord whose HMO licence was revoked on 5 November 2026:

1. Notice served by hand on 9 November 2026.
2. The date in Form 3A question 2.1 is 9 March 2027.
3. Court proceedings can start from that date and, to be safe, no later than 8 November 2027.

Possession will take months after that, so tell the council how you are dealing with the order. If you add a ground with a different period, the longest sets the date; see Section 8 notice periods.

Evidence to gather

• A copy of the order, notice, decision or injunction, with its date.
• Any covering letter from the council explaining what you must do and by when.
• For over-occupation, the licence showing the permitted number of occupiers, and a record of who lives there now.
• A note of any steps you have taken to comply without ending the tenancy.
• Evidence of any part the tenant played, such as moving extra occupiers in, which is relevant to compensation.

How to explain Ground 6B in Form 3A question 4.3

In question 4.2, copy the full legal wording of Ground 6B 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 6B. The property is a house in multiple occupation. On 5 November 2026 Example District Council revoked the HMO licence under Part 2 of the Housing Act 2004 (revocation decision attached). Continuing to let the property to the current occupiers is therefore not lawful, and I need possession to comply.

What the court does

Ground 6B is mandatory. If the ground 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.

Compensation. Unlike most grounds, the court may also order you to compensate the tenant for loss caused by the possession order, taking the tenant's own conduct into account. Budget for that risk, especially where the problem was yours rather than the tenant's.

If you took a deposit, the court can only make the order once it is protected and the prescribed information has been given, or it has been returned.

Pitfalls and penalties

Watch out: Ground 6B ends the tenancy. It doesn't wipe out the offence that led to it.

• Licensing penalties. Letting without a required licence, or breaching licence conditions, can bring a civil penalty of up to £40,000 for conduct from 1 May 2026, or prosecution.
• Rent repayment orders. Tenants or the council can seek up to 2 years' rent for licensing offences; see rent repayment orders.
• Defective notice. Serving a notice that doesn't comply with section 8 can attract a penalty of up to £7,000.
• Pressure to leave. Never harass the tenant or change the locks to meet a council deadline. Unlawful eviction can bring a council penalty of up to £40,000.

If you plan major works rather than responding to enforcement, Ground 6 is the redevelopment ground.

What to do next

Get copies of every enforcement document, then prepare Form 3A. Our builder inserts the GOV.UK wording and works out the date. Then compare options in the full list of Section 8 grounds.