Ground 8: serious rent arrears

Ground 8 rent arrears is the mandatory Section 8 ground for serious arrears: if at least 3 months' rent (monthly rent) or 13 weeks' rent (weekly or fortnightly rent) is unpaid both when you serve the notice and at the hearing, the court must order possession. It needs 4 weeks' notice on Form 3A. Because a tenant can defeat it by paying down the arrears before the hearing, always add Grounds 10 and 11.

Ground 8 rent arrears: how much must be owed?

The test applies on the day you serve the notice and again on the day of the hearing. Miss it on either date and Ground 8 fails. It is the amount owed that counts, not the number of missed payments.

Rent paid	Arrears needed on both dates	Example
Monthly	3 months' rent	£1,200 a month: at least £3,600
Weekly	13 weeks' rent	£250 a week: at least £3,250
Fortnightly	13 weeks' rent (6.5 fortnights)	£500 a fortnight: at least £3,250
Every 4 weeks, 3 weeks or daily	No threshold set	Use Grounds 10 and 11

The thresholds rose on 1 May 2026 from 2 months and 8 weeks. Check your figures with our rent arrears calculator.

Rent paid every 4 weeks

Rent periods can now be monthly or any period of 28 days or shorter, but Ground 8 only sets thresholds for weekly, fortnightly and monthly rent, and no official guidance we have found covers 4-weekly, 3-weekly or daily rent. On those cycles, don't rely on Ground 8. Use Ground 10 and Ground 11, and take advice from a solicitor.

What counts as "rent lawfully due"?

Only rent lawfully due counts. Three things often reduce the figure:

• No address for service. Under section 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, rent is treated as not due until you have given the tenant an address in England or Wales for serving notices on you. If you never have, give one in writing before you serve, and keep a copy.
• Charges that are not rent. Bills or fees count only if the tenancy agreement makes them part of the rent.
• Old debts. Arrears from a previous tenancy or tenant don't count, and rent from an unlawful increase may not count either. Raise rent only with a valid Section 13 notice.

How the Universal Credit rule works

Schedule 2 says that if the tenant is entitled to a housing amount as part of a Universal Credit award, any amount unpaid only because the tenant had not yet received that payment is ignored. The Explanatory Notes' example is rent missed while waiting for the first payment, which can arrive up to 7 days after the monthly assessment period ends.

GOV.UK puts it more broadly: its explanation of the legal wording refers to delays in Universal Credit "or other benefits", and its grounds guidance suggests benefits are not counted at all. The statute is narrower. It covers only Universal Credit housing amounts, and only sums unpaid because a payment had not yet arrived. Housing Benefit is not mentioned.

In practice:

1. Work out the arrears on the statutory test, leaving out any sum unpaid only because a Universal Credit payment is still on its way.
2. Check whether you would still be over the threshold without any sum linked to a delayed Housing Benefit or other benefit payment.
3. If you are only over the line because of those sums, expect the court to look closely at the cause, and lean on Grounds 10 and 11.

Our guide to Universal Credit and rent arrears explains managed payments to the landlord.

Notice period, time limits and Breathing Space

Ground 8 needs 4 weeks' notice, beginning with the day of service. The question 2.1 date should be the day after it ends: a notice handed over on Monday 2 November 2026 gives Monday 30 November 2026. You then have 12 months from service to start the claim. The court cannot dispense with the notice for Ground 8, so a defective notice means serving again.

If you are told the tenant is in a Breathing Space (the Debt Respite Scheme), you must not serve a notice relying on Grounds 8, 10 or 11, or start a claim on one, until it ends, unless the court permits. Steps taken in breach are void. If, when it ends, the notice is more than 12 months old or has fewer than 8 weeks left, it stays valid for 8 weeks. See our Breathing Space guide.

Evidence and the Form 3A explanation

Keep:

• a rent schedule with each due date, payment and running balance (the claim needs 2 years of history, or from the first missed payment, updated to the hearing date);
• the tenancy agreement showing the rent and rent period;
• proof you gave your address for service;
• the tenant's Universal Credit position;
• proof of deposit protection and the prescribed information, without which the court cannot make the order.

In question 4.1 tick Ground 8 and Grounds 10/11. Question 4.2 needs the full legal wording of each ground, not just its name. Question 4.3 needs a heading per ground and your explanation. A sample for a fictional landlord letting at £1,200 a month and serving on 2 November 2026:

Ground 8. The rent is £1,200 a month, due on the 1st under the tenancy agreement dated 1 March 2025. On 2 November 2026, the date of service, £4,200 is unpaid: £600 of the rent due on 1 August and all of the rent due on 1 September, 1 October and 1 November 2026. That is more than 3 months' rent (£3,600). The tenant does not receive Universal Credit. My address for service is in clause 2 of the agreement. A rent statement is attached.

Ground 10. The same £4,200 is in arrears today.

Ground 11. Rent was paid late in 7 of the 12 months to October 2026, as the rent statement shows.

Why you should always add Grounds 10 and 11

Ground 8 is mandatory. If it is proved, the court must order possession, subject to the deposit rules, the other restrictions in section 7 of the Housing Act 1988 and any human rights defence, and it cannot suspend the order on payment terms. The possession date is usually within 14 days, or up to 6 weeks if the tenant shows exceptional hardship.

But a part-payment before the hearing, or a disrepair counterclaim, can take the arrears below the threshold. With Grounds 10 and 11 in the notice, the court can still order possession if it is reasonable, often as a suspended order on payment terms. Without them, and with Section 21 gone, you start again.

Ground 8 mistakes to avoid

• Checking the balance when you draft the notice rather than on the day you serve it.
• Using Ground 8 alone, or for rent paid every 4 weeks.
• Shortening the ground in question 4.2. A Ground 8 text without "rent lawfully due" and the two-date test was held invalid in Mountain v Hastings.
• Serving during a Breathing Space, or by email when the agreement doesn't allow it (see how to serve a Section 8 notice).
• Leaving a joint tenant out of question 1.1.

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

What to do next

Build your notice with our Section 8 notice builder, which checks the dates and grounds against the rules and adds the legal wording for Grounds 8, 10 and 11. Then read how to evict a tenant for rent arrears, or compare every ground in our Section 8 grounds guide. If the tenant disputes the arrears or raises disrepair, speak to a solicitor.