Private renting for tenants: evictions in England
Accelerated possession
Landlords cannot usually apply to the court for an accelerated possession order, even if they gave you a valid section 21 notice before 1 May 2026.
If your landlord made a valid application to the court for an accelerated possession order on or before 31 July 2026, their application will be issued by the court.
When your landlord can use accelerated possession
Your landlord can apply for an accelerated possession order if they gave you a valid possession notice before 1 May 2026. The notice must still have been valid at 11:59pm on 30 April 2026, and they must have given you either:
-
a Section 8 or Section 21 notice and applied to court before the notice expired or before 1 August 2026 (whichever was earlier) and the claim for possession has not ended
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a Section 8 notice for rent arrears but your landlord could not apply to court before 1 August 2026 because you were previously in a ‘breathing space’ (debt respite scheme) arrangement
If you were in a ‘breathing space’ arrangement, your landlord will have 8 weeks from the date the ‘breathing space’ arrangement ended to take their claim to court.
You can only stop accelerated possession if you can prove your landlord has not followed the rules. You can get free legal advice through the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service.
How it works
If your landlord applies for accelerated possession, the court will send you:
- a copy of your landlord’s application
- a ‘defence form’
Fill in the defence form to challenge the application or write a statement outlining your circumstances.
You can get help filling in the defence form from the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service.
You must complete and return the defence form or statement to the court within 14 days of receiving it.
The judge’s decision
A judge will decide whether to:
- issue a possession order, giving your landlord the right to evict you and take possession of the property (this is normally the case)
- have a court hearing (this usually only happens if the paperwork is not in order or you’ve raised an important issue)
Even if there’s a hearing, the court can still decide to issue a possession order.
If the judge issues a possession order
If the judge makes a possession order, you’ll normally have 14 or 28 days to leave the property. If this will cause you exceptional hardship, the judge may give you up to 42 days to leave.
If you do not leave at this point, your landlord can use bailiffs to evict you.