Section 8 notice template (Form 3A, England 2026)
A free section 8 notice template for private landlords in England. Tick the grounds you’re relying on and it fills in Form 3A, the notice seeking possession used since 1 May 2026: the full legal wording of each ground, the earliest date you can go to court, and your explanation. Download it as Word, or print it or save it as a PDF.
Luke AshtonFounder of Bricky Bot and Based Lettings · Updated Free section 8 notice template (Form 3A)
Earliest court date (2.1)
–
Notice runs out
12 months after service
Fix: Tick at least one ground.
Fix: Enter the date the tenant will get the notice, to work out the date in 2.1.
Built in your browser: nothing you type is sent anywhere. Blank answers show as [brackets] to fill in by hand. For private tenancies in England only. A template, not legal advice.
The short answer
- Since 1 May 2026, section 21 is gone for private tenancies in England. To get a property back you serve a section 8 notice on Form 3A, giving one or more of the grounds in Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1988.
- Each ground has a minimum notice period, from two weeks to four months. Using several grounds, you wait for the longest, unless one is antisocial behaviour (Ground 7A or 14).
- The form must quote the full legal wording of each ground and explain why it applies. The template above does both and works out the date for question 2.1.
Section 8 notice periods by ground
These are the minimum periods in section 8(4AA) of the Housing Act 1988, each “beginning with the date of service of the notice”. You can always give more. GOV.UK’s example: Grounds 8 and 7 served on 1 June 2026 mean you can apply to court from 1 August 2026.
| Notice | Grounds | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Four months | 1, 1A, 1B, 2, 2ZA–2ZD, 4A, 6, 6A, 6B | Moving in, selling, the lender selling, student HMOs, redevelopment, enforcement action |
| Two months | 5, 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 5H, 7, 9 | Employment-linked lets, a tenant’s death, suitable alternative accommodation |
| Four weeks | 5E, 5F, 5G, 8, 10, 11, 18 | Rent arrears (8 serious, 10 any, 11 persistent late payment), supported housing |
| Two weeks | 4, 7B, 12, 13, 14ZA, 14A, 15, 17 | Breach of tenancy, damage to the property or furniture, no right to rent, false statement |
| None | 7A, 14 | Serious or other antisocial behaviour: you can apply to court the day you serve |
Grounds 1 to 8 (and 5C) are mandatory: prove the ground and the court must make the order. Grounds 9 and up are discretionary: the court also has to think it reasonable. The template offers the 14 grounds private landlords use most. For any other ground, use GOV.UK’s Form 3A and its legal wording.
How to fill in Form 3A, question by question
| Question | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| 1.1 Tenants | Every tenant on the tenancy. For a joint tenancy, list all of them. |
| 1.2 Property | The address you’re seeking possession of. For a room let, the room and the house. |
| 2.1 Earliest court date | The day after the longest notice period ends. The template works it out. |
| 3 Latest date | Fixed wording: 12 months from service. Nothing to fill in. |
| 4.1 Common reasons | Optional tick boxes in plain English. The template ticks the ones that match. |
| 4.2 Grounds | Mandatory: the full legal wording of each ground, not just its name, plus GOV.UK’s explanation. |
| 4.3 Your explanation | Mandatory: why each ground applies, in your own words, with evidence (a rent statement for arrears). |
| 5 Your details | Signature, landlord or agent, date, name, address; phone and email optional. |
You don’t have to use the GOV.UK file itself: the regulations accept a form “substantially to the like effect”. The template keeps the form’s questions and wording word for word, so only your answers change.
Rent arrears: Grounds 8, 10 and 11
- Ground 8 (mandatory): at least three months’ rent unpaid if rent is monthly, or thirteen weeks’ if it’s weekly or fortnightly, both on the day you serve and on the day of the hearing. If the tenant pays it down below that before the hearing, Ground 8 fails. An amount unpaid only because a Universal Credit housing payment hadn’t arrived yet doesn’t count.
- Ground 10 (discretionary): some rent unpaid when you serve and when you start proceedings.
- Ground 11 (discretionary): the tenant has persistently paid late, even if nothing is owed now.
Landlords usually use all three together, so a hearing doesn’t collapse if the tenant pays just enough to get under Ground 8. Attach a rent statement: the dates rent was due, what was paid and when. If you’re told the tenant is in a breathing space, you can’t serve on these grounds until it ends.
How to serve a section 8 notice
- Follow your tenancy agreement if it says how notices are served. Otherwise GOV.UK suggests: in person (the most reliable), through the letterbox yourself, or registered post.
- Email only if the agreement says so. If you give an email address in 5.7, the tenant and the court can use it to serve papers on you.
- A copy for each tenant, and keep the original. Record how and when you served it: fill in form N215, or write “served by [your name] on [the date]” on your copy (the template leaves a line for it).
- Date it from when they get it. The notice period begins on the day it’s served, so if you post it, use the day it will arrive. Adding a few days costs nothing.
HMOs and room lets
- One notice per tenancy. Each room let is its own tenancy, so it gets its own notice naming only that room’s tenants. A joint tenancy of a whole house names all of them.
- Student houses: Ground 4A. It only works if you gave the written statement before the tenancy began (our tenancy agreement template adds it), and the date in 2.1 must fall between 1 June and 30 September.
- Licensing: Ground 6B. If the council refuses or revokes the HMO licence, or the house has more people than the licence allows, 6B gives four months’ notice. The court may order you to compensate the tenant.
- Deposit first. If the deposit isn’t protected or the prescribed information wasn’t given, the court can’t make the order (Housing Act 2004, s.215), except on Grounds 7A and 14. A landlord compliance reporting app keeps those dates with the gas, electrical and licence records.
After the notice
The tenant doesn’t have to leave when the notice period ends. If they stay, you apply to court after the date in 2.1 and before the 12 months run out. On a mandatory ground the court makes an outright order, which it can delay by up to 6 weeks for exceptional hardship. On a discretionary ground it can suspend the order on conditions such as paying off the arrears. Changing the locks or pressuring a tenant to leave is illegal. GOV.UK’s repossession guidance covers the court steps. Using Ground 1 or 1A also means you can’t let or market the property from serving the notice until 12 months after the date in 2.1.
What Bricky Bot does (and doesn’t)
Bricky Bot is the HMO management software we built to run our own rooms. It doesn’t write or serve section 8 notices, and it never sends anything to a tenant without a person approving it. It keeps the records a notice relies on:
- A rent account for every tenancy, worked out from your bank statement lines rather than typed in: each month due, late, part paid or paid, and a list of every tenant behind, with any promise to pay recorded.
- Each deposit’s scheme, certificate, protection date and the date the prescribed information went out.
- Every WhatsApp message on the business number and every email, kept as the business’s own record.
- Emails about eviction, section 8 or court are never filtered out: they go straight to a person.
Before letting a room again, our rental yield calculator covers the numbers, and the tenant notice periods guide covers the other direction: tenants leaving. To raise the rent instead, use the section 13 notice template.
Old notices, Wales and Scotland
- Served before 1 May 2026 on the old Form 3 or a section 21 notice: if you hadn’t started court proceedings by 31 July 2026, the notice can no longer be used. Serve a new Form 3A.
- Social housing: Form 3, not 3A.
- Wales: occupation contracts and their own notices under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016. Scotland: a notice to leave and the First-tier Tribunal (mygov.scot).
Checking a specific house?
For HMO feasibility on a real address (licensing, Article 4, comparables), try Bricksmart’s HMO report. Bricksmart is our sister product and is free to start.
Questions landlords ask
Can I serve a section 8 notice myself?
Yes. The landlord, or someone authorised to act for them such as an agent, completes and signs Form 3A and gives it to the tenant. You don’t need a solicitor to serve it, though many landlords take advice before going to court.
Where do I get the section 8 notice form?
The government’s Form 3A is on GOV.UK’s assured tenancy forms page, with the legal wording for every ground. The regulations also allow a form “substantially to the like effect”, which is what this template writes: the form’s own questions and wording, filled in from your answers.
How much notice does a section 8 notice give?
It depends on the grounds. Rent arrears grounds (8, 10 and 11) need four weeks. Moving in or selling (1 and 1A) need four months. Breach of tenancy (12) needs two weeks. Antisocial behaviour (14) needs none. If you use several grounds, the longest period applies, unless one of them is Ground 7A or 14.
How long is a section 8 notice valid for?
Court proceedings must begin no later than 12 months from the date the notice was served. After that it can’t be used. A tenant’s breathing space can extend an arrears notice by 8 weeks after the breathing space ends.
What makes a section 8 notice invalid?
The usual faults: a date in 2.1 that is too early for the grounds, a ground named without its full legal wording, a joint tenant left off, or a notice on arrears grounds served during a breathing space. GOV.UK warns that missing or incomplete legal wording can make the notice invalid.
Can I serve a section 8 notice by email?
Only if the written tenancy agreement clearly says email is an agreed way to serve notices. Otherwise GOV.UK suggests handing it over in person, posting it through the letterbox yourself, or sending it by registered post.
Can I still use section 21?
No, not for private tenancies in England. Section 21 ended on 1 May 2026, and landlords now use section 8 with a ground. Section 21 notices served before then could only be taken to court until 31 July 2026.
Sources
- GOV.UK: Assured tenancy forms: Form 3A (05.26), its guidance for landlords, and Form 3A: Legal wording for possession grounds (updated 1 May 2026)
- Housing Act 1988, section 8 (the notice and its periods) and Schedule 2 (the grounds), as amended by the Renters’ Rights Act 2025
- GOV.UK: Repossessing your privately rented property on or after 1 May 2026 (updated 13 July 2026)
- The Assured Tenancies (Private Rented Sector) (Prescribed Forms and Transitional Provisions) (England) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/354); the Debt Respite Scheme Regulations 2020 (SI 2020/1311)
- Checked 13 October 2026.
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