How to deal with a section 21 eviction notice

Summary

If you've been sent a section 21 notice by your private landlord or their letting agent, you are likely to feel very worried. Try not to panic. This guide will help you work out what options you have when you have received a section 21 notice and decide what to do next. It also explains the eviction process, so that if you want to challenge your landlord's claim for a possession order, you know what to do when. 1 What to do now 2 Tenancies 3 What is a section 21 notice? 4 What a section 21 notice looks like 5 What getting a section 21 notice means for you 6 What do you want to do? 7 Pros and cons of challenging a claim for a possession order 8 16 reasons your section 21 notice might be invalid 9 How to challenge your landlord’s claim for a possession order 10 Section 21 notice FAQs 11 Getting legal advice about a section 21 notice 12 More help 13 About this guide 14 What does it mean? You may have heard in the news that the law on evictions has changed so that private renters are better protected. This change happened on 1st May. Read our short guide to understand the important changes. If you were given a section 21 notice before 1st May 2026 you still need this guide. If you are.

Key information

• disrepair and other problems with housing conditions
• Do you want to leave or would you like to stay on in the property if you can? If you’d like to stay on, talk to your landlord – calmly and politely. Do they actually want you to leave? Sometimes landlords send a section 21 notice just in case, so that they can go to court straight away at the end of a fixed term tenancy without having to wait. They may not have decided actually to do so yet.
• Confirm what you are told or agree with your landlord or their agent in writing – by email or letter and keep a copy.
• If you find somewhere to live but can’t move in until sometime after the section 21 notice date runs out, ask your landlord if you can stay on for a bit. Occasionally a landlord may agree to this. Confirm anything you agree with your landlord or their agent in writing – by email or letter and keep a copy.
• Do you want to challenge the section 21 notice? If you think you want to do this:
• the name, address, telephone number, e-mail address and any fax number of the scheme looking after your deposit,
• information about how to get your deposit back when you leave,
• information about what happens if you or the landlord can’t agree how much money you’re going to be repaid at the end of the tenancy,
• information about how you can resolve this kind of dispute without going to court, and
• a deposit protection certificate signed by the landlord recording the amount paid, the address of the property, both your and the landlord’s contact details, and information about how to contact you at the end of the tenancy.
• It is rented to 5 or more people who form more than 1 household (so, for example, if you are single and live in a house-share with two couples, that is a total of 5 people who between them form 3 separate households), and
• The tenants share toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities.

Practical guidance

• Source: How to deal with a section 21 eviction notice

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