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Section 8 Notice
The landlord may be able to terminate an
Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement during the fixed term if the tenant has failed to pay rent or
has breached any other terms of the Tenancy Agreement. The landlord must rely on certain grounds
set out in Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1988, which are listed below.
The landlord cannot evict the tenant without
obtaining an order for possession issued by a court and before applying
to the court for such an order, the landlord must serve a Section
8 Possession Notice on the tenant. The notice states that the landlord
intends to seek possession of the property and states the ground
or grounds on which possession is sought.
The amount of notice required to be given
to the tenant will depend on the ground: if the landlord is relying on ground 2, two months'
notice must be given. If the landlord is relying on grounds 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 14A, 15 or
17, two weeks' notice must be given. Grounds 2 and 8 are mandatory, which means that if a landlord
proves that one of these grounds applies, the court has no choice but to award him possession.
The other grounds are discretionary and the court will only award possession if it is reasonable
to do so.
| Ground 2 |
The
property is subject to a mortgage which pre-dates the tenancy and
the lendor wishes to exercise its rights over the property, i.e.
repossess it. A notice under this ground must be served before the
creation of the tenancy. |
| Ground 8 |
At
the date of service of the notice and at the date of the hearing,
the tenant has not paid the rent, and either rent is payable weekly
or fortnightly and at least eight weeks' rent is unpaid; or rent
is payable monthly and at least two months' rent is unpaid; or rent
is payable quarterly and at least one quarter's rent is more than
three months in arrears.
Note: When claiming possession under this ground, it is advisable to cite more than
one ground since, if the tenant pays off part of the arrears shortly before the hearing, this ground
can no longer be proved and possession proceedings will have to be abandoned. It is, therefore, common
practice to cite more than one ground for rent arrears (i.e. grounds 8, 10 & 11), if applicable, and
to also wait until at least two months' rent (or eight weeks in the case of a weekly tenancy) is unpaid
before issuing the Section 8 Notice. |
| Ground 10 |
Any amount of rent is in arrears at the date of
service of the notice and remains unpaid on the date on which the proceedings for possession are begun. |
| Ground 11 |
The tenant has repeatedly failed to pay rent. |
| Ground 12 |
The Tenant has breached any term of the tenancy agreement (other than one relating to the payment of rent). |
| Ground 13 |
The
property has deteriorated due to neglect by the tenant or by someone
living with him and the tenant has failed to remove that person. |
| Ground 14 |
The
tenant or someone living him has caused a nuisance to neighbours,
visitors or others in the locality or has been convicted of using
the property for immoral or illegal purposes or has been convicted
of an indictable offence committed in the locality. |
| Ground 14A |
The property is occupied by a couple and one of them has left due to violence or threats of violence from the other partner or from a member of that partner's family who was living in the property also. This notice can only be used by a registered social landlord or a charitable housing trust. The tenant who has left must also be sent this notice. |
| Ground 15 |
The furniture has been ill-treated by the tenant or by someone living with him and the tenant has failed to remove that person. |
| Ground 17 |
The landlord was induced to grant the tenancy by a false statement made knowingly or recklessly by either the tenant or a person acting at the tenant's instigation. |
This Section 8 Possession Notice can be used
in England and Wales where one or more of the above grounds are
being relied on.
This document is also included in our
Tenancy
Package for England and Wales priced at £35.25 including VAT. The package includes
both versions of our Tenancy Agreement, the Section 21 Notices, this Section 8 Notice
and an Inventory (saving you more than £50 compared to buying the documents individually).
This document is £5.64 including VAT if bought individually. You can view a sample document here
How to order
Choose the appropriate format for your Section 8 Notice:
Word
Template (.dot) or Word
Document (.doc) 
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