Selling a property or moving a family member in used to be one of the more straightforward reasons to end a tenancy. Under the Renters' Rights Act, it still works — but it now comes wrapped in a protected tenancy period, a longer notice period, and a re-letting restriction that turns "I've changed my mind" into a criminal offence if you get the sequencing wrong.

This edition covers Ground 1 (moving in) and Ground 1A (selling), what changed, the four-month notice period, the 12-month protected tenancy rule, and the re-letting ban that catches out landlords whose plans don't work out as expected.

Ground 1 — landlord or family member moving in. The existing Ground 1 has been widened to make it easier for the landlord to recover possession to allow them or their family move in. It is no longer a requirement for the landlord to give the tenant prior notice they may use this Ground for Possession, and they may also use it if they bought the property during the current tenancy.

That last point matters. Previously, landlords who bought a property with sitting tenants faced real restrictions on using this ground. Under the new rules, buying a tenanted property no longer blocks you from later using Ground 1 to move yourself or a close family member in.

Ground 1A — landlord intends to sell. This is a brand-new ground introduced by the Renters' Rights Act. It lets a landlord recover possession when they intend to sell the property. It's a mandatory ground — the court must grant possession if the landlord proves a genuine intention to sell.

Both grounds share the same core structure: a four-month notice period, a 12-month protected tenancy period, and a re-letting restriction if possession is actually obtained.

The notice period required for relying on Ground 1A is four months from the date of service of the notice. The same applies to Ground 1. This is significantly longer than the pre-Act two-month notice period that applied to the equivalent grounds, and considerably longer than Ground 8's four-week window covered in Edition 28.

Court proceedings for possession cannot begin until the four-month notice period has expired. The four months gives the tenant genuine time to find alternative accommodation — you do not have to leave on day one of the notice period, and the court won't even hear the case until it's run its course.

Landlords cannot rely on Ground 1 or Ground 1A to require a tenant to leave within the first twelve months of a new tenancy. This rule is designed to prevent short-term lettings from being used as a route to quick possession.

The mechanics work like this: the notice can be served after 8 months of the tenancy have passed by giving the tenant four-months notice, but the notice must NOT expire in the first 12 months of a new tenancy. This means the earliest a Ground 1A notice can expire is one year after the start of the current tenancy.

In practice: you can serve the notice from month 8 onward, but the four-month notice period plus the 12-month protection combine so the notice can never take effect before the tenancy's first anniversary. A landlord who signs a new tenant and decides at month 3 that they want to sell cannot use Ground 1A to remove that tenant before month 12 at the absolute earliest — and realistically, given the four-month notice requirement, the earliest practical exit is month 12 only if the notice was served right at month 8.

Here's where Ground 1 and Ground 1A diverge sharply from every other ground covered in this newsletter. Obtaining possession isn't the end of the obligation — what you do afterward is legally restricted too.

If possession is obtained on Ground 1A, the landlord is prohibited from re-letting the property on a tenancy of 21 years or less, or from marketing it for re-letting, for a period of 12 months from the earliest date for possession proceedings specified in the notice.

The wording matters here, because it explains a detail that trips people up: the 12-month restricted period doesn't start when the tenant actually leaves — it starts from the earliest date specified in the notice for possession proceedings to begin, which is itself four months after service. Combine the two, and a landlord who serves notice is generally restricted from re-letting the property for a minimum period of 16 months from the date the notice was served — four months of notice, plus the 12-month restriction that follows.

The new section 16E provides that the landlord must not let the dwelling-house on a tenancy for a term of 21 years or less, or grant a licence for monetary consideration, or market the dwelling-house for these purposes, within the restricted period. This isn't just about signing a new tenancy agreement — even marketing the property for let during the restricted period is itself a breach.

This is the scenario that catches out genuinely well-intentioned landlords. You serve Ground 1A because you intend to sell. The tenant leaves. The sale falls through — a buyer pulls out, a chain collapses, the market shifts.

You are still bound by the 12-month re-letting restriction, regardless of why the original plan didn't happen. There is no automatic exemption for a sale that genuinely fell apart. The restriction applies to the property, tied to the notice that was served, not to your ongoing intention.

Contravening these provisions will be a criminal offence, making a landlord liable on summary conviction to a fine, or alternatively, a local housing authority may impose a financial penalty on a landlord of no more than £40,000 if it is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that a landlord is guilty of an offence.

The word "criminal" is doing real work in that sentence. Every other financial penalty covered in this newsletter — deposit protection, licensing, the PRS Database — sits in civil penalty territory, however serious. Re-letting within the restricted period after using Ground 1 or Ground 1A is treated as a criminal offence with the option of a £40,000 civil penalty as an alternative to prosecution.

The legislation expects landlords to rely on these grounds only where their intention is genuine and supported by clear circumstances. For example, a landlord seeking possession under Ground 1A should have clear plans to sell the property. Similarly, where possession is sought under Ground 1, there should be a genuine intention for the landlord or their family member to move into the property.

A landlord can expect to be required to prove the existence of a firm and settled intention. This isn't a box-ticking exercise — the court is looking for evidence that the stated purpose is real, not a convenient route to possession that was never actually going to happen.

Accurate documentation and good record-keeping can help demonstrate that the ground has been used appropriately if the matter proceeds to court. For Ground 1A, that means being able to show genuine steps toward sale — instructing an estate agent, obtaining a valuation, evidence of listing the property once the tenant has left. For Ground 1, it means evidence of the family member's actual move — utility connections, change of address, and similar.

If the rules are breached, local councils have the authority to investigate and take enforcement action, and local councils are expected to play a greater role in monitoring compliance within the private rented sector generally. Track the listing — save screenshots of the Rightmove or Zoopla page including listing date, because if the property is listed for re-letting at any point during the restricted period, that listing itself is evidence of a breach, independent of whether a new tenancy was actually signed.

Repeat use across multiple properties — sale on one, move-in on the next, sale on the next — is a pattern courts and councils take seriously. A landlord with a portfolio who uses Ground 1A on one property, Ground 1 on another shortly after, and Ground 1A again on a third is building a pattern that undermines the genuine-intention requirement across all three cases, not just the most recent one.

A related but distinct point for landlords with a mortgage: the notice period for a mortgagee to gain possession under Ground 2 has been increased from 2 months to 4 months. If your lender is seeking possession because of a mortgage default rather than you seeking possession to sell voluntarily, that's a different ground entirely with its own four-month notice period — worth knowing the distinction if you're ever navigating financial difficulty alongside a tenancy.

✅ Confirm the tenancy is past its 12-month protected period — or will be by the time your four-month notice expires. The notice cannot take effect before the first anniversary.

✅ Use the correct ground for your actual intention — Ground 1 for moving in yourself or a close family member, Ground 1A for a genuine sale.

✅ Serve four months' notice — court proceedings cannot begin until this period has run.

✅ Document your genuine intention before serving notice — estate agent instruction and valuation for Ground 1A; concrete moving evidence for Ground 1.

✅ Understand the 16-month practical timeline — four months' notice plus 12 months' re-letting restriction from the earliest possession date in the notice.

✅ Do not market the property during the restricted period — even marketing alone, without a signed tenancy, is a breach.

✅ If your plans change after possession, the restriction still applies — a failed sale doesn't exempt you from the 12-month re-letting ban.

✅ Keep records if using these grounds across a portfolio — repeat use is scrutinised as a pattern, not assessed property by property in isolation.

Ground 1 and Ground 1A remain genuinely useful tools for landlords who need to sell or move family in — but the Renters' Rights Act has closed off the shortcut that used to exist. What was once a straightforward two-month process is now a four-month notice, a 12-month protected tenancy period, and a further 12-month re-letting restriction that applies whether or not your original plan actually goes ahead.

The landlords who use these grounds successfully are those with a genuine, documented intention from the start — and a clear understanding that once you've used the ground, the property is committed to that path for well over a year, with a criminal offence sitting behind any attempt to change course early.

Track possession ground used, notice service dates, protected period expiry and re-letting restriction end dates across your portfolio — the timeline discipline Ground 1A demands.

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Coming up next edition — Ending a tenancy properly: notices, check-out and getting the deposit right at the end.

The Landlords Brief is published for UK landlords. Subscribe free at thelandlordsbrief.co.uk. This newsletter is for general information only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. For a specific sale or possession situation please consult a solicitor.