Section 21 is gone. Your four options as a landlord in 2026.

If you want out and your tenant won't leave voluntarily, you have four realistic options: serve a Section 8 notice on one of the new mandatory grounds (slow, contested, costly), sell with the tenant in situ through an estate agent (low price, slow, often falls through), sell at auction (fast but typically 15–25% below market), or sell to a property buyer like Jeffries (fast, certain, lower headline price but legal costs covered up to £1,500 and the offer doesn't change once agreed). Which one is right for you depends on three things: how quickly you need to be out, how much you can afford to lose to costs and time, and whether you're emotionally done with the whole thing.

Most calls from landlords open the same way. "I just want out." Then a pause. Then the actual reason — the tenant who's stopped paying, the boiler that needs replacing, the EPC C deadline coming, the accountant who's just explained what the new rules mean for next year's profit, the spouse who's said it's the property or the marriage. And underneath all of that, the bit nobody quite wants to admit out loud: I didn't sign up for this.

If any of that sounds familiar, this article is for you. Jeffries has been buying property across Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire and South Cheshire since 1985 — over forty years, more than 1,000 completions, every kind of market and every kind of rule change. I'm not going to pretend selling to us is always the right answer — it isn't — but I'll lay out every realistic option honestly, with the numbers, and tell you which one I'd choose in your shoes. By the end you'll know exactly where you stand.

What's actually changed (the 90-second version)

The Renters' Rights Act 2025legislation.gov.uk came into force on 1 May 2026. The headlines you've probably already seen:

• Section 21legislation.gov.uk "no-fault" evictions are abolished. You can no longer end a tenancy without giving a legal reason.
• Fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies are gone. Every existing AST automatically converted into a rolling Assured Periodic Tenancy on 1 May. Your tenant can give you two months' notice and walk; you can't.
• Rent rises are capped at once a year, must follow the Section 13 process, and your tenant can challenge them at the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).
• The official Information Sheetgov.uk must be served on existing tenants by 31 May 2026, or you face a civil penalty of up to £7,000.
• The pet right is now contractual — tenants can request a pet, you must consider it, and refusal needs valid reasons.
• Rent in advance over one month is banned.
• The PRS Database, the Ombudsman, the Decent Homes Standard for the private sector — all coming, in that order, between late 2026 and 2035.

The practical effect for tired landlords is brutal in its simplicity: if you want your property back, you now have to either wait for the tenant to leave, offer them a financial incentive to leave voluntarily, or prove a legal ground. And the grounds aren't easy.

So can you actually get them out?

Yes — but it's harder, slower, and less certain than it used to be. You have to use a Section 8 noticelegislation.gov.uk now, citing one or more legal grounds. The grounds most relevant to landlords looking to exit are:

• Ground 1A — selling the property. New ground, mandatory. You must give four months' notice. You can't have used it in the last 12 months. And here's the catch most landlords miss: after using it, you can't re-let the property for 12 months. It has to actually be sold (or marketed for sale).
• Ground 1 — moving in yourself or close family. Mandatory, four months' notice. Similar 12-month bar on re-letting.
• Ground 6A — required to comply with enforcement. Niche but real, for situations where letting would breach a notice or order.
• Ground 8 / 10 / 11 — rent arrears. Ground 8 is mandatory if the tenant owes three months' rent at the date of the notice and the hearing.

If your tenant is behaving and shows no sign of wanting to leave — and you want out — Section 8 (typically via Ground 1A) is the slowest, most expensive option of the four. Which brings us to the real question.

Your four options, ranked honestly

I'll use an illustrative example throughout: a 2-bed terraced house worth roughly £140,000 on the open market with a tenant on £725 a month who's been there three years, pays on time, and has no interest in leaving. The exact numbers for your property will be different — these are here to show the shape of each option, not to value your home.

All four routes side by side

Which one we'd choose in your shoes

Honestly? It depends on three questions, and we ask them on every call:

1. How quickly do you need the money out?

If the answer is "yesterday" — divorce, bereavement, business cash flow, repossession threat, IHT bill — option 4 wins almost every time. If it's "within a year is fine," option 2 or 3.

2. What's the tenant situation actually like?

Paying tenant, model behaviour, no issues — your options are wide open and you can probably afford to go to an agent. Tenant in arrears, in dispute, refusing access, hoarding, or simply uncommunicative — the in-situ sale market for that property is tiny, and you're realistically choosing between a long Section 8 process and selling to a buyer who'll take the problem on.

3. What's the property's condition and compliance?

EPC D or below, dated kitchen, ageing boiler, no EICR, dodgy electrics — every one of these knocks chunks off an estate agent's price and makes auction risky. A property buyer doesn't mind that — we price the work in. Same with problem properties generally: red ash, knotweed, non-standard construction, short leases, structural issues.

Three things we won't pretend

"We pay full market value."

Nobody pays full market value for the convenience and certainty we offer. The whole reason this works is the discount. Anyone telling you otherwise is either lying or planning to renegotiate at the last minute (the "gazundering" the industry's known for). Our offer doesn't change once agreed. Across 1,000+ completions, we've never dropped a price on the day. Ever.

"We can complete in 7 days every time."

Sometimes we can — we have. But realistic completion is 7–28 days. Conveyancing on a tenanted property usually takes a couple of weeks because of searches, title checks, and tenancy paperwork, and we'd rather tell you that straight than promise something we can't always deliver. Your solicitor's diary affects this too.

"There's no catch."

There is a catch. The catch is the price. You're trading 8–25% of your equity for certainty, speed, legal costs covered up to £1,500, and escape from the tenant problem. For some landlords that's the best deal they'll do all year. For others it's leaving money on the table. Ron will help you work out which — on the call, not after.

Frequently asked questions

Related reading

• Selling a tenanted property: how we buy with tenants in situ
• Not all cash buyers are the same — local vs national
• Accidental landlords and landlord portfolios
• How our buying process works, step by step
• Real cost comparison calculator: estate agent vs Jeffries