The short version: since Section 21 was abolished, there's no route to end a tenancy without a reason. If you need the property back and your tenant hasn't offered to leave, your only formal route is a specific statutory ground — for most landlords in this position, Ground 1A (sale) — with a minimum four-month notice period, followed by a possible court process if they still don't go. It's slower and more expensive than most landlords expect. There's also a route that skips the process entirely, by agreement rather than notice.
Take this in the order it actually happens: what the legal route looks like, how long it realistically takes, what it costs beyond the obvious, and what the alternative is.
The legal route, step by step
If your tenant won't leave voluntarily and you need vacant possession — to sell, to move back in, or to re-let at market rate — you serve a formal notice under the relevant statutory ground. For a landlord selling, that's Ground 1A. The process has three stages.
Stage one: the notice. Minimum four months, in writing, in the prescribed statutory form. It can't expire within the tenant's first twelve months in the property (the notice itself can be served earlier, but only if the four-month period ends on or after their twelve-month anniversary). An email, a text, or a conversation isn't a valid notice — get this wrong and you start again from zero.
Stage two: the notice period. Your tenant is entitled to stay for the full four months. Many do leave during this window, particularly once the process feels real to them. Some don't.
Stage three: if they still don't leave. You apply to court for a possession order. If granted, and the tenant still doesn't go, you apply for a bailiff appointment to enforce it. Each of these steps has its own processing time, and none of them is instant — courts have their own backlogs, and a contested case (where your tenant disputes the notice was validly served, or the ground properly made out) takes longer than an uncontested one.
How long this actually takes
Landlords consistently underestimate this. Four months' notice is the floor, not the ceiling. Add court processing time if it goes that far, and a realistic range from serving notice to actually getting the property back — in a contested case — is eight months to over a year. An uncontested case, where the tenant leaves at the end of the notice period without a fight, is obviously much faster: four months, start to finish.
The gap between those two numbers is the whole problem. You don't know at the outset which one you're going to get.
The rule most landlords don't see coming
If you serve a Ground 1A notice and then don't complete a sale — you change your mind, a buyer falls through, anything — you cannot re-let the property for twelve months from the date in the notice. No new tenancy of more than six months, no listing it on Rightmove or Zoopla, nothing. It has to sit empty, or you accept a short-term arrangement, for a full year.
This is the rule that changes the calculation. It means serving notice is closer to a one-way door than most landlords realise going in: if the sale doesn't happen for any reason, you're not just back where you started — you're worse off, with a property that legally can't earn rent for a year.
What this costs beyond the obvious
The notice period itself typically isn't a direct cost — your tenant keeps paying rent throughout, and your obligations continue as normal. The costs show up around the edges:
- Legal and court fees, if it goes to a contested hearing.
- Lost time on the market. A property can't usually be marketed with full confidence of a completion date until the tenant's departure is certain, which delays your sale by however long the process takes.
- The re-let ban, if the sale doesn't complete — up to twelve months of a property earning nothing, against a mortgage, service charge, and council tax that don't pause.
- The relationship itself. A contested process is adversarial by nature. Viewings, access for surveys, and general cooperation all become harder to secure from a tenant who's actively fighting to stay.
The alternative: agreement instead of notice
There's a structural reason a tenant might not be offering to leave even when they're not trying to be difficult: leaving costs them money — deposits on a new place, moving costs, admin fees — and under the traditional route they get nothing back for it. From their side, waiting out the notice and making you go through the process costs them nothing extra and might buy them more time.
Umoja's co-operative exit changes that incentive directly. You set an amount — the Umoja Fund — and your tenant is offered a cash reward for co-operating and leaving on an agreed date, rather than being served notice and waiting to see what happens. No four-month minimum to observe, no court process to hold in reserve, no twelve-month re-let ban risk if plans change. You agree a date directly with your tenant, and the property sells at full vacant-possession value rather than a discounted, tenanted price.
It doesn't require your tenant to be difficult or reluctant in the first place — it's simply a different offer than "please leave by this date, or else." For a lot of landlords, it's worth trying before serving formal notice, not instead of having that option in reserve.
Read more on how Umoja's co-operative exit works, or see what a vacant sale is really worth to you with our calculator.
Common questions
Can I just change the locks if my tenant won't leave?
No. Changing the locks, removing belongings, cutting off utilities, or otherwise forcing a tenant out without a court order and bailiff enforcement is a criminal offence under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977, regardless of how much notice you've given or how clearly they're in the wrong. The legal route, however slow, is the only lawful one.
What if my tenant is behind on rent, not just refusing to leave?
Rent arrears is a separate ground with its own process and timescales, distinct from Ground 1A (which applies specifically to a landlord's intention to sell). If both apply to your situation, take advice on which ground — or combination — suits your circumstances, since the evidence and notice requirements differ.
Does it matter why my tenant won't leave?
Not for the legal process — the notice requirements and timelines are the same regardless of their reasons. It matters a great deal for which approach is likely to work fastest, though: a tenant who's struggling to find somewhere affordable responds differently to a cash incentive and a fixed date than to a legal threat.
Is a co-operative exit legally binding?
Yes. Your tenant signs an agreement directly with Umoja setting out exactly what co-operation means and what they'll receive for it — it's a real contract, not an informal understanding that either side can walk away from.
What happens to the tenancy while all this is going on?
Under any of these routes, the tenancy continues normally until the point of actual departure — your tenant keeps paying rent, you keep your obligations as landlord, their deposit stays protected. Nothing changes in the day-to-day relationship just because a process is underway.