The Act reforms the grounds for possession to make sure that tenants have greater security in their homes but that landlords can regain possession to a property when necessary. In order to use any of the grounds, landlords must give their tenants the required notice period as set out in the Act and must be prepared to evidence the ground in court. The Act outlines penalties for misuse of the grounds so that tenants can feel secure that landlords will only be able to rely on the grounds where it is fair to do so.
	As far as possible, the grounds have been defined unambiguously, to seek to offer tenants clarity and landlords certainty about whether the ground will be met if going to court. Grounds have only been made mandatory where it has been judged reasonable to do so.
	The Act contains a new ground for landlords who wish to sell their property and amends the ground for moving in to include close family members. Landlords must be prepared to evidence these grounds, and they will not be available to be used in the first 12 months of a new tenancy.
	The Act increases the notice period for the rent arrears grounds to four weeks. It also increases the arrears threshold for ground 8 so that eviction will be mandatory in cases where a tenant has three months’ arrears (or, if rent is payable weekly or fortnightly, 13 weeks’ arrears) at both the time of serving notice and of the hearing. This is intended to ensure that tenants have a reasonable opportunity to pay off arrears without losing their home.
	The Act also expands the principles that judges must consider when making a decision whether to evict under the discretionary ground for anti-social behaviour, giving weight to the impact on housemates within houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), and whether the tenant has failed to engage with other interventions to manage their behaviour.
	The Act introduces a new mandatory ground which will allow landlords renting HMOs to full-time students to seek possession ahead of each new academic year, facilitating the ongoing yearly cycle of short-term student tenancies. It will apply to full-time students who occupy on either joint or individual tenancy agreements. In order for a landlord to rely on this new ground to gain possession, the tenant must have been given a written statement to that effect before the tenancy is entered into.
	The Act introduces new grounds for possession for the supported housing sector to end tenancies where necessary, to enable them to continue to operate housing safely or effectively, or otherwise protect the viability of their service.
	The Act also introduces new grounds for possession in relation to temporary accommodation for homelessness and for sectors that give accommodation tied to employment. This is intended to ensure that these services can continue to be delivered.
	The Act makes consequential changes to Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 to remove reference to section 21 notices, as section 21 is being abolished by this Act, and replace the references to assured shorthold tenancies and fixed term tenancies with assured tenancies. The majority of these changes will be minor wording amendments, excepting the changes to the threatened with homelessness definition which will require local housing authorities to accept a homelessness duty if a household is served with a section 8 notice, instead of a section 21 notice (since such a notice will no longer exist). The Act also repeals "the reapplication duty", as England moves to a new tenancy framework.
Detail of individual policies in the Act Reforming landlord possession grounds