Section 21 Is Gone. Here's What Nottinghamshire Landlords Must Do Before Late 2026
Why That Old Section 21 Notice Won't Work Anymore
I'll say this plainly because I think landlords deserve plain language, not legal fog: from the transitional cutoff date set under the Renters' Rights Act — the exact date is one to verify directly with the NRLA or gov.uk, as it has not been independently confirmed at the time of writing — you can no longer apply to court for possession using a notice that was served before the Act came into force. That's not my interpretation — it's the position set out by the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), the trade body that tracks this legislation closer than almost anyone.
This applies to England only. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own tenancy regimes and none of what follows applies there — so if you own property across borders, don't assume this piece covers you fully.
Here's what actually happened, in order. The Renters' Rights Act received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025. The main reforms — abolition of Section 21, the shift to periodic tenancies, new rent increase rules — went live from 1 May 2026, according to guidance from Shelter and gov.uk. Then, from 1 August 2026, the transitional protection for notices served before that live date ran out. If you served a Section 21 notice in, say, March 2026 and never got round to issuing possession proceedings, that notice is now dead paper. You'll need to start again under the new rules.
I've watched landlords hold onto old notices like a spare key, assuming they'll still open the door eventually. They won't. Filing a possession claim on an expired or now-invalid notice doesn't just fail — it wastes court time and your money, and it can make you look uncooperative in front of a judge if the case does eventually proceed under different grounds.
Every Tenancy Is Now Periodic — And Eviction Means Proving Grounds
This is the part that catches even experienced landlords off guard. Fixed-term Assured Shorthold Tenancies (ASTs) don't exist anymore. Every tenancy — old or new — has converted to an assured periodic tenancy, running month to month with no end date baked in. Shelter and gov.uk both confirm this as one of the central mechanics of the reform.
What does that mean for you in practice? You can't simply wait for a fixed term to expire and decline to renew. There is no term to expire. If you want possession, you now need a Section 8 notice citing a specific, legally recognised ground — rent arrears, anti-social behaviour, intention to sell, moving in a family member, and so on. No grounds, no possession. Full stop.
I'd argue this is the single biggest operational shift in a generation of English lettings law, bigger even than the original introduction of ASTs. The trade-off is real, and I won't pretend otherwise: landlords lose the quiet, no-fault flexibility that Section 21 gave them. Selling up, restructuring a portfolio, or simply wanting the property back without a dispute — all of that now runs through a grounds-based process that takes longer and asks for more paperwork.
What you gain, at least in theory, is a lettings market with fewer speculative evictions and — the government's argument, not mine — fewer landlords using notice periods as leverage against tenants who complain about repairs. Whether that plays out cleanly in Nottinghamshire's courts is a separate question, and I think it's a fair one to keep asking.
On rent increases: these now happen only via a Section 13 notice, with a minimum two months' notice period, per Shelter's guidance. Rental bidding wars — landlords or agents inviting tenants to outbid each other on advertised rent — are also banned under the Act. If you're used to testing the market with an asking rent and letting applicants push it up, that practice is gone.
The PRS Database: The Next Deadline You Can't Afford to Miss
Just as landlords are catching their breath from the May and August changes, there's another one queued up. The Private Rented Sector (PRS) landlord database is scheduled to launch in late 2026, and the NRLA has flagged it as a compulsory registration system — you, your properties, and your compliance documentation, all in one government-facing record.
I don't have a firm date to give you beyond "late 2026" — nobody credible does yet, and I'd rather tell you that honestly than invent a deadline to make this article feel more urgent than it is. What I can tell you is that the direction is unambiguous: this is coming, it's mandatory, and the sensible move is to get your compliance paperwork into order now rather than scrambling in November.
Think about what "in order" actually means for a working portfolio. Gas safety certificates current. Electrical Installation Condition Reports (EICRs) valid. Deposit protection registered correctly. Right to Rent checks documented. Energy Performance Certificates in date. None of that is new — but a database that cross-references it against your name and your properties is a very different risk profile from a filing cabinet nobody else looks at.
For context on scale: the government's own figures put this Act's reach at around 11 million renters and 2.3 million landlords in England. That's not a niche change affecting a handful of portfolio landlords in the East Midlands. It's a full reset of how the private rented sector proves it's playing by the rules — and Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire landlords are inside that number, not outside it.
What This Looks Like on the Ground in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire
I manage — and my colleagues manage — tenancies across Sutton-in-Ashfield, Mansfield and the wider Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire catchment, and the pattern we're seeing is consistent: landlords who self-manage a handful of properties are the ones most exposed right now, not the larger portfolio operators with property managers on retainer.
Why? Because self-managing landlords are more likely to be the ones with an old Section 21 notice still sitting in a drawer, more likely to have missed the shift to periodic tenancies in their own paperwork, and less likely to be tracking a database launch that hasn't happened yet.
A short, honest list of what I'd check this week if I were you:
One — pull every notice you've served since the start of 2026 and check the date against 1 May and 1 August. Anything served before the Act's live date and not yet actioned in court needs re-serving under the new grounds-based process.
Two — confirm your current tenancy agreements reflect periodic status, not a fixed term that no longer legally exists.
Three — audit your compliance file: gas, electrical, deposit protection, EPC, right to rent. If any of those are due for renewal in the next few months, don't wait for the PRS database to force the issue.
That's three checks, not a dozen. I'd rather give you three you'll actually do than fifteen you'll skim past.
I don't think most landlords will get caught out by malice or negligence. I think they'll get caught out by inertia — by assuming the old paperwork still works because it used to, and nobody told them otherwise. The Renters' Rights Act didn't sneak up on anyone; it's been signposted since Royal Assent in October 2025. What's sneaking up is the second wave: the PRS database, the grounds-based eviction reality, the end of the quiet no-fault exit. My honest prediction is that the landlords who treat this as an administrative reset now will spend far less time in court over the next two years than the ones who wait to be forced into it.