Tenant Won't Leave After a Section 8 Notice: What Landlords Must Do Next

A Section 8 notice — served on Form 3A — tells a tenant the landlord intends to seek possession, and gives the minimum notice period required for the ground relied on. But the notice is a starting gun, not a finish line. Nothing about a Section 8 notice expiring forces the tenant to leave, ends the tenancy automatically, or gives the landlord any right to act unilaterally.

If the tenant simply stays put once the notice period ends, the landlord's only lawful route forward is the county court. According to GOV.UK's guidance on repossessing privately rented property ↗, a landlord can apply for a possession order as soon as the notice period has expired and the tenant hasn't left — there's no further waiting period required before issuing a claim.

No — not directly, and not at any stage before a court order exists, however long the tenant has overstayed or however much rent is owed. Changing the locks, removing a tenant's belongings, cutting off utilities, or any other form of self-help eviction is a criminal offence under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977.

This is precisely why the court process below exists: it's the only legally safe path from "the tenant won't leave" to actually regaining the property.

Once the Section 8 notice period has expired and the tenant hasn't left, you apply to the county court for a possession order. There are two routes:

The court fee is £404, payable by cheque, card over the phone, card at the court counter, or a fee account if you have one. You'll need to include a copy of the Form 3A notice you served, and show the court that you gave the correct notice period.

After issuing the claim, the court sends the tenant a copy, gives you a claim number, and sets a hearing date. The tenant then has 14 days to submit a defence if they want to contest the claim.

If the date in the possession order passes and the tenant is still there, you move to enforcement. This is the stage where the court's authority gets backed up by physical removal — but it still requires another application, not direct action by the landlord.

You'll need to apply for a warrant of possession, which instructs county court bailiffs to carry out the eviction. The process and the form you use depend on what kind of order you have — covered in the next section.

You need a warrant of possession if:

• You have an outright possession order and the tenant hasn't left by the date in it
• The tenant has broken the conditions of a suspended possession order
• You still want the tenant to leave despite the above

The fee is £148. If you used PCOL for the original claim, you can request the warrant online; otherwise post the form and payment to the court that handled your case. You have up to 6 yearsfrom the possession order to apply — after that, you'll need the court's permission.

Once the warrant is issued, the court will:

• Confirm in writing that the warrant has been issued
• Send you form EX96 with the bailiff appointment date and time
• Send you a risk assessment form, EX97A

You must return both EX96 and EX97A at least 3 working days before the appointment — late or incomplete returns can get the appointment cancelled. The tenant must be given at least 14 days' notice of the eviction date.

Bailiffs can't help recover unpaid rent or damages — that needs a separate money claim. Typical waits for a bailiff appointment run roughly 4 to 10 weeksafter the warrant is issued, longer in busier courts. A tenant can apply to suspend the warrant right up until eviction day, so this stage isn't always the final one — but if no suspension is granted, eviction goes ahead as scheduled.

A tenant not leaving after a Section 8 notice expires is frustrating, but it's not a dead end — it's a defined legal process with a known sequence of steps, forms, fees, and timelines. The single most important thing to hold onto throughout is that only the court, and ultimately a bailiff, can lawfully complete the eviction — not the landlord acting alone, however justified the underlying ground.

Move through each stage methodically — claim, hearing, order, warrant, bailiff — and keep your paperwork and evidence organised at every step. Doing that consistently is what separates a possession case that takes three months from one that drags on for a year.