Can I Evict My Tenant to Move Back In? Ground 1 Explained

Yes. Ground 1 in Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1988 lets a landlord in England recover a let home to live in, or to house a close family member. The date in the Form 3A notice must fall at least one year after the current tenancy began, the notice period is four months, and re-letting is then restricted for at least a year.

This article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Landlords should seek independent legal advice for their specific circumstances. It describes the position in England.

What does Ground 1 actually require?

Ground 1 has two conditions, and both must be proved: the current tenancy began at least one year before the "relevant date", and the landlord requires the property as the only or principal home of the landlord or a qualifying family member. The wording was substituted by the Renters' Rights Act 2025 (Schedule 1, paragraph 2) with effect from 1 May 2026.

Relevant date, meaning the date specified in the section 8 notice as the earliest date on which proceedings will begin, under Part 5 of Schedule 2. Where the court dispenses with notice, it is the date proceedings began.

Ground 1 sits in Part 1 of Schedule 2, the mandatory grounds. If the court is satisfied the ground is made out, it must make a possession order under section 7(3) of the Act, although the landlord still has to prove the facts.

Who counts as family under Ground 1?

The list is closed, and anyone not on it does not qualify. Ground 1 covers the following people as occupiers.

Aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins and in-laws (such as a spouse's parent or sibling) are not on the list. The only relatives through a spouse, civil partner or cohabiting partner who qualify are that partner's children and grandchildren. For joint landlords, Ground 1 says references to "the landlord" are read as at least one of the joint landlords, so one co-owner needing the property for themselves or their own family is enough.

Ground 1 is framed around a person's home and family, so it is generally understood not to be available to a limited company landlord. Company landlords looking to recover a property usually need a different ground, and legal advice is recommended before serving.

What changed from the old Ground 1?

The old Ground 1 depended on a warning given at the start of the tenancy. Before 1 May 2026, a landlord generally had to have given written notice, no later than the beginning of the tenancy, that possession might be recovered on this ground, unless the court considered it just and equitable to dispense with that notice. A landlord who had bought the property with a tenant already in place was also restricted.

A landlord who never included a Ground 1 clause in the tenancy agreement is therefore not shut out.

When is the earliest I can use Ground 1?

The date in the notice must fall at least one year after the current tenancy began. Because the notice period is four months, the earliest a Ground 1 notice can usefully be served is around eight months into the current tenancy. Ground 1 says both the day the tenancy began and the relevant date are included when calculating the year, but landlords are advised to leave a margin of a few days rather than working to the exact day.

The government's guidance, Repossessing your privately rented property after 1 May 2026, puts it the same way: the notice can be served earlier, but the date in it must be after the tenant has been in the property for 12 months.

For tenancies that already existed on 1 May 2026, the year is generally understood to run from the date the current tenancy actually began, not from 1 May 2026. Existing tenancies continued as assured periodic tenancies under section 146(1) of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 rather than being replaced, and Shelter's guidance for advisers takes the same view. "Current tenancy" is not defined in the Act and no court has ruled on it. Shelter treats the start of the most recent renewal as the start date, including the date a fixed term ended and a statutory periodic tenancy began, but not the 1 May 2026 conversion. Until the point is tested, landlords are advised to count from the later date or take advice.

Worked timeline. A tenancy began on 1 March 2026. The landlord serves Form 3A citing Ground 1 on 10 November 2026 and gives 15 March 2027 as the earliest date for proceedings.

The notice periods for every ground are set out in our Section 8 notice periods table.

How do I serve a Ground 1 notice?

Possession on Ground 1 starts with a section 8 notice in the prescribed form, Form 3A, giving the ground and particulars of it. Section 8(2) of the Housing Act 1988 prevents the court ordering possession on a ground that is not specified in the notice, unless the court gives permission to add or alter grounds.

The particulars should say who will move in, their relationship to the landlord, and why they need the home. Our Form 3A template and builder walks through each section of the form, and the court process after serving notice is set out step by step.

Two compliance checks come before the notice. First, the deposit: since 1 May 2026, section 215 of the Housing Act 2004 bars a possession order on most grounds, including Ground 1, for most tenancies until the deposit is protected with prescribed information served, or returned. Our article on what happens when a deposit is not protected covers the fixes. Second, proof of service: keep a dated record of how and when the notice reached each tenant.

What evidence will the court want to see?

The landlord has to prove that the property is genuinely required as the only or principal home of a qualifying person. The Act does not list the evidence, and what persuades a court will depend on the facts, but the aim is to show a settled, real plan rather than a pretext.

Evidence landlords commonly gather includes:

• a witness statement from the person moving in, explaining why they need the home and when they intend to move
• evidence of the family relationship, such as a birth or marriage certificate
• evidence of current circumstances, such as a notice to leave their own rented home, a job move, a relationship breakdown or a sale of their current home
• evidence of intended use, such as school applications or plans to change their address for work and banking

Where a tenant disputes the requirement and the evidence is thin, the ground may fail even though it is mandatory.

Can I re-let the property if the move falls through?

Not during the restricted period. Section 16E(2) and (3) of the Housing Act 1988 provide that where a landlord relies on Ground 1, the landlord must not let the property on a tenancy of 21 years or less, license it for money, or market it for either, within the restricted period. The ban continues whether or not the tenant has left.

Under section 16M(4), the restricted period runs from the date the notice is served until the end of 12 months beginning with the earliest proceedings date in the notice. With a four month notice, that is at least 16 months in total. If no notice was served and the claim relied on Ground 1 directly, it is 12 months from filing the claim. It ends early only if the court makes a possession order on a different ground, under section 16M(7).

Section 16F allows letting to a qualifying family member, or to someone else where a qualifying family member also lives there as their only or principal home. The restricted period is explained in more detail in our guide to the section 16M restricted period.

What are the penalties for misusing Ground 1?

Two offences are most relevant to Ground 1, both in section 16J of the Housing Act 1988, and a conviction carries an unlimited fine on summary conviction under section 16J(10). Section 16J(3) and (4) add further offences for breaches that continue or are repeated after a penalty.

Letting agents and others who market a property on a landlord's behalf are also caught by section 16E(3), although section 16J(2) gives a person other than the landlord a defence if they took all reasonable steps to avoid the breach.

Ground 1 or Ground 1A?

Ground 1 is for moving in; Ground 1A is for selling. Both share the one year rule, the four month notice and the restricted period, but the evidence for each is different. Our article on evicting a tenant to sell under Ground 1A covers the sale route.

A Ground 1 checklist before serving notice

1. Confirm the person moving in is on the Ground 1 list and will live there as their only or principal home.
2. Confirm the start date of the current tenancy, including any renewal.
3. Calculate a proceedings date at least four months after service and more than one year after the tenancy began, with a margin.
4. Check the deposit is protected and the prescribed information served, or put it right first.
5. Gather the evidence of the genuine need to move in before serving, not after.
6. Complete Form 3A with full particulars and keep proof of service on every tenant.
7. Diarise the last date to issue proceedings and the end of the restricted period, and tell any agent not to market the property until then.

Learning the possession grounds: the LLCR Academy course

LLCR Academy is developing Possession Without Section 21, a Section 8 course for landlords in England. Lesson 4 covers Grounds 1 and 1A: the protected period, the notice, and the limits on re-letting. A waitlist is open on the course page.

Keeping the Ground 1 evidence in one place

A Ground 1 claim turns on dates and documents: the tenancy start date, the notice, proof of service, the deposit record and the evidence of the move. The LLCR platform holds these against each property, with a dated proof of service record, and the Compliance Defence Pack gathers them into a single indexed bundle if the claim goes to court. LLCR is free for one property.

Planning to move back into a let property? The free LLCR compliance checker takes a few minutes and flags deposit gaps that can block a Ground 1 possession order, plus certificate gaps worth fixing before you go to court.