The Section 16M Restricted Period: How Long You Cannot Re-Let After Using Ground 1 or 1A

The Section 16M Restricted Period: How Long You Cannot Re-Let After Using Ground 1 or 1A

Sections 16E and 16M of the Housing Act 1988 prohibit letting or marketing a property after relying on Ground 1 or Ground 1A. The restricted period runs from the day the Section 8 notice is served until 12 months after the earliest proceedings date specified in it, at least 16 months in total on a standard notice.

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 the restriction actually prohibits

Section 16E of the Housing Act 1988, inserted by the Renters' Rights Act 2025, imposes two distinct prohibitions once a landlord relies on Ground 1, the moving in ground, or Ground 1A, the selling ground. Under section 16E(2), the landlord must not, during the restricted period, let the property on a tenancy of 21 years or less, or allow anyone to occupy it under a licence for monetary consideration.

Under section 16E(3), a relevant person, which includes the landlord and anyone acting or purporting to act for them, must not market the property to let or for paid occupation during the restricted period, and must not authorise anyone else to do so. Instructing a letting agent whose mandate would allow marketing within the period is itself caught, so agency terms need checking, not just listings.

Two features widen the net. Relying on a ground includes serving a purported notice, meaning an informal or defective document that claims possession will be sought, not only a valid Form 3A. And section 16E(4) provides that the prohibitions run for the full restricted period whether or not the tenancy continues, so a tenant leaving early does not shorten the ban.

How long the restricted period really is

The commonly quoted figure is 12 months, and it is incomplete. Section 16M(4)(a) defines the restricted period, where Ground 1 or 1A is relied on in a notice, as beginning on the day the notice is served and ending 12 months after the date specified in the notice as the earliest date proceedings can begin.

Ground 1 and Ground 1A notices must give at least four months, so the specified date is at least four months after service, and the restricted period is therefore at least four plus 12 months. In our reading of the enacted wording, the practical blackout is a minimum of 16 months from the day of service, and longer if the notice gave more than the minimum period. This is a calculation from the statutory text rather than a settled judicial interpretation, since the provision has yet to be tested in the courts, and landlords planning around it should take advice on their specific dates.

A worked example makes it concrete. A Ground 1A notice served on 1 October 2026 specifying 2 February 2027 produces a restricted period running from 1 October 2026 to 1 February 2028. Anti-avoidance rules in section 16M(5) and (6) close the drafting gaps: where a notice also cites Ground 7A or 14 and so specifies an earlier date, or where a purported notice specifies no valid date at all, the period is calculated as if a valid Ground 1 or 1A date had been given.

The claim form route: 12 months from filing

There is a second limb. Where a landlord relies on Ground 1 or 1A by filing a claim form or particulars of claim without having served a notice or purported notice citing the ground, section 16M(4)(b) sets the restricted period at 12 months from the date of filing.

On the enacted wording, this limb applies only where nothing within the notice limb was done first, because section 16M(2)(b) frames it as relying on the ground having not served a notice or purported notice for it. A landlord who served a Ground 1A notice and then issued proceedings is in the notice limb, with the longer period measured from service. Again, this reading has not yet been tested, and it is a point on which specific advice is worth taking before any re-letting decision.

When the period ends early

Section 16M(7) provides one genuine early exit. If, before the restricted period ends, the court makes a possession order on a ground other than Ground 1 or 1A, the restricted period ends on the day the order is made.

So a landlord who cited Ground 1A alongside Ground 8, and obtained possession on the arrears ground, is released from the restriction at the order. What does not end the period: the tenant leaving voluntarily, the sale falling through, a change of mind, or withdrawal of the notice. The statute contains no mechanism for a landlord to cancel a served notice and recover the right to re-let early.

Which grounds trigger the restriction, and which do not

The restriction attaches to Grounds 1 and 1A only. Ground 1B, the rent-to-buy sale ground, the mortgage lender's Ground 2, the redevelopment grounds and the student ground 4A all sit outside sections 16E(2) and (3), so relying on them carries no letting or marketing bar.

That scope is deliberate. Grounds 1 and 1A rest on the landlord's own stated future intention, which the tenant cannot test at the time, and the restriction is the statute's method of testing it afterwards: a landlord whose sale or family move was genuine has no reason to re-let within the period, and one who re-lets reveals the notice for what it was. Understanding the restriction as an integrity mechanism, rather than a procedural add-on, is the surest way to predict how councils and tribunals are likely to approach borderline cases.

How the restriction fits the eviction timeline

Laid against the possession process end to end, the restricted period dominates the calendar. The illustrative sequence below assumes a standard Ground 1A notice with the minimum four month period and both days served on the first of the month.

A landlord who completes a sale never notices the restriction. A landlord whose sale collapses in mid 2027 is holding a property that cannot lawfully earn rent until February 2028, which is the scenario worth pricing before the notice is ever served.

The exceptions in section 16F

Section 16F permits a narrow set of activities that would otherwise breach the ban. For Ground 1, the property can be let to, or occupied as an only or principal home by, the family members listed in the ground itself, which is the point of the ground. For Ground 1A, a prospective purchaser who has agreed to buy, or to take a lease of more than 21 years, can be granted a licence to occupy in anticipation of that transaction.

There are further carve-outs for shared ownership landlords assigning their interest, subject to prior written statements and valuation or advertising conditions, and marketing connected to any permitted letting or occupation is itself permitted. Everything else, including a quiet re-listing while a sale limps on, sits inside the prohibition.

Enforcement, penalties and who can act

Breaching section 16E(2) or (3) is a criminal offence under section 16J(2) of the Housing Act 1988, punishable by an unlimited fine on summary conviction, and the local housing authority can instead impose a civil penalty of up to £40,000under section 16K. A statutory defence of taking all reasonable steps exists, but on the enacted wording it is available only to a person other than the landlord, and only for the marketing prohibition, so an agent caught marketing may have a defence where the landlord does not.

Tenants have their own route. Both misuse of a possession ground and breach of the letting and marketing rules are offences on which the First-tier Tribunal can make a rent repayment order, and the Renters' Rights Act raised the maximum to 24 months' rent, as explained in our article on how much a tenant can claim under a rent repayment order. A former tenant who sees the property relisted during the restricted period has both the evidence and the incentive to apply, and the wider penalty framework is tabulated in our Renters' Rights Act civil penalties table.

What this means before serving a Ground 1 or 1A notice

The restriction turns a Ground 1 or 1A notice into a commitment, not an option. Before serving, it is worth being satisfied that the sale or move is genuinely proceeding, pricing in a scenario where the property cannot lawfully produce rent for 16 months or more, and diarising the exact start and end dates of the restricted period from the service date and the specified date.

The conditions for using the selling ground in the first place, including the 12 month protected period and the evidence courts expect, are covered in our companion article on evicting a tenant to sell under Ground 1A, and the court stage that follows a notice is set out in our guide to the Section 8 court process step by step.

The restricted period is, in the end, two dates that must be recorded accurately and honoured for over a year. LLCR stores the service date and specified date for every notice alongside the property record, and its compliance calendar can hold the restricted period end date with the property's other deadlines. See how a property currently stands with the free compliance checker.