Rent arrears in a housing association or council home
Notice from your landlord
Your council or housing association must give you a legal notice if they want you to leave.
It's called a 'notice seeking possession'. It says:
why your landlord wants to evict you
when they can apply to court
The notice is the start of a legal process. Your landlord should not start court action if you can agree a repayment plan for the arrears.
Keep talking to your landlord
Let them know if you are getting advice or debt support.
Pay as much rent as you can even if you cannot pay the full amount.
Our letter templates could help you talk to your landlord about rent arrears.
Get free legal advice and debt support
Anyone with rent arrears and a notice can get:
Ask a debt adviser about breathing space.
Breathing space is a scheme that could pause eviction while you get debt advice.
How much notice for rent arrears
Your notice says when court action could start.
You should get at least:
2 weeks' notice in an assured tenancy
4 weeks' notice in a secure tenancy
Your landlord has 1 year to start court action
For assured tenants this runs from when you get the notice.
For secure tenants this runs from the end of the notice period.
If your landlord does not start court action during the year, the notice is no longer valid.
Your landlord could start court action as soon as the notice ends.
They should delay court action if you let them know you're trying to sort things out.
Check your notice and the grounds used
Your landlord should use the right form on GOV.UK:
assured tenancy notice - most housing association tenancies
secure tenancy notice - most council tenancies and some old housing association tenancies
Or they could give you a letter with the same information.
Grounds for possession
These are the legal reasons for eviction. Check the grounds on the notice.
The grounds have numbers. Your landlord could use more than one ground.
Rent arrears is the most common reason for eviction but there are other grounds. For example, antisocial behaviour eviction grounds.
The notice might not be valid if it does not explain the grounds or give you enough notice.
Rent arrears grounds
Housing associations can use these grounds for assured and assured shorthold tenants:
ground 8 - if you owe at least 8 weeks' rent
ground 10 - if you owe any rent at all
ground 11 - if you keep paying rent late
Your housing association might use all these grounds on the notice.
Ground 1 is the rent arrears ground for secure tenants.
Ground 8 - housing association assured tenants
Ground 8 is different from other rent arrears grounds.
This is because the court cannot stop an eviction if you owe at least 8 weeks' rent both:
when you get the notice
at the time of the hearing
Ground 8 rent arrears could include service charge arrears. Make sure you pay your service charge as well as the rent.
If your housing association uses ground 8
Try to get your rent arrears below 8 weeks by the time of the hearing.
Video: What is ground 8?
Video transcript
Has your landlord put 'ground 8' on your eviction notice? Ground 8 means you're being evicted for rent arrears.
Ground 8 means that you owe at least:
8 weeks' rent
2 months' rent, if you pay your rent monthly
If your housing association goes to court to get an order to evict you, the judge has to say you will be evicted if your rent arrears are still higher than 8 weeks or 2 months on the day of your court hearing.
Try to get your rent arrears below 2 months' rent by the time of your court hearing.
If you can do that, the judge could stop or delay your eviction.
That would give you more time to get debt advice, and your housing association should help if you ask for support.
They should let you explain the problems you have with the rent and help you fix them. For example, if universal credit is paying you the wrong amount for your rent each month.
Your landlord should also help you with benefits advice on how to get money for rent.
You could also set up a rent repayment plan to pay off the arrears over time.
Your housing association should not start court action to evict you if you stick to your repayment plan.
Shelter adviser Shannon explains when a housing association can use ground 8 to evict you and what you can do to stop the eviction.
[Video length: 1:11]
Grounds 10 and 11 - housing association assured tenants
Some housing associations do not use ground 8 even if you owe more than 8 weeks' rent. They could still use grounds 10 and 11.
The court could stop your eviction if your housing association:
only uses grounds 10 and 11
uses ground 8 but you owe less than 8 weeks by the hearing date
Your landlord must show the judge that you owe rent and that it's reasonable to evict you.
The judge could let you stay in your home even if you owe rent.
Ground 1 - secure tenants
Ground 1 is for rent arrears in secure tenancies. It can also be used for other breaches of the tenancy. For example, non payment of a service charge.
Your council or housing association can use it if you owe any amount of rent.
The court could stop your eviction even if you owe rent. The landlord must show that it's reasonable to evict you.
Take action to keep your home
You can stop things going to court.
Your landlord should not take any more eviction steps if you can:
start paying your full rent
agree a repayment plan for the arrears
Find out how to deal with rent arrears.
Last updated: 10 March 2025
