If you’re planning to use Ground 1 (moving into your own property) or Ground 1A (selling it) to regain possession under the Renters’ Rights Act, there’s a calculation almost every landlord gets wrong the first time they encounter it — and getting it wrong can mean a property sits empty for far longer than expected, or worse, exposes you to a serious civil penalty.
The headline figure everyone quotes is “12 months.” Most coverage of these grounds describes a twelve-month restriction on re-letting after using them. That’s not quite right, and the gap between the simplified version and the actual rule matters.
The real rule: the restricted period runs 12 months from the later of two dates — either the date your notice period expired, or the date any possession proceedings were issued, whichever comes later. In an uncontested case where the tenant leaves promptly, those two dates might be close together, and the practical effect isn’t far off twelve months. But in a contested case — which, given the current pressure on court capacity, is an increasingly realistic scenario — the gap between notice expiry and the proceedings actually being issued and resolved can be substantial.
Work through a realistic timeline. A four-month notice period is standard for these grounds. If the tenant doesn’t leave voluntarily and the case goes to court, add the current average of roughly 34 weeks from claim to possession order — a figure widely expected to lengthen further as Section 8 claims absorb the volume that used to flow through Section 21 without a hearing. Stack those together and the twelve-month restriction is realistically starting from a point 12 to 16 months after you first served notice — meaning the property may not be legally re-lettable until somewhere between 16 and 20 months after the process began.
Three further details that rarely make it into summary coverage.
The clock resets if a tenancy renewal was signed during the relevant period. This matters for anyone who renewed a tenancy shortly before deciding to use Ground 1 or 1A — the restriction calculation doesn’t simply run from the original tenancy start.
Ground 1 is not available at all to landlords who own through a limited company. This is a structural exclusion, not a procedural hurdle — if your property is held in a company, moving into it yourself under Ground 1 isn’t an available route regardless of your genuine intentions.
And breaching the restricted period — re-letting before it’s actually expired — carries civil penalties of up to £40,000. Critically, this liability isn’t limited to the landlord. A letting agent involved in re-letting the property within the restricted period can also face prosecution, which is worth knowing if you’re planning to hand a property straight back to an agent once you believe the restriction has ended.
What this means practically. If you’re considering Ground 1 or 1A — whether to move in, house a family member, or sell — work out the actual dates before serving anything, using the later-of-two-dates rule rather than the simplified “12 months” version. If there’s any chance of the tenant contesting, build in realistic court timelines rather than best-case ones. And if the property is held in a limited company, check whether Ground 1 is even available to you before planning around it.
Sixteen months, or more, of a vacant property — or a penalty running to £40,000 for getting the timing wrong — is an expensive way to discover that the popular summary of this rule wasn’t quite complete.
General information, not legal advice. Property Lounge, Guildford.
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