Renters' Rights Act 2025 · Schedule 2, Grounds 1 and 1A
The 12-Month Protected Period
When you can — and can't — serve a Section 8 notice to sell or move in. The one-year condition on Grounds 1 and 1A, where the clock actually starts, and the calculation landlords are getting wrong.
⚖ Drafted by UK solicitors · 📜 Aligned with the Bracton April 2026 RRA landlord guide · 🧭 Sourced to the Housing Act 1988 as amended
What the protected period actually is
Three clarifications before the detail.
The Renters' Rights Act 2025 inserts a new timing condition into Schedule 2 of the Housing Act 1988. For Ground 1 (the landlord or a close family member intends to occupy the property as their only or principal home) and Ground 1A (the landlord intends to sell the property on the open market), the current tenancy must have begun at least one year before the date specified in the Section 8 notice — the “relevant date”. A possession claim brought on a Ground 1 or 1A notice with a relevant date earlier than that anniversary is liable to fail.
Not the restricted period
The protected period is the timing condition on serving notice under Grounds 1 or 1A. The restricted period — found in section 16E of the Housing Act 1988 — is a separate 12-month no-relet rule that applies after possession is recovered. Different rules, different triggers, different consequences.
Grounds 1 and 1A only
The one-year condition does not apply to Ground 8 (rent arrears), Ground 12 (breach of tenancy), Ground 14 (anti-social behaviour), or any other Schedule 2 ground. Those operate under their own conditions and are unaffected by the timing rule.
Compulsory acquisition exception
Where the sale is to an authority that has given notice of compulsory acquisition under Ground 1A(c)(ii), the one-year condition does not apply on the same terms. Most ordinary sales are unaffected by this exception.
Where the clock starts
The question landlords are getting wrong.
The single most repeated piece of misinformation on UK landlord forums is that the one-year clock started on 1 May 2026 for tenancies that converted from existing Assured Shorthold Tenancies. It did not.
For tenancies that converted on 1 May 2026, the one-year test is assessed by reference to the tenancy's original start date, not the date of conversion.
This conclusion is supported by the Act's transitional scheme, which applies the new framework to existing tenancies from 1 May 2026 rather than treating them as fresh post-commencement lettings, and by the statutory wording of Grounds 1 and 1A, which test when the “current tenancy began”. MHCLG's published guidance is more explicit on the point and confirms the same reading: the twelve-month minimum applies to tenancies that started before 1 May 2026, measured from the date the tenancy began.
A tenancy that commenced on 1 March 2024 was twenty-six months old on 1 May 2026. The one-year condition was already satisfied. The landlord of that tenancy can serve a Ground 1 or 1A notice today, with four months' notice, and the notice will satisfy the timing condition. A tenancy that commenced on 1 December 2025 was five months old on 1 May 2026; the one-year point falls on 1 December 2026. The notice must specify a relevant date on or after that anniversary, though it can be served up to four months earlier. A tenancy granted on or after 1 May 2026 is straightforward: the clock starts on the tenancy commencement date.
The reason this rule is so widely misunderstood is that the alternative reading — clock resets on 1 May 2026 — is what landlords would prefer to be true. It is not the version the courts will apply.
A note on status
This is a settled reading but not yet a litigated one. Until a court takes a view in a contested case, a small residual risk remains that a judge might adopt the alternative interpretation. Landlords relying on Ground 1A for a tenancy that started before 1 May 2026 should be aware of this, and should take specific advice if the position is contested.
How the test is measured
The statute's own calculation rule.
The statute does not measure the protected period in days or in calendar months. It asks whether the current tenancy began at least one year before the relevant date specified in the Section 8 notice, and it provides expressly that both the tenancy start date and the relevant date are included in the calculation. For most tenancies this is straightforward. Where it becomes more complicated:
Different start and commencement dates
Where the agreement is signed on one date but the tenancy is expressed to commence on a later date — typical for tenancies signed in advance of move-in — the one-year test runs from the commencement date, not the signature date.
Joint tenancies where one tenant has been replaced
If the original joint tenancy was genuinely surrendered and a fresh tenancy granted to the new combination of tenants, the test is assessed by reference to the start of the new tenancy. Whether a change is a true surrender and regrant or merely a variation is fact-sensitive. Take advice if in doubt.
Tenancies that have continued under successive arrangements
Where the same tenancy has run continuously — as a fixed term that rolled into a statutory periodic tenancy under the old framework, or as a periodic tenancy under the new — the original start date governs. Where the tenancy was surrendered and re-granted at any point, the start date of the most recent grant governs.
Tenancies that converted on 1 May 2026
The original tenancy start date governs. The statutory conversion on commencement day does not reset the one-year clock. This is the most commonly misreported point in landlord forums.
Four scenarios
The scenarios landlords actually face.
Scenario 1
Tenancy started before 1 May 2025
The tenancy has been in place for at least 12 months. The one-year condition is satisfied. Ground 1 or Ground 1A can be used today, with four months' notice.
Scenario 2
Tenancy started between 1 May 2025 and 30 April 2026
The tenancy converted from an AST on 1 May 2026 but the one-year anniversary has not yet passed. The Section 8 notice must specify a relevant date on or after the original tenancy start date plus one year. The notice can be served up to four months before that relevant date.
Scenario 3
New tenancy granted on or after 1 May 2026
The one-year condition is measured from the tenancy commencement date. The earliest a Ground 1 or 1A notice can specify is the one-year anniversary. Service can occur four months earlier.
Scenario 4
Replacement tenant or change of parties
If the change amounted to a genuine surrender and regrant, the new tenancy has its own one-year clock. If it was a variation of the existing tenancy, the original clock continues. The distinction is fact-sensitive.
If you get it wrong
What happens if you specify a relevant date too early.
A Ground 1 or 1A notice that specifies a relevant date falling before the end of the one-year period is liable to be invalid. If the notice is challenged, the tenant can resist possession on the basis that the statutory condition has not been met. The court is likely to dismiss a possession claim brought on the back of such a notice. The landlord typically receives an order for the tenant's costs and must start the process again with a fresh notice.
If the pattern of service suggests deliberate misuse of the ground, the consequences escalate. Knowingly or recklessly misusing a possession ground is a discrete offence under the Renters' Rights Act 2025. The local authority may impose a civil penalty of up to £40,000 as an alternative to prosecution, and the tenant may apply for a Rent Repayment Order covering up to two years' rent.
The cost of getting the protected period wrong is, in the worst case, two years of rent paid to the tenant, plus the costs of a dismissed possession claim, plus the time and legal cost of restarting. The cost of getting it right is checking the tenancy start date against the calendar before serving.
Common mistakes
Five errors the courts are likely to see.
1. Counting from 1 May 2026 instead of the original tenancy start
The most common error. The one-year test runs from when the current tenancy began, not from commencement day of the Act.
2. Counting from the move-in date instead of the agreement date
If the tenancy is expressed to commence on a date that differs from the move-in date, the one-year test follows the legal commencement, not the physical occupation. Read the agreement carefully.
3. Assuming any tenant change resets the clock
A genuine surrender and regrant creates a new tenancy and a new one-year clock. A variation of the existing tenancy does not. The distinction is fact-sensitive and is one of the easiest points to get wrong without advice.
4. Treating intent to sell as something that can be retrofitted
A Ground 1A notice served because the landlord has decided to recover possession for other reasons but framed as intent to sell is exposed. The court will look at evidence of the genuine intention at the date of service — estate agent instructions, marketing material, valuations. Notices served because Ground 1A is the easiest one to use rather than because there is a genuine intention to sell are the highest-risk category for misuse claims.
5. Serving notice during the first year but specifying a relevant date too early
A four-month notice that specifies a relevant date falling after the one-year anniversary is valid. A notice that specifies any earlier date is liable to be invalid. Work backwards from a valid relevant date, not forwards from the date of service.
How Bracton handles this
The calculation done for you.
The Bracton Ground 1A and Ground 1 notice templates perform the one-year calculation against the original tenancy start date and identify the earliest lawful relevant date the notice can specify. The separate twelve-month restricted period that follows a Ground 1A possession — the no-marketing and no-relet rule in section 16E — is a different compliance question, dealt with after possession is recovered.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
The one-year test runs from the start of the tenancy currently in force. If the same tenancy has continued throughout — either as a fixed term followed by a statutory periodic tenancy under the old framework, or as a periodic tenancy under the new — the original start date governs and the one-year condition was satisfied long ago. If the tenancy was surrendered and re-granted at any point, the start date of the most recent grant governs. Read the agreement and any renewal documents carefully.
Related
Related explainers and documents.
Section 21 has been abolished
What landlords need to know about the route that disappeared on 1 May 2026.
Renters' Rights Act 2025 — full guide
Every change in the Act, structured for landlords.
The 12-Month Re-Letting Restriction
What landlords cannot do after using Ground 1A or Ground 1. The 16-month practical exposure window, three prohibitions, and the sale-falls-through scenario.
Ground 1A notice template — Intent to Sell
The mandatory ground for landlords selling. Four months' notice, calculated for you.
Ground 1 notice template — Landlord Moving In
The mandatory ground for landlords or close family moving in.
Next step
Get the calculation right the first time.
The one-year timing condition is the rule landlords are most often getting wrong, and the rule with the most expensive consequences for the personal-circumstances grounds. The Bracton Ground 1A and Ground 1 notice templates do the calculation for you, against the original tenancy start date.
Reviewed by Blackwell Advisory, a regulated UK solicitors' practice authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Positions on this page match those in the Bracton April 2026 Renters' Rights Act landlord guide.