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Risk Centre · Selling
Selling your rental — with the tenant in, or vacant.
Section 21 was how most landlords used to clear a property for sale: serve two months' notice, no reason needed, list it empty. That route is gone. Selling now means one of two deliberate decisions — sell with the tenant in place, or use the new Ground 1A to recover vacant possession first.
Both are entirely workable. Each has a cost, a timeline and a set of rules that bite if you get the order wrong. Here is how to choose, and how to avoid the mistakes that turn a clean sale into a contested one.
- Ground 1A
- Sale of the property (mandatory ground)
- Notice period
- 4 months
- Earliest use
- Not in the first 12 months of the tenancy
- After possession
- 12-month re-let / re-market restriction
Two routes, one decision
Selling with a tenant in situ keeps the rent running right up to completion and appeals to a specific buyer — another investor who wants income from day one. The trade-off is a smaller buyer pool: owner-occupiers and most mortgage lenders want the property empty.
Selling with vacant possession opens the property to the full market, usually at a higher price per square foot in TN1–TN4, but you carry a void from the day the tenant leaves to the day you complete, and you have to recover possession correctly first — which is where Ground 1A comes in.
Ground 1A, in brief
- What it covers
- The landlord intends to sell the property. It is a mandatory ground — if the procedure is correct and the timing is right, the court must grant possession.
- Notice period
- Four months' notice to the tenant, served on the correct prescribed form.
- The 12-month rule
- Ground 1A cannot be used in the first 12 months of the tenancy — a deliberate measure to close the 'buy, evict, sell empty' loop.
- After possession
- Using Ground 1A triggers a restriction on re-letting or re-marketing the property as a rental for 12 months. If the sale falls through, you cannot simply put it back on the rental market the next day.
The Ground 1A sequence
Order matters. A step out of place is the single most common reason a possession claim is delayed or thrown out.
- 01
Confirm you're past the 12-month point
Check the tenancy start date. Ground 1A cannot take effect inside the first year. Serving early invalidates the notice.
- 02
Check the start-of-tenancy paperwork
Deposit protected and prescribed information served, gas safety, EPC and the How to Rent guide all provided at the outset. A gap here can defeat the claim before the ground is even argued.
- 03
Serve the correct notice for the full four months
Use the current prescribed form, state Ground 1A, and calculate the expiry date precisely. A miscalculated date resets the clock.
- 04
Allow time, then apply to court if needed
Most tenants leave by the notice date. If not, you apply for a possession order. Kent court timelines on contested cases currently run several months — plan for it.
- 05
Market for sale, not for re-let
Once you have possession on Ground 1A, the 12-month restriction on re-letting applies. Market the property for sale; do not list it to rent during that window.
The honest version
If your intention is genuinely to sell, Ground 1A works and is hard to contest. The risk is almost never the ground itself — it is the paperwork from the start of the tenancy and the four-month timing. Get those right and the rest follows.
Downloadable checklist
Selling a tenanted property — your checklist
Run through this before you decide between selling in situ and recovering vacant possession.
Email me the full guide- 01
Decide the route: tenant in situ (investor buyer) or vacant possession (open market)
- 02
Confirm the tenancy is past its first 12 months before relying on Ground 1A
- 03
Verify the deposit, prescribed information, gas, EPC and How to Rent guide were all served correctly at the start
- 04
Use the current prescribed notice form and calculate the four-month expiry exactly
- 05
Budget for a void from move-out to completion if selling with vacant possession
- 06
Plan around the 12-month re-let restriction in case the sale stalls
- 07
Brief your agent and conveyancer early so the marketing and legal timelines line up
Common questions
Frequently asked
questions.
Specific situation not covered? Call us on 01892 533367 — Mike (MARLA · FNAEA) handles complex compliance directly.
Can I sell my rental property with the tenant still living in it?
Yes. You can sell with the tenant in situ — the tenancy simply transfers to the buyer, and the rent continues to completion. This suits a sale to another landlord or investor. The trade-off is a narrower buyer pool, because most owner-occupiers and residential mortgage lenders want vacant possession. If you need the property empty for an open-market sale, you use Ground 1A to recover possession first.
How long does it take to get vacant possession to sell?
Ground 1A requires four months' notice. Most tenants leave by the notice date, so four to five months is a realistic plan where things run smoothly. If the tenant doesn't leave and you have to apply to court, add the current Kent possession timeline on top — several further months on contested cases. The earlier you start, the more control you keep over the sale.
Can I use Ground 1A straight after buying a tenanted property?
No. Ground 1A cannot be used in the first 12 months of the tenancy. This is a deliberate part of the Act, designed to stop the 'buy, evict, sell empty' pattern. If you buy a property with a tenant already in place, the clock is the existing tenancy's — speak to us before you complete so the timing is clear.
What happens if my sale falls through after I've evicted on Ground 1A?
Using Ground 1A triggers a restriction on re-letting or re-marketing the property as a rental for 12 months. If your sale collapses, you cannot simply re-let the next day — doing so risks a penalty and undermines the basis on which possession was granted. This is exactly why we plan the sale and the possession together rather than in sequence.
Explore the Risk Centre
Keep reading on the topics that affect you.
Moving back in (Ground 1)
Recover your property for yourself or close family — who qualifies, the notice, and the 12-month rules.
Re-letting restrictions
Used Ground 1 or 1A? You can't re-let for 12 months. The rule that catches landlords whose plans change.
Marketing restrictions
One advertised rent, no bidding wars, no 'No DSS'. What you can and can't say when you list a property.
A note
This page is general guidance for landlords, not legal advice. Specific circumstances vary, and commencement dates of individual Renters' Rights Act provisions can change through statutory instruments. Confirm any specific decision with your solicitor — or talk to us, and we'll route you to a specialist housing solicitor where it matters.
Thinking about selling?
Sell cleanly — in situ or vacant.
A free, no-obligation conversation about the best route for your property, your timeline and the rules that apply. Mike (MARLA · FNAEA) sells and lets across Tunbridge Wells and can map the whole sequence with you.