Accelerated possession procedure
A paper-only route to possession, built for the no-fault Section 21 notice. Since Section 21 itself was abolished for private tenancies, the procedure has not been scrapped — it has simply run out of the notices that fed it.
Can a private landlord still use the accelerated possession procedure?
Not to start a new claim based on a fresh Section 21 notice. Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 was abolished for private assured tenancies in England from 1 May 2026, under the Renters' Rights Act 2025, and the accelerated procedure under CPR Part 55 is only available where a claim is based on a Section 21 notice. Without a Section 21 notice to rely on, a private landlord cannot access this procedure for a new claim.
Has the accelerated possession procedure been formally abolished?
Not as a rule. As of October 2026 there is no confirmed amendment removing the accelerated possession rules from the Civil Procedure Rules. The Civil Procedure Rule Committee considered the position and decided no rule change was needed at that stage, because the procedure still has a role for transitional claims based on a Section 21 notice served before 1 May 2026, and for social landlords, who sit outside the Renters' Rights Act 2025's private-sector changes on a different timetable. Describing the procedure as formally abolished would overstate the position — it is better described as no longer usable for new private-tenancy claims.
What does a private landlord use instead, now Section 21 is gone?
A possession claim based on one of the grounds for possession under Housing Act 1988 Schedule 2 — commonly described as a "Section 8" claim, after the notice provision that applies to them. These claims go through the ordinary Part 55 procedure, which involves a hearing, rather than the paper-only accelerated route, because the ground itself (whether a tenant owes rent arrears, or the landlord wants to move in, for example) is something the court needs to be satisfied of, not something that can simply be confirmed from the tenancy paperwork.
What happened to existing assured shorthold tenancies on 1 May 2026?
They converted automatically into periodic assured tenancies on that date, as part of the Renters' Rights Act 2025's single switch to one system of open-ended tenancies for the private rented sector in England. The assured shorthold tenancy no longer exists as a legal category for new private lettings.
Does this affect tenancies in Wales or social housing the same way?
No. Wales has its own separate commencement timetable for equivalent reforms under a different statutory instrument, and social-housing assured tenancies are not covered by the private-sector changes made by the Renters' Rights Act 2025 on the same 1 May 2026 date. Do not assume a date or rule that applies to a private tenancy in England also applies to a social tenancy or to Wales.
Why the procedure existed
Before 1 May 2026, a private landlord in England could end an assured shorthold tenancy without giving any reason, using a Section 21 notice under the Housing Act 1988 — the so-called "no-fault" eviction route. Because a valid Section 21 notice did not depend on proving anything about the tenant's conduct, the courts built a matching paper-only procedure around it: the accelerated possession procedure, under CPR Part 55. A landlord with a valid notice and the right paperwork could apply for possession without needing a hearing, because there was, by design, nothing substantive for a judge to decide at one.
The Renters' Rights Act 2025 changed the underlying law it depended on. From 1 May 2026, Section 21 was abolished for private assured tenancies in England, and every existing assured shorthold tenancy converted automatically into a periodic assured tenancy on that date. A landlord wanting possession now has to rely on one of the grounds for possession in Housing Act 1988, Schedule 2 — as amended and expanded by the 2025 Act — served as a Section 8 notice, rather than a no-fault Section 21 notice.
This change did not come with a confirmed amendment to CPR Part 55 itself removing the accelerated procedure. The rule still exists on the page. What changed is the supply of notices that feed it: without a valid Section 21 notice, there is nothing for the accelerated procedure to be used on, for a new private-tenancy claim started after the abolition took effect. The procedure is reported to remain in use for transitional claims relying on a Section 21 notice served before 1 May 2026, and for social landlords, whose tenancies are not covered by this part of the Act on the same timetable — so it would be inaccurate to say the rule has been abolished outright, even though it has become unusable for the case it was originally built around.
Possession claims relying on a Schedule 2 ground instead go through the ordinary Part 55 procedure, with a hearing. That is a deliberate consequence of the change, not an oversight: a ground for possession, such as serious rent arrears or a landlord wanting to move into the property, is something the court needs to be satisfied actually exists on the facts, which a paper-only process is not designed to test.
A landlord served a Section 21 notice on a tenant in March 2026, before the abolition took effect, intending to regain possession with no reason given. By the time the landlord is ready to issue a claim, it is June 2026 — after Section 21 has been abolished for new notices.
March 2026 — before abolition
June 2026 — after abolition
Potentially accelerated possession, as a transitional claim
New Section 21 notice available now?
Because the notice itself was served before the cut-off, the landlord may still be able to pursue a transitional claim relying on it. A landlord in the same position today, without an existing pre-abolition notice already served, has no Section 21 route available at all, and would need to identify an applicable Schedule 2 ground and go through the ordinary Part 55 process with a hearing instead.
Renters' Rights Act 2025
Mandatory possession ground
Civil Procedure Rules, Part 55
The Renters' Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026
Accelerated Possession Procedure — Renters' Rights Glossary
What the accelerated possession procedure was, why it depended on the Section 21 notice abolished in May 2026, and what landlords use instead now.