The short answer

Say your tenancy began over 12 months ago and the tenant leaves on time. Expect about six months from notice to completion. If the tenant stays until the bailiffs arrive, plan for about 12 months. Ground 1A of section 8 demands 4 months' notice. Ministry of Justice data for April to June 2026 puts the median at 27.1 weeks from claim to repossession.

In money terms, the wait usually pays. On our Leeds example, a vacant sale beats a 10% tenanted discount by £13,500 to £19,300. The answer flips only when the tenanted discount drops below about 3.4%.

What ground 1A lets you do

Since 1 May 2026, landlords in England can no longer serve section 21 notices. A landlord who wants to sell must now rely on ground 1A of Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1988. The ground carries three time limits.

  • No possession in the first 12 months. You may serve notice early, but it cannot expire before the tenancy's first anniversary.
  • Four months' notice. You can apply to court only after it runs out.
  • A 12-month letting ban. It starts when you serve notice and ends 12 months after the date your notice names.

Ground 1A works as a mandatory ground. If you prove a genuine plan to sell, the court must order possession. Two conditions trip landlords up. Ground 1A does not cover old assured tenancies created before 1 May 2026 without shorthold status. The court also cannot order possession if you failed to protect the deposit.

In practice the letting ban stretches further than most landlords expect. Serve notice on 2 November 2026 with a 2 March 2027 date, and the ban runs to 1 March 2028. That adds up to roughly 16 months. A council can fine a landlord up to £40,000 for re-letting or advertising a let inside that window.

How long the court stage takes

Many tenants move out when the notice expires. Some stay until a bailiff arrives. Then you need a claim, a hearing, a warrant and an eviction date.

The Ministry of Justice released its April to June 2026 possession statistics on 19 August 2026. For landlord claims in England and Wales, the medians looked like this:

  • Claim to possession order: 7.6 weeks
  • Claim to warrant: 14.9 weeks
  • Warrant to repossesion: 9.4 weeks
  • Claim to repossession: 27.1 weeks, down from 27.9 weeks a year earlier

Read these medians with care. Landlords issued 23,635 claims in the quarter, while bailiffs carried out 6,560 repossessions. Many claims never reach a bailiff. The figures also cannot include a single ground 1A case. With 4 months' notice from 1 May, the earliest ground 1A claim became possible on 1 September 2026. Nobody yet knows how fast the courts will handle these claims. We use 27.1 weeks, about 6.2 months, as our base case.

Our example: a two-bed terrace in Leeds

Take a landlord who owns a two-bed terraced house in Leeds. Her tenant moved in three years ago. She wants to sell in November 2026 and must choose between a tenanted sale and vacant possession.

Our assumptions:

  • Vacant value £206,000, the ONS average for a Leeds terrace in August 2026
  • Rent £977 a month, the ONS two-bed average for Leeds in September 2026
  • Interest-only mortgage of £130,000 at 5.0%: £542 a month
  • Letting agent at 12% including VAT: £117 a month
  • Insurance, repairs and compliance: £70 a month
  • Council tax and utilities while empty: £130 a month
  • Income tax at 20%, with the 20% mortgage interest credit

Rent minus the agent, running costs and interest leaves £248 a month. Tax takes £50, so she keeps £198. An empty house costs her £742 a month. A tenant who stays and stops paying still leaves her with £612 a month of mortgage and running costs.

We put solicitor, court and bailiff costs at £2,000. We allow two months from vacant possession to completion. Agents quote tenanted discounts of 5% to 20%, and we use 10%.

Four routes, priced

We measured each route from the day she serves notice, 2 November 2026. Selling costs stay roughly equal across routes, so we leave them out.

  • The price drops to £185,400. About £600 of rent arrives before completion in month three. Total: £186,000.
  • Four months of rent bring £792. Two empty months cost £1,484. She sells at £206,000 in month six and finishes £19,300 ahead.
  • Rent runs for 10.2 months and brings £2,020. Legal costs take £2,000 and two empty months take £1,484. Completion lands around month 12, with her £18,500 ahead.
  • She collects £792, then carries £3,794 over 6.2 months. Legal and empty costs add £3,484. Completion lands around month 12, £13,500 ahead.

Even the worst case beats the tenanted sale by £13,500. The tenanted route wins only if the discount drops below about 3.4%, roughly £7,100 on this house. The real price of the slow route lies elsewhere. It locks up about £76,000 of her equity for six extra months.

Where the plan can go wrong

The biggest risk arrives after the tenant leaves. Suppose her buyer pulls out in spring 2027. She cannot re-let until 1 March 2028. Twelve empty months would cost her about £8,900 in running costs. She would also lose £11,700 of gross rent. That one event wipes out the whole vacant premium. She can keep marketing the house for sale, because the ban covers letting only.

3 other factors move the result. A new tenancy adds time. A tenant who moved in on 1 June 2026 cannot face a notice expiring before 1 June 2027. Prices can move over 12 months, and a 2% fall on £206,000 costs £4,120. From April 2027, the 22% basic property income tax rate trims under £20 off the rent she recieves.

A contested claim adds weeks. Keep evidence of your plan to sell, such as an estate agent's instruction letter. A tenant who doubts your intention can push the hearing back.

Before you serve notice

  • Check the tenancy start date and count 12 months forward.
  • Confirm you protected the deposit in an approved scheme.
  • Instruct an estate agent and keep the letter as evidence.
  • Ask the same agent for a tenanted and a vacant valuation.
  • Model the worst case: six months of a non-paying tenant.
  • Find a buyer before the tenant leaves, since the letting ban removes your fallback.
  • Talk to the tenant. A cash offer to leave early can cost less than a court claim.

So how long does it take? About six months if the tenant leaves at the end of notice. About a year if they wait for bailiffs. Add up to a year if the tenancy started recently. On our Leeds numbers, every route to vacant possession beats a 10% tenanted discount. Only a failed sale during the letting ban turns the gain into a loss.

Where Torquity fits

Torquity estimates rent from comparable lettings with a confidence range. That shows the rent you give up while you wait. It calculates net yield, DSCR and cash-on-cash for the property you hold. It also ranks markets on net yield, useful if you plan to sell in one city and reinvest elsewhere.

General information, not tax or financial advice.

How we wrote this

Liza Herman, co-founder of Torquity, wrote this article with AI assistance in drafting. Sources: Ministry of Justice, Mortgage and landlord possession statistics: April to June 2026 (updated 19 August 2026); GOV.UK, Grounds for possession: guidance for landlords and letting agents (updated 1 May 2026); GOV.UK, Enforcement measures for landlords under the Renters' Rights Act 2025 (published 1 May 2026); Housing Act 1988, sections 16E and 16M, on legislation.gov.uk; ONS, Housing prices and private rents in Leeds (house prices for August 2026, rents for September 2026); published agent ranges for tenanted-sale discounts (2026). The worked example uses Torquity's assumptions and does not constitute legal, tax or financial advice.