Form 6A Section 21 Notice: How to Serve It During the RRA Transition (UK 2026)

Form 6A is the prescribed Section 21 notice — the document a landlord on an assured shorthold tenancy in England has to use to seek possession on a "no fault" basis. From 1 May 2026, you can no longer serve a Form 6A: the Renters' Rights Act 2025 abolished Section 21 from that date. But the form hasn't quietly disappeared. Notices served on or before 30 April 2026 stay legally live for up to three months from commencement — meaning there's a hard backstop of 31 July 2026 for starting any remaining court possession claim.

If you've got a Form 6A in the file from before 1 May, this is the deadline-watching post. If you served one in March or April and assumed you'd "get to it later," later is now a calendar problem, not a paperwork one.

What this means for you. Most landlords reading this fall into one of three groups: (a) you served a Form 6A before 1 May and the tenant left peacefully — nothing further needed; (b) you served one and the tenant hasn't left — you need to issue court proceedings before the deadlines below or the notice lapses; (c) you didn't serve one and you're now stuck with Section 8 grounds because the Section 21 route is closed. This post covers (a) and (b). The Section 8 route is in our Section 21 abolition post.

What Form 6A is (and isn't)

Form 6A is the prescribed form for a Section 21 notice on an assured shorthold tenancy in England. It was inserted into the Assured Tenancies and Agricultural Occupancies (Forms) (England) Regulations 2015 by SI 2015/1646 regulation 4(4)(b), which directs that "after Form No. 6 insert Form No. 6A as set out in the Schedule to these Regulations." The form lives on GOV.UK at the assured-tenancy-forms landing page.

Two practical points the form's status hides:

1. Form 6A is the prescribed wording — but you can use a document with the same information. GOV.UK is explicit on this: "form 6A, or a document setting out the same information as required on that form, must be provided to serve a notice under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988." For 99% of landlords the right answer is to use the GOV.UK PDF directly — the safe default. The "document with the same information" path is used by letting agents who generate notices from CRM systems and need to match the prescribed contents exactly. Either way, the wording can't be paraphrased: you serve a Section 21 notice using the GOV.UK form or a document that reproduces every prescribed paragraph in the form.

2. A Form 6A is not the whole notice. Before you can even rely on it, you have to have met three statutory prerequisites — deposit protection, gas safety, EPC — which the form itself only references. A defective notice fails the prerequisites first, the form second.

The three prerequisites you can still trip on (even after 1 May)

Under SI 2015/1646 regulation 2, a Section 21 notice cannot be served unless the landlord has complied with "the requirements contained in (a) regulation 6(5) of the Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 (requirement to provide an energy performance certificate to a tenant or buyer free of charge); and (b) paragraph (6) or (as the case may be) paragraph (7) of regulation 36 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998." Two distinct requirements, both pre-service.

Separately, Housing Act 2004 s.215 bars a Section 21 notice where the deposit hasn't been protected in an approved scheme (s.215(1)) and where the prescribed information has not been served on the tenant (s.215(1A), via s.213(3)). That's a third pre-service prerequisite, with its statutory home in the Housing Act 2004 deposit-protection regime rather than SI 2015/1646.

If you've served a Form 6A and the tenant has now indicated they'll challenge possession, the court will check each of those three before it looks at whether the form itself is in date. A served-but-defective Form 6A wastes the form's validity period and you still can't re-serve after 1 May.

When Form 6A still works (the transitional window)

This is the part where most pre-1-May Section 21 notices live or die. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 didn't strike Form 6A out retrospectively — it set up a transitional period under Schedule 6.

Schedule 6 paragraph 4 inserts two new "applicable period" rules into HA 1988 s.21, which together define how long a pre-1-May Section 21 notice keeps working:

Notice type	Applicable period for starting court proceedings (whichever ends first)
Standard s.21(4) or s.21(1) notice (notice period 2 months)	6 months from the date the notice was given OR 3 months from commencement (= 31 July 2026)
s.21(4) "longer-notice" variant (date specified in notice is more than 2 months after service)	4 months from the date specified in the notice OR 3 months from commencement (= 31 July 2026)

The verbatim statute (new HA 1988 s.21(4DA), inserted by RRA 2025 Sch 6 para 4(2)) reads: "the period of six months beginning with the date on which the notice was given" or "the period of three months beginning with the commencement date, if this three month period ends before the six month period."

In plain English, the 3-month-from-commencement window is the hard backstop. Whatever date you put in your March or April notice, the latest you can issue court possession proceedings is 31 July 2026. After that the notice ceases to be valid; the tenancy converts to an assured periodic tenancy under the post-RRA framework, and Section 21 is gone for that tenancy.

GOV.UK puts it the same way: "the deadline for beginning the court process is either: the time remaining on the Section 8 or Section 21 notice served before 1 May 2026 on or before 31 July 2026. The deadline is whichever of these dates is earliest." And bluntly: "the court process cannot be started after 31 July 2026" except for the limited exceptions in the regulations.

The "longer-notice" branch is the one people miss

If you served a Form 6A in late January 2026 specifying a possession date of, say, 1 June 2026 (more than 2 months after service), the applicable period isn't 6 months from when you served. It's the 4-month-from-specified-date rule under new HA 1988 s.21(4EA) — meaning the period ends on 1 October 2026 OR 31 July 2026, whichever is first. Which makes the binding date 31 July 2026, the same backstop. But the 4-month calculation matters when the specified date is earlier than 1 April 2026: in that case the 4-month period expires before 31 July, and the calendar alone misleads.

Check each notice individually. Don't read across from "I have until 31 July" without checking which subsection your notice sits under.

How to issue court possession proceedings before the deadline

If you've got a live Form 6A and the tenant hasn't moved out, the action is a possession claim in the County Court. Three things determine whether you make the deadline:

1. Confirm the notice is still in its applicable period. Use the table above. If you served a standard s.21(4) on 1 April 2026, your 6-month-from-service runs to 1 October 2026 — but the 31-July backstop cuts it short. Bind yourself to the earlier of the two.
2. Use the accelerated possession procedure if you can. Accelerated possession (Section 21 only, no rent arrears claim) is faster but only available if every prerequisite was met when the notice was served. If the deposit-prescribed-information served was wrong, or the EPC or gas safety was late, accelerated possession will be refused and you'll have to start over via standard possession — and Section 21 will already be gone by then.
3. Account for court backlogs. As of early 2026, county court backlogs on possession claims still typically run 6 to 12 weeks. Don't wait until July. Backlog plus 31-July-deadline is the most common way landlords lose a perfectly valid Form 6A.

If the prerequisites weren't met, or the date math doesn't work, the live alternative is Section 8 with a ground that fits the facts — most commonly Ground 8 (rent arrears). The post on Section 21 abolition walks through the Section 8 grounds that replaced Section 21.

After 31 July 2026: Form 6A is over

From 1 August 2026, a Form 6A notice has no legal effect. The tenancy continues as an assured periodic tenancy. The route to possession is Section 8 under HA 1988 (as amended by the RRA), with the grounds and notice periods in HA 1988 Schedule 2 (also as amended).

For the underlying changes to Section 8 grounds — Ground 1 (landlord moving in), Ground 1A (landlord intends to sell), Ground 8 (rent arrears with the threshold raised to 3 months / 13 weeks), Ground 14 (antisocial behaviour) — see the Definitive Guide to RRA 2025, which sets out every ground in one table.

Form 6A for new tenancies — there isn't one any more

A common search-engine question is whether you can serve Form 6A on a new tenancy that started after 1 May 2026. You cannot. Section 21 has no application to a tenancy granted after commencement — there's no statutory route for which Form 6A is the prescribed form. The form survives only for pre-commencement notices working through the transitional window described above.

If you took on a new tenant in February 2026 and wanted Section 21 as a fallback, you'd have needed to serve a precautionary Form 6A before 1 May. Some agents advised exactly that. The position post-commencement is: if you didn't serve in time, the option is closed.

Where to download a fillable Form 6A (if you still need it)

The legally valid Form 6A is published on GOV.UK at the Assured-tenancy-forms guidance page. GOV.UK publishes the form as a PDF (some versions are also available as ODT — open with LibreOffice or Word). The Notes to Form 6A, also on GOV.UK, walk through each section.

For most landlords, the right answer is to download the GOV.UK PDF and fill it in directly (Acrobat or any PDF annotator will do). If you need a Word-shaped fillable version — to keep records consistently with the rest of your tenancy paperwork — we provide a free preparation worksheet that mirrors the GOV.UK fields:

The worksheet does the same job as our Form 4A preparation worksheet — field-gathering only. The legally valid wording is on GOV.UK.

FAQ — Form 6A under the RRA transition

Can I still serve a new Form 6A after 1 May 2026? No. Section 21 was abolished from 1 May 2026 by the Renters' Rights Act 2025. A Form 6A served on or after 1 May has no legal effect.

A Form 6A I served in March specifies a possession date of 15 July 2026. What's my deadline? You're on the standard s.21(4) branch (notice period 2 months, specified date 2 months after service). Your applicable period is the earlier of (a) 6 months from when you served (so 6 months from March = ~September 2026) or (b) 31 July 2026. The 31-July backstop binds.

What if I served a Form 6A in February 2026 with a specified possession date in early April? The notice period was less than 2 months, which doesn't sit under either of the transitional sub-paragraphs cleanly — check whether the notice is even valid. Two-month minimum is a statutory floor under HA 1988 s.21(1)(b) / s.21(4)(a) ("not earlier than two months after the date the notice was given"). A Form 6A with less than 2 months' notice is defective and the transitional period doesn't fix it.

Do I have to use the GOV.UK PDF, or can I use a CRM-generated equivalent? GOV.UK's assured-tenancy-forms guidance says "form 6A, or a document setting out the same information as required on that form, must be provided to serve a notice under Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988." The underlying statutory permission for an alternative document is in SI 2015/620 regulation 2, which provides that any reference to a numbered form is a reference to that form "or to a form substantially to the same effect." A CRM-generated notice that reproduces every prescribed paragraph is acceptable. A paraphrased version is not. For most landlords the GOV.UK PDF is the safe default — there's no upside to a custom document.

What happens to my tenancy if 31 July 2026 passes without court proceedings? The Form 6A ceases to be valid. The tenancy converts to an assured periodic tenancy under the post-RRA framework. Your route to possession is then Section 8 with a ground that fits the facts.

Where is the Form 6A wording prescribed? Form 6A was inserted into the Assured Tenancies and Agricultural Occupancies (Forms) (England) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/620) by SI 2015/1646 regulation 4(4)(b). The prescribed requirements that must be met before service are in SI 2015/1646 regulation 2.

Related guides

• Section 21 Has Been Abolished: What Landlords Need to Do Now — the full Section 21 abolition timeline + Section 8 replacement grounds.
• Definitive Guide to RRA 2025 — every Schedule 2 ground in one table, including Ground 8 (rent arrears), Ground 1A (sell), Ground 14 (antisocial behaviour).
• How to Increase Rent Under the RRA: Form 4A Explained — the rent-increase counterpart (Form 4A under HA 1988 s.13).
• RRA Deadline Tracker — a live countdown to the 31 July 2026 Form 6A backstop and other key dates.

Sources

• GOV.UK — Assured tenancy forms — canonical Form 6A landing page; covers the 31 July 2026 court deadline and the "form 6A or document with the same information" rule.
• Renters' Rights Act 2025 Schedule 6 — transitional provisions; the applicable-period rules for pre-1-May Section 21 notices are in paragraph 4.
• Renters' Rights Act 2025 Schedule 6 paragraph 4 — verbatim text of the 6-month-from-service / 3-months-from-commencement / 4-months-from-specified-date applicable periods.
• Housing Act 1988 s.21 — the underlying Section 21 power and the 2-month minimum notice requirement at subsections (1)(b) and (4)(a). Subsection (8) is the power that prescribes the Form 6A wording.
• The Assured Shorthold Tenancy Notices and Prescribed Requirements (England) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/1646) — regulation 2 sets the EPC and gas safety prerequisites; regulation 4 inserts Form 6A.

This guide is general information about Section 21 transitional provisions and is not legal advice. Possession proceedings vary by facts — if the notice is contested, take professional advice. Crocker Digital Ltd (Company No. 17008789) and RentersActReady accept no liability for action taken solely on the basis of this article. Refer to the GOV.UK prescribed form and current statute before serving or filing any notice.