Inventories after Section 21 abolition in England

Inventories matter more now because possession in England is no longer available through a no-fault notice alone. Since Section 21 was abolished, landlords must rely on specific Section 8 grounds, and where a case reaches court, the evidence behind those grounds matters more.

A bit of context

Section 21 no-fault eviction was abolished on 1 May 2026 by the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. Landlords must now use Section 8 grounds, and a court will scrutinise their paperwork. A clear inventory and condition record is part of that evidence. This applies to England only. The law in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland differs and is not covered here.

An inventory is still not legally required. That has not changed. What has changed is the environment the inventory sits in, and it is worth being precise about why.

What actually changed on 1 May 2026?

Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, the route by which a landlord could end an assured shorthold tenancy without giving a reason, was abolished on 1 May 2026. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025 and its main tenancy provisions commenced on 1 May 2026.

The practical timeline mattered for anyone mid-process. The last valid Section 21 notice could be served on 30 April 2026. Where a valid Section 21 notice had been served before 1 May 2026, it could only be used to start possession proceedings up to the earlier of the time left on the notice and 31 July 2026. Section 21 possession claims started on or after 1 August 2026 are likely to be dismissed. Claims already issued before the deadline continue through the court process. From 1 May 2026, new assured shorthold tenancies stopped being created. Existing ones converted to the new periodic assured tenancy.

So the no-fault route is closed. To regain possession, a landlord now relies on Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988, which sets out specific grounds. Some are mandatory, some discretionary. All of them require the landlord to show something: rent arrears, a breach of the tenancy, an intention to sell, and so on.

Why does removing Section 21 raise the value of records?

Because Section 8 is evidence-led, and Section 21 was not. Under the old route, a landlord did not have to prove a reason. Under Section 8, the landlord has to make a case, and a judge weighs it.

That is the whole shift in one sentence.

When a court examines a possession claim, it looks at whether the landlord met their obligations and whether their account of the tenancy holds up. The documents a landlord kept, from the deposit protection paperwork to the safety certificates to the record of the property’s condition, become part of how they demonstrate they did things properly. Weak or missing records now cost a landlord more than they used to, because there is no fallback route that ignores them.

The inventory is not the whole of this. It is one document among several. But it is the document that fixes the condition of the property at a moment in time, and condition sits behind more disputes than people expect.

Where does the inventory actually earn its keep?

In two places that have both grown in importance:

The first is the deposit.

Deposit disputes were always evidence disputes, decided by the adjudicators at the three government-backed schemes on the documents put in front of them. That has not changed. What has changed is that a landlord who ends up in a possession claim, and then also disputes a deposit, is now assembling one coherent evidential picture rather than two separate ones. A clean check-in inventory, a matching check-out, and a clear record of what happened in between all pull in the same direction.

The second is the condition-related grounds under Section 8.

If a landlord seeks possession on a ground that touches the tenant’s conduct or the state of the property, the ability to show the property’s condition at the start, and how it changed, supports the account. A property visit record and a dated inventory are the backbone of that.

There is a boundary to respect here. Recording that a smoke alarm is present and appeared to sound on the day is not the same as certifying compliance with the alarm regulations. A clerk records what is observed. Certification is a separate duty that sits with the landlord. Keeping those two things apart protects everyone, and it matters more now that records are read closely. We cover that distinction in recording safety issues without certifying compliance.

Is any of this a legal requirement?

No. Be clear on this.

Nothing in the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 makes an inventory mandatory. There is no statute that requires a landlord to commission one. What the law does is create a system in which good evidence is rewarded and poor evidence is punished, through the outcomes of possession claims and deposit adjudications. An inventory is good practice and strong evidence. It is not a statutory duty. Those are different things and should never be blurred.

An inventory does not create a possession ground, replace the landlord’s statutory documents, or certify legal compliance. It is supporting evidence where the condition, use or deterioration of the property is relevant.

The honest framing is this: the inventory is now a stronger piece of risk management than it was, because the system around it leans harder on documentation. That is a real change in value without any change in whether it is compulsory.

How did the evidential weight of records change?

The table below sets out the practical difference. It is a comparison of how much a landlord’s records tended to matter under the old Section 21 route versus the current Section 8 route.

Aspect

Under Section 21

before 1 May 2026

Under Section 8

from 1 May 2026

Reason for possession

No reason required

Specific possession ground must be shown

Court scrutiny of landlord

Limited and largely procedural

Case assessed on the strength of the evidence

Weight of condition records

Mainly relevant to deposit disputes

Relevant to both deposit disputes and possession claims

Cost of weak or missing records

Often avoidable through the no fault possession route

No fallback route, so weak evidence becomes more exposed

Role of the inventory

Useful and good practice

Useful, good practice, and higher stakes

Notice the last row. The description of the inventory did not change. It was good practice before and it is good practice now. What changed is the stakes attached to getting it right.

What should a landlord or clerk do differently now?

Raise the standard of the record, and keep it consistent through the tenancy. A one-off check-in with nothing after it is weaker in an evidence-led system than a check-in supported by dated interim visit records and a matching check-out.

For clerks, the shift is towards property visits carrying real weight, not just the bookends of the tenancy. A short, dated, photographed interim inspection now sits inside a bigger evidential picture. Our guide on property inspection reports covers how to structure those so they hold up later.

For landlords, the sensible reading is that documentation is increasingly how you show you met your obligations, across the whole tenancy rather than at its end. And when a deposit is contested, remember that adjudicators decide on the papers. We set that out in deposit disputes are evidence disputes.

What is still to come?

Further reforms are still being phased in. The Private Rented Sector Database is expected to be rolled out gradually by area from late 2026, with the new landlord ombudsman service expected to follow after that. The new Decent Homes Standard is now expected to apply from 2035, while the timing for extending Awaab’s Law to the private rented sector remains subject to consultation. Landlords should therefore treat record keeping as an evolving compliance area, not a one-off change that ended on 1 May 2026.

Treat this post as general information about the position in England, not legal advice for your own tenancy. If you are facing a possession claim or a deposit dispute, get advice specific to your circumstances.

The short version to carry away: Section 21 has gone, possession now turns on evidence, and the inventory is worth more than it was because the system reads records more closely. It is still your choice whether to have one. It is just a better-informed choice now.

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