UK Landlord Forum / Life

good afternoon
i have decided to retire and sell my only one rental, what is the best course of action to take, the property is all up to date as required for renting. many thanks   

Find an estate agent and sell it?


If you still have a tenant it will be more complicated and have a lower value, though.

i didn't make my self clear my fault , what's the best action as to give notice to my tenant. thanks 

Probably talk to them and tell them what you plan and discuss what they can do and how long it will take them.

And if you decide to serve notice, pay a professional eviction company to manage the process. Don't do it yourself.

i get on very well with the tenant, and was hoping to manage this between us i know the rules are changing very soon and i would like to get the ball rolling and give written notice before the change, will form 6a be ok thanks

Yes - as long as all the pre-requisites for that notice have been satisfied. There's a sticky link to a flow chart on this forum.

In theory, when the rules change, it should be easier to serve notice to sell, though.

Quote from: jpkeates on February 19, 2026, 02:19:46 PMYes - as long as all the pre-requisites for that notice have been satisfied. There's a sticky link to a flow chart on this forum.

In theory, when the rules change, it should be easier to serve notice to sell, though.

when you say easier to serve notice how easy, i would like the property sold by October this year

I don't know. It's a section 8 process, so there'd probably have to be a hearing, which would make October challenging. But no one's done it yet and you couldn't start until May, so there's that.

If the tenant's happy, I'm not sure why you need to serve notice at all. They need to find somewhere else to live and then move out. They don't need notice to do that.

If they want notice because they think the council will house them, you have almost no chance of them being out by October and will almost certainly get on much less well with the tenant.

am now so confused it seems i cant get my property back for at least 8 months, i just want to give notice and sell sometime this year for my retirement, this is so stressful

Quote from: jpkeates on February 19, 2026, 02:35:10 PMI don't know. It's a section 8 process, so there'd probably have to be a hearing, which would make October challenging. But no one's done it yet and you couldn't start until May, so there's that.

If the tenant's happy, I'm not sure why you need to serve notice at all. They need to find somewhere else to live and then move out. They don't need notice to do that.

If they want notice because they think the council will house them, you have almost no chance of them being out by October and will almost certainly get on much less well with the tenant.

hearing what hearing

I'm not explaining myself very well.

There is no need for you to serve notice at all if your tenant is happy to move out. You only need to serve notice to start the process to evict a tenant who doesn't want to leave (or who doesn't think you are serious about wanting them to leave). I have just sold all of my rental properties and didn't serve notice to any of my tenants.

If you do serve notice, you can serve a section 21 (Form 6a) now if you want to.

Ignore my other comments.

You would be advised to use an eviction service to do the work for you, but you don't have to.

Thanks for replys
I think the tenant will want the council to rehouse them, and the council will probably tell them to stay put till evicted

That almost certainly means that the tenant is going to be very disappointed. Council properties are very different from private rentals and, most people aren't entitled to what they think they are - a single person without children is unlikely to be eligible for a property at all. So they should probably be guided to talk to the council in the hope that they get some reality.

In this case, I'd forget anything else and get an eviction specialist to serve notice and get the job done. It'll take a long time, though.