Rent arrears to Section 8, without the guesswork.
Since 1 May 2026 there is no Section 21. Every arrears case now runs on Ground 8: 3 months’ rent at notice and at hearing, 4 weeks on Form 3A, and a file the judge can follow. The Arrears Desk tracks every managed tenancy against those rules and tells your team the next step.
Not a law firm. The landlord stays the party and files. No contract, no card.
The arrears process is now the whole case.
Ground 8 is tested twice
Arrears must be at least 3 months’ rent (13 weeks if rent is paid weekly or fortnightly) when Form 3A is served and again on the hearing day. A tenant who pays down £200 the week before court takes the mandatory ground away, which is why the notice also cites Grounds 10 and 11.
Two things quietly kill a claim
Rent is not legally due until the landlord’s address for service has been given (s.48), and rent demands must carry the landlord’s name and address (s.47). And the part of the arrears attributable to unpaid Universal Credit housing costs does not count towards Ground 8. All three need checking before the notice goes out.
The evidence trail is the case
Judges and rent-guarantee insurers will ask for a dated record: agreement, rent statement, each chaser, the notice, proof of service. An agent who cannot produce it risks an adjourned claim or a declined policy.
One row per tenancy. One next action.
Add the tenancy
Landlord, tenant, address, rent and period. Thirty seconds. The desk opens a Section 8 case file behind it.
Log rent as it lands
Record payments against the ledger. Arrears, rent periods owed and the Ground 8 shortfall update on every row.
Follow the next action
Chase and document, serve Form 3A citing Grounds 8, 10 and 11, wait out the 4 weeks, then the landlord issues N5 and N119 (online through Possession Claim Online for arrears-only claims). Blockers are named before you act.
Hand the landlord a ready file
Arrears schedule, particulars, witness statement and a paginated bundle built from the documents you uploaded. The landlord signs, pays the fee and files; the agent never deals with the court.
The Monday arrears meeting, on one screen.
Every tenancy in arrears, sorted by what needs doing. Nobody has to remember whether 14 Elm Road is at two months or three, or when that notice runs out.
Apply for the free pilotBuilt on the engine landlords already use.
- ✓Arrears Desk: every tenancy, arrears, Ground 8 position, next action
- ✓Living rent ledger and arrears schedule (the document the court reads)
- ✓Ground 8, 10 and 11 logic under the rules from 1 May 2026, incl. the ss.47–48 name-and-address check and the Universal Credit disregard
- ✓Form 3A notice content and a 4-week expiry tracker
- ✓Encrypted document upload with virus scanning, per tenancy
- ✓Particulars of claim, witness statement and paginated hearing bundle
- ✓An assistant that answers from the tenancy’s own file
- ✓Warrant of possession (N325) when the order is made
for the pilot, unlimited tenancies, one branch.
No contract. Pilot branches get three months at half price if they stay.
Apply for the free pilotWe are taking ten branches in England and approve each one by hand. Tell us how many properties you manage and roughly how many arrears cases a month.
Questions agents ask.
Who is the party to the notice and the claim?+
The landlord, always. Conducting litigation is a reserved activity under the Legal Services Act 2007, and the courts have held that drafting, serving and filing court documents for someone else, paying the court fee or corresponding with the court on their behalf all cross that line (Baxter v Doble). A managing agent may serve the Section 8 notice and give evidence at the hearing. The agent must not file the claim, serve court documents, write to the court or give their own address for service. CourtPilot is built around that: it prepares the figures, the notice and the court documents in the landlord’s name, and the landlord signs the statement of truth, pays the fee and files.
What does the desk do that our property management software does not?+
Your PMS knows the rent is late. The desk knows what that means in law: whether Ground 8 is met on this tenancy’s rent period, whether the landlord’s name and address have been given under sections 47 and 48, how much of the arrears is disregarded for Ground 8 because of unpaid Universal Credit, when the notice expires, and when the landlord can issue. It also keeps the evidence file a judge will want.
Is it accurate for the Renters’ Rights Act?+
The thresholds, notice period, prescribed form and claim fee come from a versioned rules module that was updated for 1 May 2026 (three months’ or thirteen weeks’ arrears, four weeks on Form 3A). When the rules change, every tenancy updates.
How is tenant data handled?+
Documents go through the same encrypted upload and virus scan as every CourtPilot case, stored in the UK/EU. See our privacy policy. The landlord’s and tenant’s details are only used to produce the documents for that tenancy.
What will it cost after the pilot?+
We intend to charge £79 per branch per month for unlimited tenancies, with no contract. Pilot branches are free for the pilot and get the first three months at half price if they stay.