For private landlords in England & Wales
Section 8 possession claims for supported post-RRA grounds — guided from tenancy facts through notice, filing bundle and hearing prep. The court does not forgive simple mistakes: a wrong date or a messy rent schedule can set you back months. Formpath helps you represent yourself with the precision the court expects.
The problem
Most possession cases that fail do not fail on the merits. They fail on the wrong named parties, a missed prescribed information requirement, grounds that are not properly explained, or the right form filed at the wrong stage of the process.
Many landlords choose to do the paperwork themselves because full representation is expensive. That can make sense, but only if the notice, dates, forms and evidence are right before anything is served or filed.
If a notice is defective, you may have to serve it again and wait out the notice period before you can even issue the claim. One procedural mistake can turn into months of unpaid rent.
Wrong form version. Wrong service window. Weak particulars. Missing proof of service. These are not legal strategy points; they are process mistakes. Formpath is built to catch them before they cost you time.
A note from the person who built this
Hello -
I am a landlord. Not a big one - three flats, all within a half-hour drive of where I live. I am also a chartered accountant, so when a tenancy went badly wrong a few years ago I figured I was reasonably well-equipped to handle a simple case myself. I did what a lot of landlords do first: advice from Facebook groups, a Section 8 template off the internet, a bit of help from AI chatbots, filing through the HMCTS portal, and a date in my diary at the county court.
The case was thrown out. Two basic procedural slips - neither flagged on any forum, neither obvious from the form itself. The kind of thing nobody tells you until a judge does.
So I did what you are supposed to do: I hired a barrister. He took one look at the Section 8 we had served and told me it was deficient for a different basic reason, the kind of thing that is genuinely hard to find in plain English anywhere. We reset the clock. New notice. New notice period. New application to the court. New hearing date. More fees.
And then, at the second hearing, the judge said there was a deficiency in the particulars of claim - the form my barrister had prepared. He could have delayed the whole thing again. He chose not to. We got lucky.
That is the bit that stuck with me. Even paying someone expensive and qualified is not a guarantee the basics are right. The procedural bar is high, the rules change, and the cost of getting something small wrong is months of your life and several months of unpaid rent.
Formpath is the tool I wish I had had on day one. Not a magic button, not a substitute for a solicitor when you genuinely need one, but a quiet, careful guide that knows the procedural bar, knows the steps required to clear it, and walks you through them in the right order.
What Formpath is
Open a case, answer a few questions, and Formpath builds the path: which notice, which form version, which dates, which evidence. You stay in the driver's seat. It just stops you driving into a wall.
Section 8 (Form 3A), N5, N119, rent schedules and costs schedules for the grounds we support. Pulled from current official versions, pre-filled from your tenancy facts, and checked before you hand them up.
Notice periods, service windows, hearing minimums and key deadlines are calculated from the dates you give us, then re-checked every time something changes.
Ground 8 arrears under the threshold? Wrong N-form for your claim? Particulars too thin? Formpath flags the issues before they reach a judge.
Tenancy agreement, rent ledger, notices served, witness statement and supporting documents assembled into a clean file for court.
Grounds supported
Formpath supports the post-RRA Section 8 grounds most private landlords rely on — rent arrears, sale, occupation, breach, deterioration and anti-social behaviour — with Form 3A, particulars and a filing bundle.
Student HMO, social-housing-only and supported-accommodation grounds remain outside the streamlined path — take advice if your case needs a specialist ground.
The Renters' Rights Act
The Renters' Rights Act fundamentally reshapes how possession works in England. Section 21 is gone. Fixed terms are gone. The rules you learned last year are no longer the rules. Formpath is built around the supported routes listed above, and we keep those routes current as commencement orders land.
Every possession claim now needs a Section 8 ground, and the ground has to fit the facts.
Formpath supports the specific grounds listed below, and says so before you pay.
Tenants can give notice at any time; landlords need a statutory ground and the right evidence.
Your tenancy facts panel is RRA-aware from the first question.
The mandatory rent-arrears threshold has moved from two months to three, with a longer notice period.
Our calendar already knows. It always will.
Grounds 1, 1A, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 — sale, occupation, arrears, breach, deterioration and anti-social behaviour — each with its own notice period and evidence path.
Specialist grounds (student HMO, social housing, supported accommodation) remain guided or manual.
Rent-review clauses are replaced by a more formal process, with tighter notice requirements.
We keep the workflow aligned as provisions commence.
The Private Rented Sector Database changes what landlords need to have in place before enforcement.
Formpath checks the prerequisites before you file.
Last reviewed May 2026 · tracked against current commencement orders and statutory instruments.
How it works
Formpath follows the real possession process: confirm the facts, get the timing right, avoid common mistakes, prepare the bundle and choose the right filing route.
Upload the tenancy agreement, bank statements or CSV exports, rent records and any notices already served. Formpath extracts the key facts and builds a court-ready rent schedule, highlighting arrears, late payments and the figures needed for rent-arrears grounds.Output · Parties, property and court-ready rent schedule confirmed
Choose a supported Section 8 ground, answer guided prompts and generate the Form 3A notice. If you have already served one, Formpath can check the notice, dates and proof of service before you move on.Output · Notice drafted or checked, served and evidenced
Before you file, Formpath acts as a second pair of eyes: inconsistent dates, missing evidence, weak particulars and common procedural mistakes are flagged while there is still time to fix them.Output · Issues flagged, evidence bundle ready
Prepare the N5, N119, rent schedule and court-ready evidence bundle, then choose whether PCOL or paper filing fits the case. After issue, track service, hearing preparation, the order and next steps.Output · Claim tracked from filing to outcome
Is Formpath for you?
Formpath is built for landlords who want to run their own Section 8 possession case. It is a preparation tool, not a law firm. We will tell you plainly when your case is straightforward enough to do yourself, and plainly when it is not.
Fees
You pay when you open a case, and that is it. No retainers, no letter writing at £350 a pop, no surprise bills if the case takes a turn.
Court fees are set by HMCTS and paid separately. Formpath helps you prepare the claim file; you remain responsible for reviewing and submitting it.
Common questions
No. Formpath is a guided form and case-preparation tool, not a solicitor. We tell you what the rules require and flag where you might be at risk; we do not tell you whether to pursue your case. If you would genuinely benefit from advice, we will say so plainly.
England and Wales, for assured shorthold tenancies under the Housing Act 1988, limited to the supported Section 8 grounds listed on this page. Scotland, Northern Ireland and commercial tenancies are not supported yet.
Formpath flags complications it recognises, including unsupported grounds, disrepair counterclaims, CPR 6.9(3) service issues and deposit-protection problems, then either walks you through the issue or tells you this is the point at which a solicitor is worth the money.
They are the same forms a solicitor would file, produced from the latest HMCTS templates. Plus an evidence bundle, indexed and marked up the way a solicitor's firm would do it. The court does not care who typed it; it cares that it is right.
£49 per case, paid once. That covers the full wizard, document extraction, rent schedule builder, validation checks, copy-paste PCOL field mapping for N5/N119, court bundle PDFs and the hearing-day brief for supported grounds. Court fees are separate. No subscription, unlimited edits.
Early access
We are finishing the product with a small group before opening publicly. If you already have an invite code, enter it below. Otherwise, leave your email and we will send you a code when a spot opens.
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Start a case in five minutes. You only pay when you are ready to file, and only if Formpath is genuinely useful to you.
£49, paid once · No subscription · You stay in control of when to file
