get a possession order using the forms N119 and N5 and by paying the court fees. The landlord is then given a date to attend court, the first hearing, and must attend on this date. If the tenant has not filed a defence or does not attend court to challenge the claim, the court may make a possession order at the first hearing. If the tenant does defend the claim, the court will issue directions at the first hearing and adjourn the claim until a further hearing when the case will be heard in full. If the possession order is granted then it takes effect fourteen days after it has been issued, although in some cases this may be extended to six weeks where it is deemed that the tenant will face serious hardship as a result of the repossession. Grounds for possession When the Section 8 notice is served, the landlord must base the decision to apply for a possession order on one or more of 17 grounds. The court will then decide upon whether to grant a possession order based on these grounds. The amount of notice that must be given to the tenant differs depending on the grounds. For grounds 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 16, two months’ notice or more must be given. For grounds 3, 4, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 and 17, two weeks’ notice is required. In the case of ground 14A, proceedings can be started immediately after serving the notice. During the Covid 19 pandemic in 2020 most of the periods of notice were extended significantly in order to reduce the number of people potentially being made homeless in a period of crisis. With exceptions for significant rent owed and anti-social behaviour, most periods of notice were set to be six months. Grounds 1 to 8 are mandatory, meaning if the landlord can prove to the court that they apply then the court must grant the possession order. The other grounds are all discretionary. Mandatory grounds Ground 1: landlord taking property as their own home Used when the landlord wants to live in the property as a permanent home. It is only permitted when the landlord has already lived in it as their main home or they, or their spouse require it to live in as his or her main home. Evidence of this may be required, together with