This is the divergence that matters most, and the one English commentary consistently gets wrong for Welsh landlords.
England abolished no-fault eviction. Section 21 ended on 1 May 2026 and possession now runs solely through Section 8 grounds — see what Section 8 requires.
Wales did not. Section 173 of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 provides a landlord's notice under a periodic standard contract requiring no ground and no fault. It is still available.
What section 173 requires
- Six months' notice. Doubled from two months by the 2016 Act — a substantial tightening, but not abolition.
- No notice in the first six months of the occupation contract, so the earliest possible possession is roughly twelve months in.
- Full compliance first. A section 173 notice cannot be given unless you have provided the written statement, complied with the deposit rules, and are registered and licensed with Rent Smart Wales.
That last condition is where notices fail. It is the Welsh analogue of the old English section 21 preconditions, and it is stricter: an unregistered landlord cannot serve a valid section 173 notice at all.
The retaliatory eviction bar
The court may refuse possession where the notice was given in response to the contract-holder raising a disrepair or fitness concern. A landlord who receives a complaint about damp and serves notice a fortnight later is inviting exactly that finding.
Given the fitness duties described in fitness for human habitation in Wales, the sequence of dates in your own records is what decides this.
Why a cross-border landlord gets this wrong in both directions
An English landlord with a Welsh property reads that no-fault eviction is abolished and believes they have lost a route they still have. A Welsh landlord with an English property assumes six months' notice still works and serves an invalid notice on the English side.
Both errors come from the same cause: treating "the law changed" as a single national event. Housing is devolved and the two jurisdictions have diverged further, not converged. The comparison is laid out in the divergence map.
The other routes
Section 173 is the no-fault route. Wales also has fault-based grounds — serious rent arrears, breach of contract, anti-social behaviour — with their own notice periods, and those operate whether or not section 173 is available.
Check the document the notice depends on. The agreement checker reads what you are letting on, cited to the Act and section.
Information tool, not legal advice. Take advice on a specific possession matter.