Section 21 issued but Tenants not ready to leave on the specified date

Section 21 issued via OpenRent but Tenants not ready to leave on the specified date.
This is not acrimonious - Tenants say they WILL go once they find a new home, they just haven’t done so yet.
I am keen not to escalate to the court and muddy their record.
Tenants have agreed to carry on paying the agreed rent.
I pay OpenRent for Rent Collection.
Will Open Rent Continue to take their rent past the allocated end of Tenancy date? Or do I have to collect it myself? NB I have not pressed the “End Tenancy” button on the landlord dashboard.
Do I need to renew the contract on a month by month basis?
Or, am I just being too nice and do I actually need to go straight to court to apply for a possession order?
Any help gratefully received…

Not sure about rent collection as i dont use it, you definitely dont want to renew the tenancy.

I would say it is normally best to compromise where tenant is being co-operative. It is very hard to find rentals so their position is understandable. You do have a time limit to start court proceedings which is 4 months after the date the notice expires so with this and RRB you would need to take action by then assuming you still want the property back.

The tenancy continues month by month autlmatically until its ended by the tenant or a court. You dont need to do anything.