At the state opening of Parliament on 19 December 2019, the Queen’s Speech announced a Renters’ Reform Bill that will abolish the use of ‘no fault’ evictions by removing Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 and reforming the grounds for possession.
The Queen's Speech 2019
David CoxARLA Propertymark Chief Executive
'In the absence of any meaningful plan to boost the level of social housing in this country, the announcement confirming the abolition of Section 21 in today’s Queen's speech is another attack against the landlords who actually house the nation.
'If Section 21 is scrapped, Section 8 must be reformed, and a new specialist housing tribunal created. Without this, supply will almost certainly fall which will have the consequential effect of raising rents and will further discourage new landlords from investing in the sector.
'ARLA Propertymark will be engaging with the Government to ensure they fully understand the consequences of any changes, and we will be scrutinising the legislation, to ensure landlords have the ability to regain their properties if needed'.
The UK Government launched a consultation in July 2019 seeking views on implementing the removal Section 21 in England, as well as improving Section 8's eviction grounds. We submitted a comprehensive response to the Government’s consultation on planned changes to the eviction process in England.
Our response
Changes to the current system should only take place following the development of specialist housing courts and mandatory grounds allowing landlords to regain possession of their property—they must be fair to both tenants and landlords.
The equivalent of a Section 21 notice for periodic tenancies in Wales (also described as occupation contracts) is a Section 173 notice, and for fixed-term tenancies it's a Section 186 notice. Whilst the Housing Act 1988 still applies to tenancies in Wales, the Welsh Government has consulted on amending the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 before it comes into force and is looking to increase the minimum notice period for a ‘no-fault' eviction.
'Extending notice periods to six months is absurd. It means that landlords will have to wait half a year before they can start court proceedings, which then takes 22 weeks on average before the tenant is actually evicted. Therefore, this means that tenants could build up almost a year in rent arrears before a Possession Order is enforced; potentially causing landlords to be repossessed by their mortgage lender.
'In another example, if the tenant is being evicted for anti-social behaviour, these proposals mean that neighbours would be forced to endure up to 12 months of the tenant from hell. This is illogical and will only damage the sector and local communities'.
The Welsh Government launched a consultation on 11 July 2019 asking for views on increasing the notice a landlord must give when seeking to end a contract. In our response we made it clear that landlords do not use Section 21 notices without reason. Due to possession being guaranteed, and quicker timescales than when a Section 8 with grounds for eviction has been used, on the rare occasion that a landlord does use a Section 21 it is usually for tenant rent arrears or antisocial behaviour.
Our response News article