A controversial change due to be brought about in the proposed Renters’ Reform Bill is the abolition of Section 21 evictions, which is intended to ‘professionalise’ the private rented sector.
However, research carried out by Leaders Romans Group (LRG) has found that Section 21 is rarely overused, and even more rarely misused.
Currently, Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 allows landlords to evict tenants without having to give a reason and tenants’ representatives believe that this leaves them vulnerable to so-called ‘no fault’ eviction and so afraid to complain to their landlord.
However, LRG surveyed 271 landlords across its estate agency brands Gibbs Gillespie, Hose Rhodes Dickson, Leaders, Moginie James, Portico, Romans and Scott Fraser and found that 80% of landlords have never used Section 21. Of those that had, 6% did so when the tenant was in breach of the lease and only 3% where the tenant was not in breach of the lease.
Allison Thompson, national lettings managing director at LRG, commented: “Leaders Romans Group, along with the majority of our landlords, is committed to raising standards. But while we are fully supportive of ‘professionalising’ the private rented sector, many of the proposed changes, including the repeal of Section 21, would pose new challenges to landlords which could penalise both landlords and tenants.
“It is important to bear in mind that private landlords are vital to meeting increased demand in the rental sector and that unnecessary measures which would result in an exodus of landlords from the market would be detrimental to rental affordability.”
LRG also believes that the government should rethink its proposals surrounding assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs). It has been suggested that tenants should be permitted to serve notice of two months’ at any point, but LRG believes this would create considerable uncertainty for landlords, which is “unwelcome in an already challenging market”.
Thompson said: “There has been a request to amend this, so that two months’ notice is only permissible when the tenant had been in the property for at least four months. This compromise would provide some further security for landlords, while allowing flexibility for tenants.”
Section 21 is not an eviction!!! When you move out of a hotel room at the end of a stay the hotel is not evicting you, you are leaving, as agreed. When you hand back a lease car after 3 years it’s not being repossessed it’s being given back… as agreed.
Section 21 is the notice that ends a fixed term or periodic tenancy; the termination of a contract both landlord and tenant agreed to.
A charity set up to collect cash to run a legal hotline and pay a legal team to challenge unfair evictions [but not to provide accommodation for the homeless] might just have an agenda when it comes to deliberately muddying the waters on asking people to leave a property they’re renting but I’m really surprised that industry professionals don’t respond to what is a self serving marketing strategy by simply pointing out tenants wanting security of tenure should not be signing up to shorthold tenancy agreements.
As for 80% of landlords never using Section 21 I can’t work out if that because 80% of landlords don’t know their agent used S21 to correctly end the AST or because those landlords still have their original tenants
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Robert, Section 21 is a notice, but it doesn’t end a tenancy!
Section 21 really is just a notification, it is required under 1988 Housing Act before a landlord can commence legal action if the tenant fails to vacate once the notice expires!
There are only 2 ways to end a 1988 HA tenancy; surrender or court order.
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There was bound to be someone who had to spilt hairs, someone who knew what I was saying but had to be pedantic. Well done Jeremy well done!
The point is tenants signing up to an assured shorthold tenancy do not receive an eviction notice as someone has photo-shopped the section 21 notices to be, but neither the journalists reproducing these stories nor the authors seem to be troubled by that
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Like most things nowadays politics and spin change what people believe and think (or not think in some cases). Lets face it the people that considered and proposed so called Smart Motorways introduced by the politcial machine came up with something that was anything but smart. In fact their proposals verged on criminally insane, in my opinion. The proposals and introduction was always doomed and was ALWAYS was going to result in deaths. Deaths were significantly less likely to occur with hard shoulder motorways. In housing we see the same old nonsense with the advisors, so called think tanks and the likes and politicians significantly lacking common sense. I can remember, at an early stage, discussing the proposed abolition of S21 with a local conservative politician accurately predicting what the impact would be and what the results were likely to be. She fully understood the points raised and seemed to agree but all politicians seem to be lemmings and follow the party line set, so often, by nutcase academics who seem to live in a fantasy world of stupidity where they think if they call it “Smart” or label a group of people they don’t like as “Rogues” that is what it will be seen as. Sorry, like Smart Motorways abolition of s21 (which will go ahead) are fundemenatally flawed; they have just got it wrong and common sense certainly trumps academia in the real world: in my opinion and I am sure in many others opinions as well.
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