There has been a 30% rise in claims for possession under Section 21 over the last six months, taking them to a nine-year high.

According to evictions firm Landlord Action, the rise reported by the courts raises concerns that Government plans to tackle so-called ‘retaliatory eviction’ – where a landlord gets rid of a tenant who has asked for repairs – will require an enormous amount of resources.

Paul Shamplina, founder of Landlord Action, said he fully supports plans to stop ‘retaliatory eviction’, saying that his own firm has experienced a minority of landlords who would prefer to evict a tenant complaining of disrepair to a property, via a Section 21 (S21) notice, rather than carry out the necessary work.

However, Shamplina said every case would have to be considered individually.

He said: “We deal with hundreds of possession cases every year and the causes are rarely black and white.”

He argues that whilst there are a handful of rogue landlords, there are also tenants who do not pay rent for months on end and then use previously unreported ‘disrepair’ issues to string out a court case.

Then there are the more ambiguous cases – an amateur landlord who cannot afford the repairs if the tenant doesn’t pay the rent, or a tenant that simply cannot afford the rent, in which case a S21 writes off arrears but hands possession back to the landlord.

Shamplina questioned whether the Government has set aside enough resources.

He said: “Environmental health officers are already overloaded.

“Even if they do have the resources, what is deemed reasonable or unreasonable in respect to work carried out and will it be the council’s final word?

“Yes, we want standards to be raised and tenants to live in acceptable properties, but we don’t want reputable landlords, the majority of whom do carry out repairs, to suffer in the process,” he concluded.