Plans to abolish Section 21 evictions in England and Wales will be indefinitely delayed until after the court system is reformed, the government has confirmed.
Ministers initially vowed to end the right of landlords to evict tenants without needing a reason in 2019.
But housing secretary Michael Gove said it was “vital” to update the courts first.
The Renters Reform Bill, promised in the Tories’ 2019 election manifesto, was debated in the Commons for the first time yesterday. It passed without a vote, as is normally the case at this stage.
Labour accused the government of kicking the much-delayed proposals into the “long grass”, fearing that legal reforms would “take years” to complete.
Gove told Tory MPs that the ban cannot be enacted before a series of improvements are made in the court system, which is used by some landlords to reclaim possession of their homes.
Downing Street has not put a timescale on how long the promised reforms will take to achieve. This has allowed Labour’s shadow housing secretary Angela Rayner an opportunity to accuse the government of “betraying” renters with with a substandard deal to avoid confrontation with Tory MPs opposed to the plan.
She added that the government was “caving in” to its backbenchers, and Rishi Sunak needed to “find a backbone and stand up to his party”.
“I think we’ve said from the start the implementation will be phased and I don’t know exactly if there’s set timelines to that,” a No 10 spokesman said.
William Reeve, CEO of Goodlord, commented: “As the Renters (Reform) Bill receives its long awaited second reading in Parliament today, the government has indicated that it won’t proceed with abolishing section 21, so-called no fault evictions until “reforms to the justice system are in place”. It has further stated that the government will only continue with abolishing Section 21 when “sufficient progress has been made to improve the courts.”
“This is an unexpected announcement that could mark a potentially huge change for the sector and the trajectory of the bill. Under these conditions, it could take years for scrapping Section 21 to actually come into force. Interestingly, although still overall very opposed to the change, landlords had recently started to soften slightly in their position to the scrapping of Section 21. According to our research, in 2022 71% of landlords believed the abolition of Section 21 would have a negative impact on the sector. In 2023, this had dropped to 62%.
“However, the pressures on the courts service has long been flagged as a major issue with regard to these reforms, and it’s encouraging that the Government has recognised this. As the leading RentTech platform in the UK, supporting over 1 million tenancies, we are hearing about hundreds of proceedings issued annually, and we see on a weekly basis how the justice system in England is letting landlords and tenants down and accentuating the pressures the sector is under. We therefore support the Government’s ambition to digitise the courts: we need the private rented sector to operate under modern technology. We also urge the government to consider creating something rental-sector-specific, like Scotland’s First Tier Tribunal for Property and Housing, for England.
“The industry must stay on its toes as this Bill continues to evolve during its journey into law. Until this is on the statute books, agents and landlords should keep up to date on the latest details and prepare for all eventualities.”
Frankie Malpass, product lead at Vouch, added: “One of the key areas that the government has recognised is the impact of periodic tenancies on private student renters. Students generally have different renting needs compared to the wider private rental sector – with a greater requirement for cyclical tenancies – so the blanket switch to periodic tenancies doesn’t serve students or their landlords well.
“It’s therefore encouraging to see that this issue has been recognised by the Government by the introduction of a process to complete the tenancy at the end of the academic year, ready for a new cohort of students to move in, enabling students to line up their housing in advance.
It’s a tough one now as Section 21 has morphed from a nice, long standing, simple way of a Landlord ending a tenancy that has…….well, ended to the the Landlord being a horrid millionaire money grabbing, baby eating, homeless person making, family kicking out of their home devil. Rather than that after a clearly defined period / agreement simply calling it a day.
Never been keen on the Lettings part of estate agency.
Jonnie
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Section 21 or No Section 21, Buy to Let sector has had its days, with all the compliance and not much return with the new INTEREST rates,. I am seeing landlords wanting to sell quick and just want out!!! Yesterday, I had even more landlords exploring selling, and are looking to sell before the market downturn (In their words)
Challenging few years ahead for for landlords and the PRS sector as rent increases will not solve the problem.
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It is an interesting dynamic, the more landlords that leave the higher rents will go, obviously giving a better return to those who stay. Until rent controls kill that as well leaving no stock.
I had plans ten years ago to buy two buy-to-let properties and decided it was not the right time and instead invested money into my business, I am very glad I made that choice and would not even consider BTL now, too much effort for little gain.
On the other hand I am very glad I have a good level of managed properties that pay the bills when sales fall off.
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I’ll have a guess someone has realised Section 21 IS NOT AN EVICTION NOTICE and 5 million assured shorthold tenancies CAN NOT be magically turned into Assured tenancies without the agreement of both parties to the contract
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Why can’t they? The government can do whatever they want. They changed in-progress ASTs during covid and the High Court stood by.
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“This is an unexpected announcement that could mark a potentially huge change for the sector and the trajectory of the bill”
I think it was obvious and always going to happen.
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Obvious to anyone with any sector understanding or experience!!!!
There is always a someone who, when they’re finally asked, will point to the elephant that’s been sat on the sofa all along
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I find it funny that the courts are letting the tenants down.
Labour will bring this in and rent controls.
To watch silly Gove in the mad house look here.
https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/d16e5c64-bc30-4f57-83ce-a444baee70c8?agenda=True
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Gove starts at 17:51, certainly looks like most members are in the HOC bar.
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This is a relatively short term lifeline and we should grasp it with both hands!Until the courts can handle the current backlog, there is little point bringing in new legislation which will further brake the system. The industry needs balance and thanks for the efforts of GenRent and Shelter, there is none. Its not letting tenants down, they already have protection from retaliatory evictions and HHSRS, (whilst not the easiest legislation to interpret) mandates the standards required for rental accommodation. What is lacking is a way for Government to reach out to tenants to tell them when new legislation affects and protects them. The new How to Rent Guide offers what is effectively legal aid for all tenants facing possession – how many existing tenants know about this? Has it been covered in national news – no! So, we have a few more years whilst landlords can still gain possession of THEIR BUSINESS ASSET, lets use the time to find the balance required! Use it or loose it as the saying goes……
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You would think renters, shelter, et al, would be pleased the Reform Bill finally had it’s second reading in Parliament, but we see now the only thing they want is the end to S21.
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“…….. shadow housing secretary Angela Rayner an opportunity to accuse the government of “betraying” renters with with a substandard deal ………………”.
There you have it, the end of PRS whenever Labour gain control in Government. Mark my words if this woman ever gets into a position of power I will immediately sell all my rental properties and our business.
Is the first sentence is wrong? Wales is devolved power on housing and they retained Sec 21 by another name or are you saying that will be overturned?
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Better put those on the market now, then. You have until about June to complete I reckon.
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