In brief, Section 21 is the right for landlords to evict tenants from their property after their fixed-term contract has come to an end, and with no need for a reason as long as eight weeks’ notice has been given. The government had announced earlier in the year that they intended to abolish this in order to give tenants more security and longer-term guarantees in their rental fees.
Both negative and positive reactions have been recorded with tenants deeming the move as positive due to the additional guarantees which will be extended to them and landlords worried about potential difficulties when removing problem tenants.
A prominent agent recently came out in favour of the abolition, seeing it as a gateway to a newer type of tenant who is a lifestyle renter, rather than renting out of financial necessity.
However, Richard Lambert, CEO of the National Landlord Association, has stated; “Claims by the Government and tenant support groups that Section 21 is the leading cause of homelessness are not supported by the available evidence. They are factually incorrect, misleading and just plain wrong. No reasonable landlord would seek to evict a tenant without good cause.
Most evictions are a symptom of wider issues, such as the freeze on local housing allowance, insecure jobs, and the lack of support for vulnerable tenants to sustain private tenancies successfully. The increase in the use of no-fault evictions through Section 21 is because landlords simply don’t have faith in the courts being able to deal with eviction cases, however justified their reason.
That’s why we’re appealing directly to the Prime Minister to save section 21. Landlords are running businesses and have very few options when it comes to managing the risks they face. The focus should instead be on fixing the issues that contribute to this risk.”
With government proposals moving forwards, and the consultation period on the proposal currently running to 12th October this year, we could see the proposals come into place either towards the end of 2020 or start of 2021.
Iain McKenzie, CEO The Guild of Property Professionals, said of the Government’s proposal and coming into law; “What this means is that should the law come into place, it will not impact tenancies that are already in place at the time it is passed. So, landlords in these agreements will still be able to use Section 21 until the tenancy comes to an end. Any new agreement thereafter will then become an assured tenancy,” he adds.