For a landlord to regain possession of a property, a Section 21 or Section 8 notice would normally need to be served on tenants on an assured shorthold tenancy. This is the first steps that a landlord will have to go through to make the tenant leave their home.
Serving a Section 21 notice means that the landlord does not need to provide a reason to evict tenants from the property, hence why Section 21 may be occasionally referred to as a ‘no- fault’ eviction. Once the Section 21 notice has been served, the landlord must give the tenant at least 2 months’ notice to leave the property. If the tenant remains at the property after the 2 months’ notice, the landlord can then make an application to the court to evict the tenant
Due to the ongoing issues with Section 21, the then UK government announced on the 15th April 2019 that “Private landlords will no longer be allowed to convict tenants from their homes at short notice and without good reason.” This then led to a consultation process that occurred between the months of July and October 2019 and this was where the consultation paper proposed the abolishing of Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 under the Renters Reform Bill.
The Renters Reform Bill now needs to be passed through multiple stages in the House of Commons and House of Lords before it becomes law. Commonly, this can take up to a year after the first reading in parliament. The first draft of the Renters Reform Bill was published on 17 May 2023.
The abolishment of Section 21 will cause changes such as:
- Landlords will now need to give a reason to their tenant on the eviction.
- Tenants will be able to end the tenancy at any time they wish as long as the landlord is provided with a two months’ notice from them.
- Benefit for students who wish to stay after their academic year.
- More secure homes for the tenants.
- Tenants being able to challenge poor standards.
- Antisocial tenants can be evicted easily by the landlord, and they will be able to sell their properties when needed to.
- Landlords may become more risk adverse when choosing tenants knowing that they can only serve a Section 8 notice to evict a tenant. Therefore, tenants on low income or zero-hours contracts or anyone with a bad credit history may struggle to find somewhere to rent.
The abolishment of the no-fault eviction means that landlords can only evict tenants only by giving a specific reason set out in the Housing Act 1988:
- The landlord wants the property to be their home
- The landlord has defaulted on the mortgage
- For redevelopment of the property
- Three months’ rent arrears
- Breach of tenancy condition
- Deterioration of the property
- Nuisance or annoyance
What Will Replace Section 21?
Due to the abolishment of Section 21, the section 8 notice of the Housing Act 1988 will be strengthened and will be the only option for landlords who wish to repossess their property. It is also now going to be the best option for landlords if they need to evict their tenant.
A Section 8 notice can be used by landlords to evict the tenant if the tenant has broken the terms of the tenancy agreement. However, many landlords have argued that Section 8 notices is a longer process and costly in terms of legal fees to evict tenants.
For the time being, landlords can still evict tenants by serving a Section 21 Notice until the Renters Reform Bill becomes law.
Specialist Tenant Eviction Advice
Monarch Solicitors specialist Tenant Eviction Solicitors provide a tailor-made approach to your needs and can help with a range of tenant eviction related issues. Please get in touch with us by either calling 0330 127 8888 or emailing [email protected] for an initial consultation.
