Today, the Government announced its intention to abolish section 21 notices which many would argue is the primary reason for the private rented sector to be the popular industry that it has become since being introduced on 15 January 1989. The Welsh Assembly also announced the same proposals on Friday.
As you can probably guess, it’s been a busy day on the phones today!
The section 21 notice is a minimum two months notice served on an assured shorthold tenant when the landlord wants the property back. Because no reason needs to be given, it’s commonly used even for things like rent arrears because it’s arguably easier than having to argue in court about the reasons.
The abolition of section 21 notices would effectively create open-ended tenancies.
The proposals have cross party support which increases the likelihood of this going through massively.
Prime Minister Theresa May said:
Everyone renting in the private sector has the right to feel secure in their home, settled in their community and able to plan for the future with confidence.
But millions of responsible tenants could still be uprooted by their landlord with little notice, and often little justification.
This is wrong – and today we’re acting by preventing these unfair evictions. Landlords will still be able to end tenancies where they have legitimate reasons to do so, but they will no longer be able to unexpectedly evict families with only 8 weeks’ notice.
This important step will not only protect tenants from unethical behaviour, but also give them the long-term certainty and the peace of mind they deserve.
The governments response to overcoming the barriers to longer tenancies in the private rented sector outlines further details about the proposals.
It is proposed that the section 8 procedure will be amended perhaps by adding grounds where a landlord wishes to sell or move into the property.
Therefore, to ensure landlords have confidence they will be able to end tenancies where they have legitimate reason to do so, we will also strengthen the Section 8 possession process, so property owners are able to regain their home should they wish to sell it or move into it. These will be in addition to the existing grounds which allow landlords to evict tenants who don’t pay the rent or commit anti-social behaviour.
And continues:
Under the new framework a landlord will always have to provide a reason for ending a tenancy, such as breach of contract or wanting to sell the property. Tenants will be able to choose to end the tenancy, as long as they provide sufficient notice to the landlord, retaining the flexibility that we know is important to some renters. This will provide tenants with more stability, protecting them from having to make frequent and short notice moves, and allowing them to become part of their local community.
The Government will ensure that landlords continue to have the safeguards they need to operate in the private rented sector with confidence. We are clear that any changes to Section 21 legislation will need to be underpinned by enhanced Section 8 grounds and a simpler, faster process through the courts. Landlords will benefit from the stability of long-term tenants, including the security of an assured rental income and fewer void periods.
Landlords need to have confidence that they will be able to regain their property quickly in cases where the tenant has broken the terms of their tenancy agreement or where the landlord has other reasonable grounds. Without these assurances, landlords may be prompted to leave the market, which would not help tenants. We are therefore planning to introduce new Section 8 grounds, in parallel to removing Section 21, to strengthen the rights of landlords to recover their properties when necessary, including when they want to sell or move into the property themselves. The Government will consider limiting the use of these new grounds until the tenancy has lasted for two years to provide tenants with additional security.
The next step is the government will consult on the proposals and “will collaborate with and listen to landlords, tenants and others in the private rented sector to develop a new deal for renting”.
1974 all over again
A question… I have several rental properties, with good tenants, and no reason at all to serve section 21 notices. I am considered a good landlord.
However, I have bought a further property that I intended to let for two years (at a 15% reduced rent, even though it is in good condition)… before taking back and extending the house in 2 years time (at the end of a tenancy) . I would make this plan absolutely clear to any prospective tenants.
However, I’m now concerned that a tenant could refuse to move out at the agreed date. I’m guessing that with the new rules, I would not then be able to serve section 8 or 21 notices. My conclusion is to leave the house empty for one or two years while I raise the finances to extend. Any thoughts on this?
If this is my only option, then this is one of many circumstances which might cause the new rules to backfire on tenants, by (a) reducing the number of houses for people to rent, and (b) push up rents… The new rules could easily hit tenants hard, as well as landlords.
When I was an ARLA letting agent we had lots of queries from people who wanted to rent property short term. But most of the LLs didn’t want this.
I’m sure you could find prospective tenants like these.
There is a market for tenants who are in the process of buying and only need a short let. Buying a house off plan is full of pitfalls and can take what seems forever. If you know your tenant is buying a house you can be fairly certain they will want to leave when the process finally ends!
My daughter has rented the same house for 15years got a young child just done it up again laminated floors now he served a section21 for 2months notice he never lived in it he bought it to rent as I said lived there for 15years how can they do this to someone
They’d better start building council houses again.
This is the last straw for me, in the 25 years I have been renting property out I have used sect 21 once and that was because it was easier than pursuing the rent arrears which the tenant can manipulate, property damage and anti social behaviour which the tenant was clearly guilty of but can drag out being evicted for months
Because the law is loaded in favour of the tenant I would have had to go through all sorts of legal costs and delays which I would never have recouped
Well done government you have just lost 15 families their homes as of tomorrow as I will be serving them all (and they are all lovely people and great tenants) a section 21 notice as I am now quitting the rental/Landlord profession Yes I have now had enough this is one step to far
I was horrified at first and like you, have a number of properties, all with excellent tenants. Contrary to what has been said in the media, I can’t see why any landlord would want to evict good long term paying tenants other than to withdraw from the market. So as long as section 8 is strengthened and the right to sell with vacant possession is maintained, it should affect good landlords. If landlords could not sell with vacant possession then that would drastically change things and we would be back to the 70’s.
I totally agree with you. There is no protection for landlords. Citizens advice will only assist tenants- shameful!!
Tenants seem to do what they want, pay what they want in rent and landlords have the hassle and cost to evict them. No incentive to continue being a landlord!
Try being on the receiving end of a section 21 for no reason. No arrears. No ASB. No tenancy issues. Then having to find £2000 to move somewhere else.
Yep received one yesterday out the blue. Paid my rent on time every month, done the place up as requested made improvements where needed etc all at my own expense.
I’ve been the perfect tenant.
And now I’ve got 2 months to leave. I’m absolutely bricking it. I have no savings and rent in my area is expensive
Will this proposal require primary legislation or be an amending regulation?
Will it be retrospective in your opinion?
What is the expecte timescale?
Primary legislation will be need but the rest we’re not sure of at this stage.
This is just ridiculous – I’ve been a landlord for over 32 years and have always been very fair and conscientious – why doesn’t the government just go the whole bloody hog – club us over the head and take our houses off us – they obviously don’t think we have the right to own them or control them – shame we can’t do that to put their house in order “brexit.”? Time to move abroad
This will increase homelessness not decrease it,and increase rents across the board.
If you cannot guarantee 2 years rental payments do the landlord can insure his tent there will be no chance of obtaining a tenancy.
These proposals have little–if anything – – to do with housing.
This is all about the the current government positioning itself for
the next election ; which I feel will be soon be upon us.
They appear to have beaten Labour to the punch on this one.
Doubtless, there is much more of this to follow—-a bidding war
on anti–landlord legislation.
The game is no longer worth the candle.
From my point of view as a letting agent also as a landlord in excess of 23 years ( although I am only 21!) I see this as positive news from a landlords point of view. If the section 8 is going to be strengthened on the basis of rent arrears that can only be a good thing. Personally I do not want a high turnover of tenants, so two year terms are good for all serious landlords. I understand what the government are saying as we have landlords who use the 6 months to their advantage and tenants do have to suffer the costly amount of moving. I would like to understand though, does this mean that tenants are tied into the two year contract or can they choose to before two years?
I missed out the word leave! Sorry!
Bad landlords are one thing but I wonder how many politicians have first-hand knowledge of bad tenants. Enhanced Section 8 is no compensation for Section 21 when it comes to bad tenants, and I’ve had a few – non-payment of rent, damage and dereliction to property, refusal to leave at end of tenancy, leaving properties full of rubbish. I’ve also had some very good tenants and still have. A good tenant and a good landlord need little regulation. Section 8 is too expensive and time consuming.
I’ve often wondered why, if tenants don’t like the property or the landlord or his/her attitude, they don’t simply vote with their feet to find a property and landlord and contract length they do like. There are a lot of good landlords about!
Tenants already have many rights, too many in some cases, especially when they involve the Environmental Health Department who can sometimes nit pick beyond sensible reason. Landlords are getting a bad press at present no matter how socially aware they try to be. I shall now seriously be considering selling up when my current tenants decide to leave.
As a previous correspondent remarked: they’d better start building council houses again!
As a tenant of 30 years I am very happy to see the government finally backing us in providing longer term letting. In Devon it is very usual to be asked to leave a property after a 6 month tenancy so that the landlord can either move in his relatives for the summer or gain more money through summer holiday lets. If the market is on the rise it also allows landlords to raise the rents higher.
This is most often not revealed at the beginning of the tenancy, with a long term let discussed ( but of course not guaranteed!) This has led to alot of time consuming and expensive moving around. I think alot of tenants will heave a sigh of relief! Thankyou
Interesting comment
I was a letting agent for years in Devon and never had this problem ever. The let’s as you describe are usually described as “winter lets” and the tenant knows this before they move in.
Judging from these comments the sales market is going to be swamped with tenanted properties. Where are all the buyers coming from? Most mortgage companies won’t entertain lending money until there is vacant possession and a lot of tenants wont go quietly, well, would you?
There may be an element of Landlords who make a habit of moving tenants on after – say – a 6 month period, however I would suggest that the majority of Landlords do not generally do so when they have good, reliable tenants. (I have several tenants who have been in my properties for over 15 years – at the same or only minimal increase in rent).
The existing “system” for possession is inefficient and protracted and does need to be improved, which does appear to be within the proposals (only time will tell).
Unfortunately, as is the norm with new legislation, it is usually badly worded and ill considered the result of which is that there are protracted, expensive court cases to determine the exact interpretation of that law.
Let’s hope that the “creators” of the new legislation have a good understanding of the actual practicalities associated with the legislation they put in place. If so, it could prove to be a very good thing, however if they get it wrong, it will be “the straw that breaks the camel’s back” and many landlords such as myself will look to start selling their properties.
Wouldn’t it be good if, just for once, the new legislation included proposals to make “Rogue tenants” accountable in cases where they create a debt (rent, utilities etc) and then move on. Government stated that direct payment of UC, HB and the like to Tenants is to make them responsible for their finances, however, no mention is ever made as to accountability.
As a relatively newbee to being a Landlord ( 7 years) I had invested the proceeds of my mothers house into them, taken buy to let mortgages on them to pay for her Care home costs, I’ve only had 2 bad tenants in two properties, which was my fault for not vetting them properly, taking them on what I thought was their honesty but it became costly to remove them. I have just had my longest serving tenant move out – they came as a married couple, no kids, now have 4 so the house is too small !! Can anybody explain to me once Section 21 disappears what are the amendments to Section 8 ?
Hi My husband and I relatively new to the sector. We acquired 3 properties as buy to lets when my husband’s brother left some money for our children. That was a success, so we have cashed in our pensions (we are over 55) and purchased more properties and now have 7.
We had no intention of evicting any tenants in the short to medium term. As others have said, the longer a good the tenant is prepared to stay the better for us. However, we are human and our lives and financial positions change. We may need to sell one or more properties in the future i.e. when any one of our children needs a deposit for their own home. When my husband and I need the money to support us. We will have a gap between when we have to stop work and when we can draw our state pensions at 67. we would probably look to do this when we have a void but there is no guarantee of a void.
We cannot take the risk of never being able to gain possession of any one or more of the properties. We will, therefore, be issuing section 21 notices next week to regain possession of all of the properties with the aim of putting all of them back on the market for sale. No doubt at a great loss to us and forcing the tenants have to find a new home.
I am with 1548, venture, the heap and others. What are the letting agents doing to lobby the government on this? their businesses will suffer. What are landlord’s groups doing? What will the mortgage companies attitude be? They lend on the basis they can take possession, if we are in default. What happens when they can’t take possession, will they cease to lend and call in our existing mortgages? In the 70s a sitting tenant would severely affect the value of a property. It looks to me that we are returning to the 70s.
We are now going to have to take action that we absolutely do not want to take. We have no choice but to serve section 21 notices on our tenant’s before the legislation is effective, We cannot risk it having retrospective effect. We have no choice but to issue these notices now.
For tenants this must surely be bad news. Finding suitable rented accommodation is an issue already. With many Landlord’s now looking to get out of the market. This is a very ill thought out policy.
As is usually the case, the unintended consequences have not been considered. It will be the law abiding Landlord’s that are “good landlords” that will leave the market. Those who would be happy to intimidate a tenant will continue to do just that to get them to leave.
Given there is little in the way of council housing and long waiting lists for social housing what exactly does the government propose to do to fill the gap when we leave the market?
I’ve been a landlord for over 15 years and having had some tenants for several years I believe it unfair that they can be asked to leave with just 2 months notice – I would never do it to them. I think there should be a sliding scale from 2 to 6 months depending how long they’ve been there. These are obviously good tenants who’ve been with me a long time. The other ones who play the system and leave owing 6 months rent and decide to trash the place as well – I’d like to see the eviction process shortened and criminal prosecutions for theft of rent and criminal damage. After all, if a landlord can be criminalised for any shortcomings then the same standards should be applied to the tenant.
I have been a landlord for over 50 years and have some 70 houses in my portfolio. The vast majority of my tenants are lovely people and have been with me for years .HOWEVER, even my brilliant letting agent occasionally makes mistakes. 18 months ago I accepted a father and son who had good administrative positions with a local car hire firm. They rented a semi the other half of which is occupied by a couple who have been tenants for 20 years. He is an electrician and she a carer. They have three young children and are lovely. Unfortunately when the father and son moved in they were (unexpectedly) accompanied by their wives, their children and their grandparents. In addition they had an endless succession of friends to stay. They partied several nights a week into the early hours and, without permission, built an unsightly 8 foot high chipboard shed in the garden which they filled with car tyres and old machinery. They then parked five cars on and outside the property.
The next door tenants were distraught and I used section 21 powers to terminate the tenancy immediately the agreed 12 month period expired. Our solicitors made it clear to me that it was a complete waste of time attempting to use section 8 powers since, in their view, it would take several months for the case to come to court, the judge would only order them to stop – which would almost certainly be ignored – and there would be a £4000 + VAT price tag associated with the action and the realistic chances of actually getting any of that back was zero. I should perhaps add that I am in the business of letting properties and have only used section 21 twice in my entire career. In both cases it was for what I perceived as the benefit of the neighbour and the neighbourhood as a whole. I should perhaps add that at the start of my career as a landlord I experienced ‘fair rents’ and tenancies which passed two generations and never wish to see those days return.
As a long-term renter in Canada, I can see a big difference between both countries. In Canada we were quite happy to rent on a monthly basis because, the landlord could not evict good tenants for no good reasons. There we can speak freely to the landlord or its agents, but here the communication with letting agencies so far has been one sided; the agencies, their agents, decide what is best for them. Our agent always says that she has to ask the landlord, but in her emails or verbal comments, it is obvious it is her decision and probably didn’t bother telling or asking the landlord. Her replies are often: ‘we don’t do this here’ without enquiring the why behind the request and it is end of conversation. Simply put, tenants in the UK are not treated has human beings. Pay the rent and shut up. I have owned houses in Canada and the UK; I have rented a flat while owning a house and let one of my houses. We quite like renting; my husband is an intellectual and manual work or gardening is the last things he wants to do. We are good tenants because we treat our flat as if it was our own.
So, letting agencies match good tenants with good landlords, and act in favour of both parties. Satisfied customers are repeat customers and tell their friends. The UK rent sector is changing, there are more renters, so it is time for landlords and letting agencies to review your strategic planning and adapt! (Life is not frozen in time; it is changing all the time because it moves forward.) No one likes bad tenants, they are no good to landlords, letting agencies, neighbours and good renters. Blanket punishment to all renters is not the solution. Landlords should be protected against bad tenants, and good tenants should also be protected against bad landlords and letting agents.
I rent a lovely property which my son who is autistic and I love, we have been here 16 months and have made great friends with our neighbours, i have paid every month on time my rent, and I have looked after the property as if it were my own and improved the garden no end since moving in. We have made it our home, we have now been served a section 21 😢 My neighbours are gutted as they have said I am the best neighbour they have had in the house! I now have the expense and the upset of moving through no fault of my own! Any change is very difficult for my son and he starts a new school in September so it’s going to be a double bammy for him.
We have one very small flat bought with an inheritance. The flat was bought 7 years ago to help with our pensions as we cannot collect these until we are nearly 66. We have asked our letting agent to issue a section 21 notice so we can put the property on the market and release the capital. The tenant has been in the property over 3 years but we cannot risk not being able to gain possession in a years time.
Removal of section 21
Removal of tax relief on your interest only btl mortgages
Surcharge of 3% on each stamp duty tier to buy a new btl
Epc grade no less than e
Capital gain tax of 18/28% when selling
Cap of 5 week damage deposit
Tenancy deposit scheme
Selective licensing massive income stream for the government and local councils
The list goes on the government used landlord to survive the recession and rebuild the uk now they have done that its time to take it all back from the landlords – what will happens when tenants have nothing to complain about – all my spare monies pay for tenants damage my blood boils with how bad we landlords are treated I have sold 3 and will sell three then I am out 10 more people to find somewhere else – it’s true they want it to be run like 5 star council accommodation unlike their offerings of 1star tskk
I have been a landlord for ten years and cannot believe the changes which have eroded this business.
Whoever is advising the Government must be so far detached from reality as they have already seen a reduction in the privately held properties available for rental and driven rents up by the imposition of the Tenant Fee Act 2019, now they want to abolish Section 21?
There are fewer properties and tenants need not pay for referencing and checks, rents increase. By adding the additional costs to landlords at the beginning of a new tenancy, dividing it by 12, then adding that sum onto the monthly rent for the first year and then continues to collect it throughout the tenancy. Loser – tenant who is in effect, paying for referencing every year but because it is called rent means it is not a prohibited payment.
Should they now decide to abolish section 21, in effect I will have surrendered control of the property to the tenant. If they want to stay there, they can, once they have bought it as I fully intend to sell all in my portfolio. It will not help tenants, they only rent because they usually cannot afford to buy, there remains, and has been for years, a shortage of affordable housing.
Until there is recognition that landlords are doing their best in an already unhappy market, providing much needed accommodation for those who desire to live in it, if the Government continue to generate costly “schemes” and legislation to “help poor tenants” by reducing available homes and without asking industry what is appropriate, it is only right to ask the last landlords choosing to get out, to please switch off the lights!
Okay, to translate; what the government are now saying to landlords is in addition to fighting in court with a fictitious “fast track eviction process” which stops the second the eviction order is granted, because the Citizens Advice Bureau” tells tenants the order can be ignored until the bailiffs come, then you have to wait 6-8 weeks for that appointment. Now! “fight in court if you want your property back”. SOD OFF Theresa May! I’ve provided private housing in several blocks of flats I own since 1998 when I retired from the Fire Service as a responsible and fair landlord. I will now sell all my properties and pay you your Capital Gains tax. I hope its enough to house the tenants yourself. I’m don’t with this country mental challenged government. They should all be sent through “Traitors Gate” at the Tower of London. An embarrassment to England, throughout the world.
This is a ridiculous situation if you become a council tenant you are given a 12 month trial period to see if you are a good tenant if you don’t come up to scratch the council can evict you.This means that council property has a total right to evict and private landlords could be stuck with a tenant who abuses their landlords property . I rent out my home and live with my partner If I had to go to a court to get back the only property I own I would be devastated. I can;t even lock it up and leave it empty because my local authority doubles the community charge payable on a property after a period of time. Where is the democracy in this country?