EXCLUSIVE: Government ‘bans’ Section 21 evictions through the back door

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An quietly-introduced change to the form landlords must fill in before accelerated possession proceedings can move forward means the time and effort needed to evict via a Section 21 notice is now on a par with Section 8, LandlordZONE can reveal.

New eviction rules for landlords introduced quietly by the government earlier this month have removed the advantages previously given to landlords when applying for an accelerated possession procedure eviction.

Until the 6^th April when the change was made without fanfare, landlords could move to evict tenants via a Section 21 notice if it was uncontested and they were not claiming for rent arrears.

But the government has published an updated N5B form, which is the court document used for issuing non accelerated possession claims.

Lengthened

It has been lengthened significantly and now requires landlords to fill in a raft of extra information before the eviction process can proceed.

“Basically, the Section 21 process was supposed to be quick and easy hence the ‘accelerated procedure’ name,” says Tim Frome, Legal Director of Landlord Action

“Through legislative and administrative amends like this, it is now probably more difficult and time consuming to evict someone through a Section 21 than an Section 8 claim.”

This means the government has, though the court process, effectively ‘banned’ Section 21 notice evictions by putting them on a par with Section 8 ones, a fact that many landlords will not find out until after the Coronavirus crisis and they start eviction proceedings once more.

Changes
to the N5B form include asking landlords to provide the following
information:

• All previous copies of the current and any previous tenancy agreements.
• All EPCs and annual gas safety certificates.
• Extra information about the tenancy deposit.
• Confirmation that there have been no Tenant Fees Act breaches during the tenant.
• Confirmation that first gas safety certificate was provided ‘before tenancy began’.

“This last point [about gas safety] is the controversial point because a simple admin error can mean the landlord cannot use a Section 21 notice, and the matter is due to be decided by the Court of Appeal,” says Tim Frome.

Read more about that case.

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