Feb

‘No fault’ evictions ban delayed until Covid is over, minister tells landlord chief

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The much-debated Renters Reform Bill that is expected to ban Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions has been kicked into the long grass by Covid, housing minister Christopher Pincher (pictured, below) has revealed.

His comments were made to National Residential Landlord Association chief Ben Beadle (pictured above), who reports that it’s now unlikely that the reforms the bill is due to bring in will take place now until after the pandemic is over.

Speaking during the NRLA’s inaugural ‘Listen Up Landlords’ blog hosted by landlord and broadcaster Richard Blanco (pictured, above), Beadle said the government will now wait for the economic and social situation to stabilise before attempting any major PRS surgery.

“I don’t think we’re going to see social and economic stability any time soon so I think what we’re looking at is some sort of bridge between what we have now and the Renters Reform Bill,” says Beadle, who reminded listeners that the bill has yet to be formally published never mind begun its passage through parliament.

Bills normally take approximately a year to gain royal assent and pass into law, so an outright ban on no-fault evictions is unlikely before late 2022 at the earliest.

“But we know it will include measures to abolish Section 21 evictions and, whether landlords like it or not, that has widespread political support,” says Beadle.

He also said the NRLA understands the ban will not be retrospective and will only apply to new tenancies, and that he hoped it would also tidy up many of the existing pain points in the evictions process.

Once the bill does become law, it will create a new type of tenancy that can only be ended forcibly by a landlord via a modified Section 8 notice eviction which will cover rent arrears, anti-social behaviour and a landlord moving back into or selling their property.

Read more about the Renters Reform Bill.

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