Banning Section 21 evictions will hurt tenants too, warns Shamplina

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Banning Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions will not reform how landlords take possession of properties but instead force them to use another mechanism to tenants’ detriment, TV star and Landlord Action founder Paul Shamplina has warned.

In a joint statement with rental payments platform PayProp, Shamplina says most tenancies end because the tenant chooses to leave, not because the landlord is evicting.

“Landlords want tenants to stay in their property long term, and only serve notice as a last resort,” he says.

 “We know from our experience at Landlord Action that most Section 21 notices are issued because a tenant is in rent arrears, or because a landlord wishes to sell or move back into their property.

“In many cases, landlords could have used Section 8 for rent arrears or anti-social behaviour, but their lack of faith in the associated court process, which is undoubtedly more protracted, is why many revert to Section 21.

Change not reform

“Therefore, abolishing Section 21 will not significantly change the number of evictions, it will simply change the process, which may have knock-on consequences for the number of open court cases and the associated costs for which the tenant will be liable.”^.

He argues that the Section 8 notice and associated grounds will become the norm.

 “There are various aspects of Section 8 that need considerable revision before Section 21 can be fully abolished.

“I believe it will need to be a phased ending to allow the courts time to clear the backlog from the last two years and for all grounds to be considered and revised appropriately.

Read: The ultimate guide to the evictions process.

“For example, the route for dealing with abandonment cases must be clarified, to prevent unnecessary court cases where the tenant has clearly already left the property.

Neil Cobbold (pictured), MD of rental platform PayProp UK: “The scrapping of Section 21 is likely still some way off, with a White Paper and the legislation itself needing to make their way through both Houses to reach Royal Assent.

“It’s important to note that reforming evictions is going to cause some upheaval and there will be a significant bedding-in period.”

Read: Tom Entwistle's take on banning Section 21 evictions.

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