Number 10 briefings to the national media suggest that the scrapping of Section 21 - long talked about by the previous Conservative government - will be one of four key measures to be announced in Thursday’s Queen’s Speech.
“In a bid to win over Generation Rent the government will promise to outlaw no-fault ‘section 21’ evictions, which allow landlords to instruct their tenants to leave a property without having to have a cause” says this morning’s I newspaper, as a result of government briefings.
The decision to scrap the provision comes despite extensive lobbying by the Association of Residential Letting Agents, landlord organisations and individuals.
The other measures will be similar crowd-pleasers: these are banning ‘all out’ rail strikes, extending the minimum length of prison sentences for terrorist offences, and preventing councils from banning investment in or purchase from named companies - seen as a measure to stop some local authorities avoiding buying from Israeli firms.
Banning S21 has been an objective of anti-agency campaign groups such as Shelter, Generation Rent and others for the past two years; the Theresa May-led Tory government initiated a consultation on the process, and the Bill to be announced on Thursday is believed to be much the same as that proposed in the consultation.
In the last Queen’s Speech under the Boris Johnson government - on October 14 - there was no mention of the Section 21 scrapping, despite the speech being made after the formal consultation closed.
Political analysts say the inclusion of the measure in this week’s Queen’s Speech is an indication of the new government seeking to establish its ‘One Nation’ credentials after winning seats in traditionally-Labour areas of England as well as Tory heartlands.
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It feels awful that Boris is giving into the shrill voices out there and ignoring the more measured ones. I understand why he wants to grant headline grabbing concessions to embed his one nation message. How it affect us will depend on the framework that surrounds it, the devil will, as usual, be in the detail
Not sure why Boris feels the need to placate Generation Rent. Their members will never, as Boris put it, "Hold their noses and put a cross against the Conservative candidate".
Disappointing.. had hoped the assault on landlords would have reduced now he has the votes he needed
Since Boris have the votes he needed, it will continue to show he delliver
OK, so in balance will we get a better Section 8 and a faster, more effective/quicker courts and possession process for the habitual late payers, anti-social tenants, etc, etc...?
I think any 'alternative' should be implemented and proven before the S21 is even considered to need retiring.
You cannot simply do half of the job to please the 'shrill voices'.
Hold on Angus, - All there's been is ' Platitudes ' mentioned to Landlords about what is proposed in place of scrapping Sec 21.
Landlords have asked for the Sec 8, alternative and Bolstered process to be developed and Implemented FIRST, in readiness for scrapping Sec 21.
We haven't heard anything further about the alternative to Sec 21, and I wish I had your optimism.
So clearly Countrywide's £500,000 donation to the Tories is money well spent!
Not !
They said if S21 was gone they would beef up S8 and make a special property court to balance things up. So were is the rest?
Before Parliament was dissolved, The Rented Homes Bill was in process, this was the bill that would outline the changes.
Firstly all these headlines are very misleading and just scaremongering, Section 21 is NOT being scrapped, actually it is Assured Shorthold Tenancies that are being stopped, which in turn means LLs will not be able to use S21 as S21 of the Housing act will be void.
ASTs will revert to Assured tenancies which will require grounds for a LL to evict.
Having read the The Rented Homes Bill (which I am sure will be resurrected tomorrow) it clearly states NEW grounds for eviction which would be classed as NO FAULT reasons, such as LL wants to sell, LL wants to move back in etc..
The issue here isnt the removing of S21 it is more to do with the lack of court services with many magistrate and county courts being closed.
I see many comments above saying that S8 process needs to be improved or sped up - and although i do not disagree, i feel this is may be said through rose tinted glasses because on average it takes 6-8 months to get an eviction warrant from the date of serving a S21, so LLs are no better off using S21 than they are using S8 and with the ever changing law meaning it is harder and harder to actually serve a valid S21 I thought LLs would be happy to see the back of it.
What Shelter wants Shelter gets seems to be the housing policy for all parties.
Shelter needs to realise that private landlords are not a charity. We are finding that the tenants fees ban means that some landlords are choosing not to pay for tenant checking, increasing the risk of having tenants with issues. Those that do pay for the checks just put the rents up so the tenant ends up paying anyway. Our landlords are moving into holiday lets instead.
The government are just shooting themselves in both feet.
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