Dozens of people lost their home in Brighton and Hove last year as a result of a “no-fault eviction” – a practice that the new Labour government has pledged to ban.
Figures from the Ministry of Justice said that county court bailiffs repossessed 59 homes after a “section 21 order” – named after the section of the Housing Act 1988 that covers no-fault evictions.
The number of no-fault evictions in the year to June was down slightly from the 62 cases recorded in the previous 12 months.
The same figures showed that, nationally, repossessions had reached their highest level in six years.
Labour aims to bring in a “renters’ rights bill” to ban section 21 notices which allow landlords to evict tenants with two months’ notice without having to give a reason.
If a tenant refuses to leave a property in compliance with the notice, their landlord may seek a section 21 order from the county court.
Labour’s proposed bill is expected to take up the baton from the Renters (Reform) Bill, introduced by the Conservatives. It initially included a ban on no-fault evictions which was later dropped.
As well as the 59 no-fault evictions in Brighton and Hove last year, landlords locally applied for a further 172 “accelerated possession orders” after section 21 notices were ignored.
Some 32,789 of these no-fault eviction claims were submitted to courts across the country in 2023-24, the highest figure since 2015-16.
Repossessions went up by almost a quarter last year, rising nearly 24 per cent to 10,802, the highest figure in six years.
The true number of section 21 notices issued was probably much higher because the figures included only cases when the tenant had not left the property after two months.
Renters Reform Coalition director Tom Darling said that although the government had pledged to end no-fault evictions, “renters cannot afford to wait much longer”.
He said: “We must see legislation brought forward soon to get a grip on the situation and address the renting crisis.”
The Local Government Association, which represents councils, said that the section 21 ban “needs to be brought forward as quickly as possible”.
The LGA added that a “genuine cross-departmental approach to tackling this crisis as part of a long-term government strategy, is key, with councils given the powers and resources needed to address the national shortage of affordable housing”.
The Labour election manifesto said that a ban on section 21 evictions would be implemented “immediately”, though no official timeframe has been provided.
The government said that it would “take action where the previous government has failed” to protect renters including an end to no-fault evictions.
The Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “Too many people currently live with the threat of insecurity and injustice and so we will make sure everyone can grow up in the secure housing they deserve.
“We will introduce tough new protections for renters, end no-fault evictions and raise standards to make sure homes are safe for people to live in.”
The government said that it was determined to “level decisively the playing field between landlord and tenant by providing renters with greater security, rights and protections and cracking down on the minority of unscrupulous landlords who exploit, mistreat or discriminate against tenants”.
The National Residential Landlords Association said that the system that replaces section 21 “needs to be fair, workable and sustainable for both responsible landlords and renters”.
The association warned that this would mean “fixing a broken justice system which too often fails those reliant upon it”.
How many of those were due to landords selling the property? Isn’t ‘landords out’ what people wanted?
The article does suggest that the actual figures are likely obfuscated:
“The true number of section 21 notices issued was probably much higher because the figures included only cases when the tenant had not left the property after two months.”
The evictions are happening because Landlords are selling up and people are starting to complain. After labelling them the worst people on the planet it will now be large corporations who own all of the property.
Oh well.
Expect far fewer rental properties when this law comes in and landlords being much fussier about who they accept. Additionally, rents will shoot up as the number of rental properties fall, demand increases and the population continues to increase rapidly.
Tenants are being evicted using Section 21 either because landlords are selling up, probably due to the increasingly onerous regulations and restrictions and the threat of far worse to come, or as an easier route to get rid of non paying or problem tenants. “No fault” eviction is a misnomer, what Section 21 really is is a “no reason given” eviction. It’s a simpler and quicker way to evict problem tenants than using Section 8, which requires a court hearing. Even using Section 21 the eviction process can take getting on for a year. When all landlords are required to use Section 8 instead the court system will completely buckle and it could well take over two years – but the same number of evictions will take place. It will just be much slower. As a consequence landlords will be incredibly picky about who they take on as tenants. No one in their right mind would take a chance on tenants with a less than perfect credit history, and more and more will sell up. Labour and Generation Rent should be careful what they wish for.
Worst than this most landlords I know are now asking for a home guarantor to guarantee tenants rent so they can take court action to recover any outstanding rent plus legal fees. This will make it far harder for even decent tenants to rent what little rental stock remains available. The harder they get squeezed the more they need to find ways to protect themselves which will make tenants lives harder.
So you advocate that Section 8 should be faster and more streamlined so it more supportive for Landlords to get rid of problem tenants? Because, that actually seems like a good idea to me. Using S21 because it’s easier than a more specific route is precisely why S21 needs to be banned, however, Landlords should have laws in place that support them remove problem tenants.
Man its funny seeing comments that read “now landlords can’t be scumbags they’re selling up how bad”
I’d sooner rent through a massive company then give a penny to a lazy nonce landlord.
Yes – as they have the massive legal teams to pursue the overdue rent, bankrupting people, levy more fees and charges as well as no doubt keep a list of defaulters, never to be rented to again – nationally.. Like you say the problem will resolve itself.
I am not one of them, but I know a few “landlords” – all are selling up. Just like Scotland the number of properties actually available to rent is going down, and even build to rent projects will stall. (none so far this year in Scotland).
But both the Tories and Labour wished to outdo each other in the tabloids -so here we are.
No doubt the content creators will make much from this misery but the headline will be – if you can’t afford to buy here don’t come here.
Seem to be a lot of landlords commenting on this article. People living in rented accomodation need protection from unscupulous landlords who use eviction as a weapon against tenants who complain about the appaling state of their properties.
Indeed, but the current direction of travel throws the baby out with the bath water. The media and tenant groups have created a myth where landlords are just itching for a reason to evict their tenants, when in reality the vast majority of section 21 notices are served for rent arrears, poor behaviour on the part of the tenant or because the landlord is selling the property. As previous commentor noted, it can take a year to evict a non-paying or problem tenant and this timescale will greatly increase under Labour’s new proposals. This has made the sector too risky for the average small landlord and they are leaving in droves, which will only get worse as Labour pursue their anti landlord agenda. More of our council tax will have to be spent on shoddy temporary accommodation and diverted straight into the pockets of the worst landlords of the lot, not to mention the effect on those unfortunate tenants that nobody will want to house. For all the Tory’s faults at least they had the sense to realise the court system needs reforming before the introduction of a section 21 ban, whereas Labour are determined to crack on to the detriment of tenants, landlords and society.
I’d suggest if S21 is being used for those specific reasons as you describe, there should be a specific section for those specific reasons. So alongside banned S21, streamline processes such as S8.
It won’t happen though as the courts are unlikely to speed up. On the plus side every section 8 tenant will never be able to rent in the private sector ever again as it will show up in their name when a credit check is done. Once a section 8 has been issued they will become untouchable in the private sector as opposed to just being able to jump to another private landlord which will mean a huge extra burden on councils to house the dross. The only people renting will be people with parental home guarantors that can cover unpaid rent and legal eviction costs with the sale of their house or savings if they default against a landlord.