Michael Gove says he cannot guarantee “no-fault” evictions will be banned in England by the next general election — as landlord and tenant groups argue over the Renters Reform Bill, which is being debated in the House of Commons today.
The housing secretary says the pace of the wide-ranging legislation will depend on what happens in the House of Lords after it receives its third reading in the Commons.
“My determination is to ensure that we get this bill on the statute book. But it’s up to the Lords to decide the rate of progress that we can make,” Gove told the BBC.
He adds: “If opposition parties are supportive – and I believe that while they have some quibbles, they are supportive of the essential principle that we’re bringing forward – then we can have Section 21 ended before the general election. That’s the aim.”
“I hope that we can get it on the statute book before the election.”
The wide-ranging legislation plans to abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, tighten rules around landlord repossessions, improve housing conditions and strengthen local council powers to regulate landlords.
But pressure from Conservative backbench MPs, some of whom are landlords, has forced the government to make a series of amendments.
These include:
- A review of the court system before ending section 21 for existing tenancies to make sure it can cope with the increased workload
- It accepts a proposal by the cross-party housing select committee that when a fixed-term tenancy agreements end, “tenants be unable to give two months’ notice to leave until they have been in a property for at least four months.”
- All types of student housing will be covered by new planned ground for possession to protect the annual cycle of this housing market
This has led the Renters’ Reform Coalition, a campaign group of 20 housing charities and organisations, to say the bill in its current form is “unacceptable”.
Renters Reform Coalition campaign officer Roise Dutch says: “The government had given into the landlord lobby, and written changes into the bill, including delaying the abolition of Section 21 indefinitely and locking tenants into — potentially unsafe and unsuitable — homes for the first six months of a new tenancy.
“For us, that is the final straw. This is not acceptable and so we are making it clear that our support cannot be taken for granted.”
But National Residential Landlords Association chief executive Ben Beadle says the new amendments deliver a more “balanced bill”, which the government should push forward.
Beadle adds: “This bill delivers a fair deal for tenants and responsible landlords. In the interests of certainty for the sector, it is now time to ensure the bill passes through Parliament.
“For renters, the bill will abolish section 21 repossessions and fixed term tenancies, introduce a Decent Homes Standard for the sector, a new ombudsman and property portal which landlords will have to join as well as measures to protect families and those in receipt of benefits from discrimination.
He points out: “Going forward, it will always be for the courts to decide if landlords have met the threshold to repossess a property based on a series of legitimate reasons.
“This includes tenant anti-social behaviour, serious rent arrears or where a landlord plans to sell a property.”
The Conservative Party’s rent reforms were first set out by former Prime Minister Theresa May in 2019.
A bill was finally published last May, which set out major changes that govern the relationship between England’s 11 million private renters and 2.3 million landlords.
