Plans to scrap ‘no fault evictions’
Friends have welcomed news of a consultation on 'no fault evictions'
Quakers have welcomed the government’s announcement that it will consider ditching ‘no-fault evictions’ in a ground-breaking overhaul of ‘renters rights’.
The proposal follow a longstanding campaign by housing groups to radically shake up renters contractual rights, including ‘no fault evictions’, which they say have helped drive up the number of homeless people. The government announced on 15 April that it will consult on abolishing Section 21 evictions in England, meaning private landlords would no longer be able to evict tenants from their homes at short notice and without good reason. Under current law, landlords can legally evict tenants with eight weeks’ notice after a fixed-term contract has expired.
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) tweeted: ‘No one should have to live in fear of insecure housing. It’s about people’s homes and right to live full, active lives in their community.’
Shelter called the news ‘an outstanding victory’.
Sarah Fishpool, co-founder of the Ethical Landlords Association and member of Totteridge Meeting, cautioned that ‘they are only consulting on it’ but added: ‘It is really great they are looking for feedback to help change the law in a way that doesn’t unfairly penalise landlords.’
She told the Friend that abolishing Section 21 would make tenants ‘more safe and secure’. She said: ‘It does impact on people’ and told the story of a woman ‘in a very senior postion’ who had a leak and was afraid to ask the landlord to pay for it as she had a child in a local school.
The new system will create open-ended tenancies and reassure tenants that they will not be evicted from their accommodation if they complain about conditions. Under the proposals, landlords can evict tenants if they have fallen into rent arrears, engaged in criminal or antisocial behaviour, or broken the terms of the agreement. This will have to be done under the Section 8 process which will be amended to allow landordss to use it if they want to move into or sell the property.
Some landlord associations reacted furiously to the proposals arguing that buy-to-let lenders may be less likely to lend if it is more difficult for landlords to evict challenging tenants.
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