Gove commits to outlawing section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions before general election
The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove, has committed to introducing the proposed ban on section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions before the next general election.
In October last year the Government said it would delay commencement of the ban in the Renters’ Reform Bill until stronger possession grounds and a new court process were in place.
Asked by the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg yesterday (11 February) whether he could guarantee that the ban would be in place by the next general election, the Secretary of State said: “Yes. We have a Bill. It has gone through its stages in the House of Commons and that Bill does a number of things to help people in the private rented sector accommodation, including ending no fault evictions.
“Why does that matter, some might ask. Well, it is the case that there are a small minority of unscrupulous landlords who use the threat of eviction either to jack up rents or to silence people who are complaining about the quality of their homes. It is important that we deal with that abuse because the vast majority of landlords do a great job and you need a healthy private rented sector as part of a balanced housing economy.”
Gove later added: “We will have outlawed it [no-fault evictions] and we will have put the money into the courts in order to ensure that they can enforce it.”
Earlier in the interview the Secretary of State had acknowledged that the UK housing system was “broken” but he said the Government was now “taking action” including to increase the availability of social housing and decrease the number of people in temporary housing.
Gove identified a growing population, too few homes being built and a tightening of mortgage finance as key reasons for pressures on the system.
The Renters’ Reform Bill is currently at the report stage in the House of Commons as of 12 February 2024. The next general election must take place by January 2025.
Gove’s comments came a few days after housing charity Shelter claimed that government figures, released last week, showed that 26,311 households in England had been removed from their homes by court bailiffs as a result of section 21 since the Government first promised to scrap such evictions in 2019.
The Ministry of Justice statistics also showed an increase of 49% in households evicted by bailiffs in the past year (9,457 from 6,339 in 2022).
Polly Neate, Chief Executive of Shelter, said: “It’s utterly shameful that the government is bowing to vested interests while renters are marched out of their homes in their thousands. How much longer are renters expected to live with the threat of unjust no-fault evictions hanging over them?
“When plans for the Renters (Reform) Bill were first drawn up, they promised renters an escape from an insecure and unjust system that left them in constant fear of losing their homes. But, without serious amends, this Bill won't be worth the paper it’s written on.
“There’s still time and opportunity to deliver a Bill that makes renting safer, fairer and more secure, but the government must grasp the nettle and oppose attempts to water down the Bill from inside its own ranks. When they head for the ballot box, England’s 11 million renters will remember who stood with them.”
Harry Rodd
