Important Announcement regarding Section 21

Both the Welsh and UK government have proposed a consultation on the abolition of section 21, the so called ‘no fault repossession’ route. Instead, landlords will only be able to repossess a property by using the fault based, section 8 notice route.

This is proposed for both England and Wales though as it is only at the consultation stage, no time frame for implementation has been set.

RLA research has shown that the majority of ‘no fault’ repossessions are based on the behaviour of the tenant. Evictions usually occur as a result of rent arrears or anti-social behaviour. Likely because fault based repossessions can take on average half a year to complete.

The RLA takes the view that if section 21 is removed, it should only be done once landlords can reliably and quickly evict tenants who are in serious rent arrears or another breach of their tenancy. Without this certainty landlords may choose to leave the market or only rent to the most financially secure tenants, increasing homelessness as a result.

Over the coming days, the RLA will be asking for your opinions on this, as well as continuing to campaign for the interests of our members. Please click here if you are a member and would like to provide us with your comments. You will be asked to log into your RLA account so please have these details to hand.