No-fault eviction numbers declined by 5,000 last year, official figures show
Drop is mostly down to the Deregulation Act 2015 and its deterrent effect on landlords and agents proceeding with Section 21 evictions.
The government’s recent efforts to end unfair ‘no-fault evictions’ appears to be working after the most recent figures from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) revealed a sharp decline in their use.
There were 29,611 accelerated possession cases or Section 21 ‘no-fault evictions’ last year, the MoJ figures show, nearly 5,000 fewer than the year before.
Evictions expert Paul Shamplina of Landlord Action says the slump in no-fault evictions is largely due to the Deregulation Act 2015, which came into force in October that year.
It has made no-fault evictions much more difficult and protected tenants against unfair retaliatory evictions when they report legitimate complaints about a property.
Correct paperwork
The act requires that tenants are served the correct paperwork when they start a tenancy including providing a copy of a property’s EPC, Gas Safety certificate, proof that the deposit has been legally protected and the government’s ‘How to Rent’ booklet.
If this paperwork is not served correctly, evictions are much more difficult.
Paul Shamplina says this has stopped a lot of landlords using accelerated evictions, often because they aren’t aware of the legislative requirements and then, when a tenant stops paying the rent – which make up 73% of evictions – they then struggle to get an eviction off the ground.
“By the time landlords come to us, the relationship with the tenant has usually broken down making it harder to gain access to the property and deal with these issues, meaning the landlord can’t use a section 21,” says Paul (pictured).
Accelerated evictions are also now taking longer, the MoJ figures show.
“The term ‘accelerated’ is not really an appropriate name for this procedure, as the statistics show, it is not actually quicker anymore,” says Paul.
“Despite this, I predict we will see another rise in use of the accelerated possession procedure over the next couple of years as more landlords are forced to sell off properties off the back of rising interest rates and increased tax liabilities.”
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