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Beware: Section 21 is ‘biggest change to private rental market’ in a generation

Leading evictions specialist Paul Shamplina says removal of Section 21 from the Housing Act 1988 is biggest threat to landlords and letting agents 'in years'.

Nigel Lewis

A leading evictions specialist has warned that the removal of Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 is the ‘biggest threat to landlords in years’ and that if it goes ahead, the number of Section 8 evictions will double and lead to chaos in the court system.

Paul Shamplina of Landlord Action says the proposed reforms to Section 21 put forward by the previous Conservative Housing Secretary James Brokenshire will drive more landlords to leave the sector than previous policies.

These include the additional stamp duty, the withdrawal of Section 24 mortgage interest relief or even the tenants fees ban.

The consultation is asking for industry views on the removal of Section 21, improving section 8 eviction grounds and setting up a housing court.
Shamplina says the Fair Possessions Coalition, which includes his company as well as ARLA Propertymark, Safe Agent and both landlord associations, has jointly filed a response to the Section 21 consultation opened by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 21st July.

It says: “A thriving private rental market that provides choice for tenants hinges on landlords having confidence that they can regain possession of their property in a timely and efficient way.

“At present, only Section 21 repossessions provide that certainty. It should be kept unless and until a new system is in place that provides landlords with the same level of certainty. The other routes currently available for repossessing properties do not meet this test.”

Shamplina is urging all letting agents to complete the government’s consultation survey and have their say about ‘one of the biggest reforms of the private rental market’ for generations.

August 2, 2019

One comment

  1. Since when has the government ever taken any notice of consultees? They just go through the process, ignore the result and continue with their one size fits all approach to people pleasing potential voters. This is another failure waiting to happen.

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