‘God help us!’ Property industry reacts to latest PRS changes

The property industry has welcomed the decision to put the abolition of Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions on hold, but warns there are still major problems with the Government’s PRS reform.

The Renters (Reform) Bill put forward by Housing Secretary Michael Gove was given its second reading in Parliament earlier this week, after a last-minute withdrawal of the Section 21 proposal.

The Government rejected a call from MPs to introduce housing courts to deal with a backlog of eviction cases.

MPs sitting on the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee had urged the Government to clear legal logjams by creating dedicated housing courts.

Unintended consequences

Timothy Douglas, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Propertymark, says: “The UK Government have failed to take seriously the potential impact and the unintended consequences of the removal of Section 21 and the impact this could have on landlords exiting the property market, which will do nothing to tackle the demand crisis in the private rented sector.”

Neil Cobbold, MD at rental payments platform Payprop, says: “We welcome the pausing of the Section 21 abolition.

“It is critical that further action be taken to make the court eviction process as efficient as possible.”

Tracy Churchwood, MD at Churchwood Stanley in Essex, says: “Just when you thought they couldn’t make the PRS any worse with this Bill… they now come up with complete utter nonsense, that will finally kill off the PRS.

“Why change things that do work well for both landlord and tenant to something that will never work for either. God help us!”

It’s the tenants who will suffer the most.”

John Adlam, director at Hunters in London says: “This is an ill thought through, piece of legislation driven by falsehoods promoted by political activists.

“It will devastate the private rental sector which is already at crisis point. And it’s the tenants who will suffer the most.”