Lords sceptical of Gove’s Section 21 evictions ban promise
Government minister gets a grilling about her boss's claim that 'no fault' evictions "will be outlawed before General Election".
Michael Gove’s claim that Section 21 evictions will be banned before the General Election have been called into doubt during a lively debate in the Lords.
His claims, which were made a week ago during a BBC interview, led to housing minister Baroness Penn (main image) being questioned about the likelihood of his claim being realistic by fellow peers.
During his interview with Laura Kuenssberg, Gove said that by the General Election – which must take place before the end January 2025 but most likely before that, “we will have outlawed [Section 21 evictions] and we will have put the money into the courts in order to ensure that they can enforce that”.
Shadow Housing Spokesperson Baroness Taylor of Stevenage pressed Penn on what was being done to make such a claim possible, given the Government has always said the ban will not come in until the courts are ready.
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“In committee on the Renters (Reform) Bill, the minister has said that the ban cannot be enacted until court reforms are complete,” said Baroness Taylor.
“Can the minister please set out what court reforms are to be put in place and the timetable for delivering them, so that the ban on Section 21 can be operational before a general election?”
Penn replied that by then it would have passed the Bill and put money into the courts to ensure it could enforce it.
But several peers showed scepticism about this claim, partly because it is the head of the judiciary, and not the Government, who decides where money is spent on the courts.
Also, landlords and agents will be given six months to get ready once the legislation goes live.”
Penn added: “We need to allow time for the courts to prepare for this, to allow evictions, court rules, forms and administrative systems to be updated.
“It is also to allow for secondary legislation that flows from the primary legislation to be laid, and for guidance to be put in place.
“But we are working hard, and we have already provided upfront money to the court system to kick-start that process, so that we can move towards implementation as soon as possible.”
As ever the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand does or doesn’t! Complete shambles and why get rid of something that works. ANd as for no fixed terms – it is mostly our tenants who want fixed terms for security! rather than our landlords. Utter nonsense lets muck up something that was working as what else are we any good at!
The sooner parliament is dissolved the better!
This Government and most of Parliament are a total shambles. If only I could get in touch with Guy Fawkes to finish the job off!
More messing about – we will , no we won’t, we will, no we won’t, maybe, somewhen…. Talk about mess Landlords around. PR Landlords should invest else where and teach the Gov a painful lesson.