Minister promises cash to relieve court pressure once Section 21 scrapped
Matthew Pennycook says the Government will invest in extra court capacity to ease logjams before Section 21 'no fault' evictions are banned.
Housing minister Matthew Pennycook (main picture) says the Government will invest in extra court capacity to cope once Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions are scrapped.
The bill to ban Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions was published this week in Parliament signalling the Government’s intention to move quickly on PRS regulation.
Failed to deliver
The previous Conservative government failed to deliver on its pledge to scrap Section 21, running out of time when a snap election was called, but the new Labour administration is set to see it through.
Propertymark is making it clear it isn’t happy with the move, and has made this obvious in its comments, by saying that without action to relieve the pressure in courts, the reforms will fail.
The case for reform is as watertight as they come.”
But Pennycook insists: “The case for reform is as watertight as they come. Private rentals are currently the least affordable, poorest quality, and most insecure form of housing that exists.
“The sector is letting down responsible tenants and failing the majority of good landlords who provide a decent service to their tenants”.
Change long overdue
He says in a Daily Telegraph article that “change is long overdue, not least because the private rented sector has changed beyond recognition since Parliament last legislated to fundamentally alter the relationship between landlords and tenants in 1988”.
Pennycook says “the Government is moving quickly to reform the sector because tenants have waited long enough for the rights and protections they deserve and because landlords need the certainty they were denied by the previous government’s chaotic handling of its legislation”.
Extra capacity
He says the Government “will invest in additional court and tribunal capacity to handle any extra hearings generated by these reforms”.
And a new digital system for possession claims is being developed “making the process quicker, clearer, and more reliable for landlords and tenants alike”.
