Ending Section 21 evictions will be a disaster, agents and landlords warn

The largest ever poll of landlords and letting agents conducted in recent times has found that 46% are expecting to scale back their activity in the private rental sector if the government ends Section 21 evictions.

Conducted by the Residential Landlords Association (RLA), it received responses from 6,500 letting agents and landlords, the largest in its history.

The proposed end to Section 21 evictions would  appear to be a ‘final straw’ for many following the tenant fees ban, tax relief reductions, Stamp Duty increases, proposed ‘indefinite tenancies’ and mandatory qualifications for letting agents.

This is because, the RLA claims, the alternative Section 8 notice court process can take up to five months to complete.

According to the survey, of those landlords with experience of such repossessions, 79 per cent did not consider the courts to be reliable.

Housing court

The survey is not all fire and brimstone. Landlords and letting agents overwhelmingly support the introduction of a national housing court to bring all disputes under one roof, and 40% of respondents said they’d wait and see what other regulations might be in the pipeline before deciding whether to rein back their private rental sector activity.

“Security of tenure means nothing unless the homes to rent are there in the first place,” says David Smith, Policy Director for the Residential Landlords Association.

“With the demand for private rented housing showing no signs of slowing down it is vital that landlords are confident that they can quickly and easily get back their property in legitimate circumstances.

“Whilst the system should clearly be fair to tenants, it needs also to support and encourage good landlords.”