Housing Act reforms: new tenancy rules help deter evictions
Section 21 Notice
Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 provides authority to landlords to evict their tenants, with two months’ notice, without the need for a reason or ground for eviction. This is referred to as “no fault eviction”.
The Government in 2019 however underwent consultation where they considered the proposal of abolishing section 21 of the 1988 Act. This was followed by the White Paper, A fairer private rented sector - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), where the Government laid out the action plan to implement the abolishment of section 21 and to “introduce a simpler tenancy structure”. The outcome of the consultation also meant the introduction of new grounds and reform of existing grounds of section 8 of the Housing Act 1988.
The aim of the reform is to provide a “fairer deal” for renters while still providing the landlords with the ability to evict tenants where it is reasonable to do so. The government hopes that the new reforms will create a “system that supports higher property standards”.
The Reform
The changes to the law will abolish section 21 evictions effectively taking away the power from the landlords to evict tenants without grounds or reason. Under the new provisions, landlords will now be required to show that one or more of the grounds in section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 apply to evict tenants.
An introduction of a new ground will allow landlords to serve a section 8 Notice on the tenants where they intend to sell the property. The landlord will need to provide the tenants with a two months’ notice. However, as with some of the existing grounds, this will not be possible within the first six months of the tenancy.
Changes will also be made to existing grounds in section 8, namely that landlords will now be able to serve a section 8 Notice on the tenants, where they OR their close family members wish to live in the property. This was not possible under the old section 8 provisions which did not permit immediate/close family members (other than spouses or civil partners) to move into the rental property. However as with the previous provisions the landlord will not be able to do this within the first six months of the tenancy.
Changes Regarding Criminal and Severe Anti-Social Behaviour
We can also see amendments to the ground of: Criminal and Severe Anti-Social Behaviour. This ground provides that “The tenant must have been convicted of one of the of the following:
- a serious criminal offence as set out in Schedule 2A of the Housing Act 1985; breached an IPNA [Injunction to Prevent Nuisance and Annoyance]
- a closure order has been served on the property
- breached a criminal behavior order
- convicted of causing a noise nuisance."
Under the new provisions only two weeks notice will be required with landlords possessing the power to make a claim to court straightaway.
However, while the landlord will be required to successfully establish a reason for eviction, the tenant still retains the right to end the tenancy without a valid reason.
New - Section 16A - right to keep a pet
Another interesting point to note is that the Renters Reform Bill also proposes the insertion of the new provision: “section 16A of the Housing Act 1988” which will provide the tenants the right to request consent to keep a pet. This request must be in writing with a full description of the pet in question. As with other provisions the landlord will retain the right to grant or refuse this request. However, the landlord will not be able to “unreasonably” refuse consent. The refusal will be reasonable if:
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The keeping of the pet at the dwelling breaches an agreement with the superior landlord
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There is an agreement in place between the landlord and superior landlord which requires the landlord to seek consent for the keeping of the pet and this consent has been refused by the superior landlord.
