The government has decided to take action and abolish Landlords ability to serve a section 21 notice. This has come in light of many claims from various tenant support groups, suggesting that 46% of tenants received a notice to leave the property within 6 months.

Removal of section 21 could cause landlords to leave the already struggling property market and would mean many landlords wanting to rent out their property short term will no longer be able to do so, leaving them no choice but to rent indefinitely unless sufficient grounds were given, of a similar kind to those that have been issued in Scotland. As of December 2017, scottish landlords were no longer allowed to serve section 33’s (their version of a section 21) for a no-fault possession, however the government have added a few extra grounds for possession if a landlord has “reasonable cause” for example, needing to sell, refurbish or move back in. Scotland now has open-ended tenancies meaning there is no end date, like the “assured tenancy” and it’s looking like it will be that way here also.

The end of the section 21 comes after many campaigns from various organizations claiming that it causes tenants to ‘live in fear’. Many tenants and support groups see this as a victory, however, this abolishment will more than likely lead to landlords driving up the cost rent causing tenants to suffer as a result. This will also lead to Landlords that ‘need’ their properties back to cause an even larger decline in the already diminishing housing stock unless additional provisions are put in place. In reality, the government needs to listen to landlords and give them the ability to obtain their property back when ‘needed’ as this is what happens the majority of times anyway.