Recommendation 26

HM Government Acknowledged

As set out in the 2021 Queen’s Speech, the Government is committed to delivering a Better Deal for Renters, including abolishing Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions to improve security for tenants, as well as strengthening repossession grounds for landlords when they have valid grounds. These proposals will be the largest change to renting in 30 years and it is only right that the Government takes the time to deliver a balanced set of reforms, and to allow time to consider the impact of the pandemic on the sector. In the coming months, the Government will work with key sector voices to inform reforms of how the private rented sector operates in England, and to learn lessons from our emergency response measures during the pandemic. We have already consulted on Section 21 reform, in the ‘A New Deal for Renting: Resetting the Balance of Rights and Responsibilities Between Landlords and Tenants’ consultation. This received almost 20,000 responses and sought views on the best way to provide tenants with greater security, but also ensure that landlords are able to recover their properties where they have valid reasons to do so. The Government will publish our consultation response later this year. The Government will bring forward a White Paper in the Autumn, focussed on delivering our commitments to abolish Section 21, while reforming possession grounds so that landlords can regain possession where it is fair and reasonable to do so, alongside further proposals to support tenants and landlords. We expect the White Paper will cover: • Reforming tenancy law to remove Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 and to amend the possession grounds under Section 8 of the Act, so that landlords can regain their property where it is fair and reasonable to do so, for example where they need to sell or move into a property; • Introducing a new ‘lifetime’ deposit model to ease one of the key burdens when tenants need to move, while balancing landlords’ needs of a deposit scheme; • Requiring all private landlords to belong to a redress scheme, to drive up standards in the private rented sector and ensure that all tenants have a right to redress; • Considering further reforms of the private renter sector enforcement system so it is well targeted, effective and supports improvements in property conditions. This will include a set of measures to hold bad landlords to account for delivering safe and decent housing to tenants without penalising good landlords; and • Exploring improvements and possible efficiencies to the possession process in the courts, to make it quicker and easier for landlords and tenants to use. We welcome the Committee’s views on this in due course.