I had hoped I’d get away with it. That the section 21 validity flowchart could just sit there and await the end of section 21. But then, I’ve been hoping that since 2019, when the end of section 21 was a manifesto promise, and I’ve had to update it five times since then (not including this one).
But, given a prompt by this case on providing tenancy deposit prescribed information, and the need to remove about three pages of now redundant varying notice periods for the covid era, I have done another update. Which is now only 12 pages.
The flowchart is here, and the permanent page for the flowchart in various forms is here.
Now, please merciful heavens and Minister Matthew Pennycook, let this be the last time I have to do so before section 21 is consigned to the dustbin of history.
Lolol 😂😆 thanks for the update much appreciated
Wishful thinking?
Be careful what you wish for! The abolition of Section 21 will bring its own problems. Managing antisocial tenants will become much harder once they realise that the person(s) they are victimising will have to give evidence against them (after a long wait for a court date, during which time “persuasion” can be brought to bear). In HMOs conduct which will not meet the test of ASB can make life really unpleasant for the other tenants. The chances of them giving evidence against someone living under the same roof are negligible – the victims will leave instead. The result? Help the bully. Hurt the weak. Surely something wrong!
A number of landlords, fearful of not getting their property back, will choose not to rent, reducing the supply and leading to an increase in rents generally and tenants with less than stellar credentials being turned away. A tenant who is in arrears, evicted using s21, can ask the Council to re-house him or her. Their credit scores is unaffected. Many councils don’t enquire too hard about the “reason” for the s21. (As an aside 2 of the 5 section 21 notices I have served in the past 10 years were served at the request of the tenant and the council.)
Tenants evicted under s8 for rent arrears will be turned away by Councils and, once CCJs are registered, also by private landlords. Their poor credit score will make buying a house and obtaining credit harder and more expensive. I fear the much vaunted “solution” will worsen homelessness. But what do I know? I am merely a landlord providing homes for people.
Ian, the thing is that that ship has sailed. Abolition of s.21 was in all the main parties’ manifestos and in the King’s Speech.
I know, Giles. You seem happy about the abolition. I am not and I think that things will get worse for tenants generally as well as for landlords. Lose, lose all round. The Tories were seduced by some hard cases where landlords behaved appallingly but did not look at the bigger picture. The tweaks to eviction for ASB are useless because victims won’t give evidence.
I fear Labour may be doubling down on this strategic mistake. The suggestion that landlords cannot evict for rent arrears if it would cause hardship to tenants is going to set the cat among the pigeons. A lot more tenants will be sleeping on their friends’ sofas as the supply of rental property diminishes. Expect rents to increase as more landlords take out rent guarantee insurance and pass the cost on in higher rents.
Neither political party even considered providing security akin to 1954 Act business tenancies. If the only ground for eviction was s21, then require the landlord to pay compensation linked to the rent and duration of occupation. That would have dealt with or at least mitigated capricious and vexatious evictions. Instead, the baby is being thrown out with the bathwater. Tenants will have to live with the consequences.
Oh Ian, I think you missed the whole direction of the post – being that I will be delighted not to have to maintain the flowchart any more.
That said, you have made the same point repeatedly on here, and on other sites over the last 5 years. I think there comes a point where you just have to accept that making it again now is not going to make any difference.
And on the ‘can’t evict for rent arrears if would cause tenant hardship’ nonsense – silly rumours. Not true.
Yes Ian accepting the ‘Giles’ ship’ has sailed, won’t make the brunt of ASB any easier for tenants. What the pontificating politicians don’t appreciate, is that Landlords are rarely the victims of ASB, its usually either other Tenants ( as in HMO ) or innocent Home-owning neighbours.
So it’s the flowchart that’s being consigned to the dustbin! It is a tour de force and I congratulate you on producing it. Sadly, it illustrates the (unnecessary) complexity we have faced with dealing with housing matters. Work for lawyers, trouble and expense for landlords and in turn tenants.
Yes, I make the point repeatedly because the politicians do not. Nobody has come back and offered to explain why I am wrong and how dealing with ASB will not be much harder once s21 goes. Abolishing s21 is a trade off, not a solution. Having had to deal with three antisocial tenants in the past 5 years, I have personal experience.
I hope the Telegraph story is just silly rumours about rent arrears but as more tenants struggle to pay rent, Labour may want to be seen to be doing something.
I agree I don’t feel the abholsing of S21 is a positive thing but it was political porn , every party wanted a piece of it .
Landlords don’t evict good tenants (shelter seems to disagree ) sometimes when we have a bad tenant and are owed several £k we just have to suck it up and use S21 and cut our losses as the S8 just isn’t fit
but the consequences for the sector could be huge
I wouldn’t rely on the telegraph as a sensible source of information, I subscribe to them ,I do like the property section but the property doom OR boom is very sensationalist
Quite James, given that EHS shows 85% of tenants are satisfied and its only a very small percentage of the remainder who ( keep ) getting evicted, you’ve got to ask why those that take a stand for recalcitrant tenants as they are damaging the housing situation for the vast majority. ( You know who you are ! no names, no pack drill )
Ending section 21 is a sticking plaster to the absence of long term rental feasibility outside the social ( lord I hate that term) sector and skewed housing supply of the south east and other pockets. I have always deeply appreciated the flow chart as a visual thinker but a relatively simple process has been successively complicated in an effort in large part to keep people in houses in an AST which should have been limited long ago in when where and who can use it. As I get older I am jaded by the “next Rent/Housing Act to fix them all” plus ca change and all that new paperwork :)
I disagree. While further provision and structural reform is necessary for a long term rental market to be truly feasible, ending section 21 is also a necessary precondition for that.
The complications added to the process are in an attempt at enforcing regulatory compliance, not at keeping tenants in their houses. After all, most failures (save some around GSCs) can be remedied easily enough, so a very temporary delay.