Renters’ Rights Bill – What Does It Mean for Possession Claims?
By summer 2025, the Government hopes to ban ‘no-fault’ evictions. The Renters Rights Bill outlines the government’s plans to change renting in England. The Bill will likely undergo further changes before it becomes law. Further changes will likely be made before the Bill becomes law.
Abolition of Section 21 Notice and Changes to Possession
The main headline news in the Bill is the abolition of Section 21 notice and ‘no fault’ evictions.
The Bill provides that assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) will end and become periodic assured tenancies with a term of no more than one month. The date has not yet been set.
Tenants can end their tenancies at any time by giving two months’ notice. They will no longer be tied into a fixed term.
From the (to be) specified date, Section 21 notice will cease to apply and a landlord can only legally regain possession of their property via Section 8 notification.
The existing grounds of possession such as Ground 8 rent arrears and Ground 14 anti-social behaviour will remain in force. The date has not yet been set.
Tenants can end their tenancies at any time by giving two months’ notice–they will not be tied into a fixed term.
From the (to be) specified date, Section 21 notice will cease to apply, and a landlord can only legally regain possession of their property via Section 8 notice.
The existing grounds of possession, such as Ground 8 rent arrears and Ground 14 anti-social behaviour, will remain in force.
Increase to Arrears and Notice Period For Rent Arrears
Mandatory Ground 8 currently requires rent arrears of two months at the date the notice is served and the date of the possession hearing. The required period of arrears is going to be increased to three months. The current notice period is two weeks, and this will increase to four weeks.
- New Grounds for Possession
- Two new grounds will be introduced. These are:
Landlord wants to sell the property
Landlord or landlord’s family member wants to live in the property
Both of these grounds require the landlord to give four months’ notice, which cannot be given in the first 12 months of the tenancy. The landlord cannot re-market the property or relet it within 12 months of the date the Section 8 notice was served or the date the Particulars of Claim were issued if there is a possession claim. However, there is currently no requirement in the Bill for landlords to provide gas safety certificates, EPC, or How to Rent Guide before serving notice.
What Does All This Mean For Possession Timescales?
Current possession timescales are difficult to predict as they very much depend on how busy the courts are. We advise landlords to allow between 4-6 months for Section 21 notices and 6-10 months for Section 8 notices from the date the notice is served to the date possession.
However these timescales may be extended if the court is delayed or if the tenant files a defense to the claim.
The former government held off implementing the proposed changes under the Renters Reform Bill, claiming that the court system would not be able cope with the increased hearing demand. It does not appear that there are any plans to address the issue as part of current reforms.
The courts are already overloaded. Section 21 accelerated claims for possession allow decisions to be made on paper. This will have a significant impact on court time and judicial availability, and we would expect to see severe delays in the court processing of possession claims. This will significantly impact court time and judicial availability, and we would expect to see severe delays in the court processing of possession claims.
This may be addressed before the Bill comes into effect (and we hope it will be), but if it is not, for claims based on the new grounds, you will need to allow four months for the notice period and then potentially around six to eighteen months for the possession proceedings.
Similarly, with rent arrears, you would need to allow an extended period for the possession claim. This may cause difficulties for many landlords, as a tenant stops paying rent, and then the landlord has to wait twelve to eighteen months or more to regain possession.
Next Steps
The government is pushing to get this into law quickly. It remains to be determined if this will happen, and if there will be significant changes made to the Bill prior to its implementation.
If your property is rented out and you are thinking about regaining possession of it, you should do so as soon as possible. This will avoid a court backlog caused by landlords trying to get Section 21 accelerated claims through before the change or having to issue a Section 8 notification with its longer timescales. We may write a separate blog post about the Bill’s changes to landlord-tenant law. We will continue to track the progress of the bill through Parliament and provide further updates.
