On 11th September 2024, the Renters’ Rights Bill (formally called the Renters’ Reform Bill under the Conservative government) was introduced to Parliament by the Government and given its second reading.
At Bramsdon and Childs, we specialise in acting for landlords in landlord and tenant disputes, including possession proceedings. In order to assist our clients, we have summarised some of the key changes relevant to possession proceedings.
Please bear in mind that the current Bill is likely to change before it is made law.
Key Changes
Principally, the Bill proposes to abolish “no fault” evictions using the current section 21 process.
It aims to simply the tenancy structure and all new assured tenancies will be periodic tenancies, with tenancy periods not exceeding one month. This means not more fixed terms, which have become the norm in recent years.
A tenancy will only retain its assured shorthold status if a section 21 notice has already been served when the Act becomes law.
A new Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman aims to provide quick, fair, impartial and binding resolution for tenants’ complaints about their landlord.
There will also be changes to standards, enforcement and setting of rents.
Possession Grounds
The no fault eviction process will be abolished entirely, requiring that the landlord will need to prove a ground.
The possession grounds will be changed to try to strike a balance between security for tenants and allowing landlords to recover their property when reasonable to do so.
An interesting changes seems to be the proposal that the eviction ground of rent arrears will require three months rent arrears and a four week notice, an extension from the current two week notice for two months arrears.
A new “landlord circumstance” ground has been added that allows a landlord to claim possession if the property needs to be sold (the new Ground 1A). The grounds will also allow a possession where the landlord, or their family, will need to move in (the new Ground 1). Landlords won’t be able to use these grounds in the first 12 months of a tenancy, will need to give four months‘ notice.
Non-fault grounds that already exist will also require a four month notice period, from the current two month notice period.
Banning “No Pets”
The Bill aims to give tenants the right to keep pets and landlords will need a good reason to refuse.
This, in its current drafting, appears ripe to cause disputes about what a “good reason” will be.
Impact
The changes aim to give tenants more security but may well lead to an increase in disputes. As landlords will be unable to use the current no fault eviction process, it is likely that we can expect stricter conditions in tenancy agreements and more scopes for disputes when trying to achieve an eviction.
It is hoped that the courts will implement a streamlined procedure, similar to the current accelerated process, to reduce the strain on the system if all evictions will require a “robust ground”.
