9:33 AM, 9th January 2025, About 14 hours ago 30
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Angela Rayner claims the Labour government want to work with landlords, but blames Section 21 evictions for having a significant impact on homelessness.
In a meeting with the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, Ms Rayner claims the government wants to support landlords in providing “safe and secure homes”.
The Housing Secretary repeated Labour’s government ambition to ban Section 21 evictions and introduce Awaab’s Law to the private rented sector.
In the Select Committee meeting, Ms Rayner says she was ‘hesitant’ to put a timeline on when the government wants to end homelessness but claims Section 21 evictions are a contributing factor.
Ms Rayner said: “I think it’s really challenging to set out a timeline to end homelessness, given the challenges we face with the inheritance from the Conservatives and the current projections for homelessness.
“One of the biggest issues we have to address is Section 21 no-fault evictions, which are having a significant impact on homelessness.”
However, Ms Rayner did not provide evidence to support this claim.
The English Housing Survey Private Rented Sector report for 2021-2022 reveals the majority of renters (77%) ended their last tenancy because they wanted to move NOT because of eviction.
Ms Rayner also told the Select Committee meeting that the government wants to work with landlords to improve housing standards.
The Housing Secretary criticised a small minority of landlords, blaming them for providing homes that were unsuitable for tenants. She said:
She said: “People are living in housing that is not good for their health, but they are too frightened to raise the alarm. This is not adequate.
“As soon as they raise concerns, they are served a Section 21 notice by the landlord, who then finds someone else willing to move in and accept the squalor they’re being put in.
“I must say, though, that not all landlords are like that. There are some incredibly decent landlords out there.
“The Decent Homes Standard and Awaab’s Law that we are introducing are about making sure we can support people living in safe and secure housing, while acknowledging that there are significant numbers of people who are not just in temporary accommodation, but in housing that is not safe for them at the moment.
“We want to work with landlords to make sure they can bring their homes up to standards.
“This isn’t about landlords being bad; this is about acknowledging that we have a housing crisis, and it’s not just about building homes, but making sure the homes we have currently are fit for human habitation.”
Elsewhere during the meeting, Ms Rayner said the government is determined to meet the 1.5 million homes target set by the government for this Parliament.
The Housing Secretary also committed to leasehold reform this year.
She said: “We want to make sure we are moving at pace, but we also want to ensure there aren’t unintended consequences. There are gaps in the current legislation that could cause problems, such as the inclusion of flats.
“We want to bring forward legislation within this year.”
Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns at Propertymark, said: “It is encouraging to hear that the UK Government intends to progress with leasehold reform and that they are committed to making common holding a default position for many.
“Propertymark welcomes Ms Rayner’s pledge to introduce the Planning and Infrastructure Bill in March and we look forward to working with them on meeting their ambitious target of constructing 1.5 million new homes.
“However, while the Housing Secretary is intent on scrapping Section 21, which she believes is the answer to ending homelessness, it is essential there is full clarity from the UK Government on how it intends to address issues which Propertymark has highlighted, such as the anticipated backlog it will cause within the courts system.”
You can watch a clip of Angela Rayner at the committee meeting here
dismayed landlord
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Sign Up10:55 AM, 9th January 2025, About 13 hours ago
Once S21 are banned and homelessness still increases who or which section of the community will be blamed next?
Shelter? Is that why Polly is getting out fast?
David Lawrenson
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Sign Up11:05 AM, 9th January 2025, About 13 hours ago
Reply to the comment left by Cider Drinker at 09/01/2025 - 08:49
Admit it, Ange, you are T H I C K..... THICK
Ray Lancaster
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Sign Up11:32 AM, 9th January 2025, About 12 hours ago
There are some good landlords out there she states. Really! The majority are Mrs Raynor, some are bad. Get it right.
More landlords have issued a section 21 to get their property back to sell due to successive governments attitude towards them.
Jason
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Sign Up11:41 AM, 9th January 2025, About 12 hours ago
Reply to the comment left by Reluctant Landlord at 09/01/2025 - 10:01
A strong warning here, never list a discretionary ground if you have a mandatory one. It can have the opposite effect of what you think. An inexperienced judge can focus on a defence a tenant brings to that and ignore the mandatory one deferring the case. ALWAYS just list mandatory only even if you have many discretionary grounds.
Basically never mix mandatory and discretionary (you have been warned)
David Houghton
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Sign Up11:41 AM, 9th January 2025, About 12 hours ago
Reply to the comment left by Reluctant Landlord at 09/01/2025 - 10:01
Yes you could, but including rent arrears can give " breathing space" i.e extra 2 months delay to eviction, and give grounds for the tenant to challenge at trial. With consequent delays and costs.. Stick to I'm.selling if possible
Seething Landlord
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Sign Up12:11 PM, 9th January 2025, About 11 hours ago
Reply to the comment left by Tom Dawson at 09/01/2025 - 09:48
Quite correct. In recent years all 5 new tenants of our one bedroom flats have been men moving out following the breakdown of a relationship.
Peter Merrick
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Sign Up15:08 PM, 9th January 2025, About 9 hours ago
I thought the whole point of section 21 back in 1988 was to support landlords in providing homes for renters by giving them confidence to enter the market knowing that they would not be forced to go through a tortuous and potentially ruinous process to get their property back from the tenant if they wanted to?
Abolishing section 21 will just mean that people become extremely cautious about who they loan their property to and therefore drive up homelessness, especially for those that cannot prove that they will be reliable tenants.
Even the option of offering rent in advance to get a tenancy is going to be taken away fairly soon. The only means subprime tenants will have is via a guarantor, and good luck getting that!
Overall, landlords should ultimately benefit from the increasingly dire lack of supply, especially those with unencumbered properties. Oh, the irony of unintended consequences! Or are they unintended?
dismayed landlord
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Sign Up15:20 PM, 9th January 2025, About 8 hours ago
Reply to the comment left by Peter Merrick at 09/01/2025 - 15:08
Spot on. even if you get a guarantor -
I have had them die! Had them being so aggressive and obnoxious. Even threatened my family. And forget relations - they are the worse!
So it’s ain’t worth the aggravation.
But please do not all sell and add to this so called ‘landlords mass exodus’.
I want to sell mine for what’s its worth. Not what David wants to offer!
I think the market is robust for PRS and everyone should stay.
Ian Narbeth
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Sign Up15:28 PM, 9th January 2025, About 8 hours ago
Reply to the comment left by Peter Merrick at 09/01/2025 - 15:08
Peter, you are right. A question that the Tories never answered - and that idiot Michael Gove probably never asked - is, if s21 is such a bad thing, was it ever thus?
The rental market before the Housing Act 1988 was stultified. The Rent Acts kept tenants in houses unto the third generation (i.e passed from parents to child to grandchild). Tenants couldn't move to take up a new job or had to pay for bed and breakfast near their new job.
Section 21 opened up the market and allowed tenants the flexibility of moving and not having to stay in their Rent Act protected house.
I posted on this forum about the abolition of s21 five years ago: https://www.property118.com/removal-of-section-21-housing-act-1988/
I stand by every word.
Ryan Stevens
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Sign Up16:12 PM, 9th January 2025, About 7 hours ago
I have just read about issues with the Crown Court, where the headline is 'All the money in the world’ could not fix Crown Court backlog'
If they cannot fix the Crown Court backlog what hope is there of fixing the County Court backlog! This is only going to get worse once s21 is abolished.
But who cares? There are more tenant voters than landlords, so the Government thinks that they are on to a winner. All landlords should therefore stress to tenants that any increases in rent or inconveniences they suffer due to EPC, etc are down to the Government, rather than landlords necessarily wanting to increase rent or carry out work. Landlords have to cover their time and additional overheads.