BBC Panorama to debate Section 21 no-fault eviction featuring Landlord Action

10:17 AM, 20th February 2018, About 7 years ago 12

Text Size

This week, BBC Panorama (Wednesday 21 February at 20:30) investigates the widely debated Section 21 no-fault eviction procedure and whether tenants deserve more protection, or whether new rules would make the housing crisis worse. The show will feature leading tenant eviction company, Landlord Action, highlighting the real reasons landlords turn to Section 21.

Instances of what have come to be known as `no-fault evictions’ are reported to have trebled in the last eight years. BBC’s investigative journalist, Richard Bilton, aims to shed light on the difficulties faced by many private tenants in the UK, who have no long-term right to stay in their homes, and can be ordered to leave with little by the way of notice or explanation.

Richard meets some of the people whose lives have been plunged into chaos by their landlords, but also talks to landlords who feel Section 21 is their only option. Britain depends on the private sector, and ‘no fault evictions’ feel like a lifeline for Britain’s millions of landlords.

Panorama interviewed Paul Shamplina, Founder of Landlord Action, and their senior solicitor, Emma Philips, about the rise of section 21 no-fault evictions.

Commenting on the program, Mr Shamplina says:

“When asked to appear on Panorama, I felt a necessity to present the landlords’ side on why so many use no-fault Section 21. The term ‘no fault’ is really a bit of a red herring. There is always a reason why a landlord ends a tenancy, but it’s a far cry from the headlines showing that landlords use it just to throw tenants out. If a landlord has a good tenant, the last thing they want to do is get rid of a them. However, in our experience, the main reasons for serving Section 21 notices are for rent arrears, tenants requesting to be evicted so they can be re-housed or, most recently, because landlords wish to sell their property owing to impending tax liabilities.”

New tenancy rules introduced in December 2017 ended the contentious practice of no-fault evictions in Scotland. Following this, Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn said his party’s next manifesto will include a pledge to scrap no-fault evictions in England.

Shamplina adds: “There are some very good tenants out there. Sadly in some cases, they are being evicted through no fault of their own but rather because of their landlords’ circumstances, which must be very upsetting. However, in my opinion, the abolition of Section 21 in England would compound the housing shortage.”

Watch Panorama on BBC One, Wednesday 21^st February, 20:30.

Please also click on the link to a quick video about the show on Twitter. https://twitter.com/LandlordAction/status/965640361417891840

Contact Landlord Action

Specialists in tenant eviction and debt collection. Regulated by The Law Society.

Share This Article

Comments

Neil Patterson

9:40 AM, 23rd February 2018, About 7 years ago

Comment from Paul Shamplina of Landlord Action:

"The Panorama crew came and filmed in our offices all morning and I was interviewed for some time. This was always likely to be a pro-tenant feature, but I would have liked to have seen greater focus on the social housing crisis and a better balance between the issues faced by both landlords and tenants. I expected it to be heavily edited, but here are some of the important points I made that were not included.
1. The Private Rental Sector has almost doubled in the last 10 years
2. Councils are still encouraging tenants to stay put in a property until they are evicted so that they do not make themselves voluntarily homeless.
3. The majority of landlords are using section 21 because the tenants are in arrears. Most of the time, they just want their property back so that they can try and recoup losses and so are prepared to write off the arrears and any legal costs owing.
4. Many landlords are selling their properties and exiting the PRS because of Section 24 and impending tax liabilities
5. If Section 21 is abolished, it will be another nail in the coffin for Landlords. More landlords will exit the market and more properties will be lost from the PRS, further fueling the housing crisis
Even though the show was heavily edited, it’s better to be involved and try wherever possible to give landlords a voice."

Report Comment Reply

Old Mrs Landlord

10:51 AM, 23rd February 2018, About 7 years ago

Thanks for trying to put a balanced view anyway Paul. Those doing the editing have an agenda which was clear from the introduction and all the way through.

Report Comment Reply

Previous 1 2

Leave Comments

In order to post comments you will need to Sign In or Sign Up for a FREE Membership

Continue with Facebook

Continue with Twitter

Username/Email Address

Password

Remember Me

Forgotten your password?

Don't have an account? Sign Up

“Account”	means an account required to access and/or use certain areas and features of Our Site;
“Cookie”	means a small text file placed on your computer or device by Our Site when you visit certain parts of Our Site and/or when you use certain features of Our Site. Details of the Cookies used by Our Site are set out in section 13, below;
“Cookie Law”	means the relevant parts of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003;
“personal data”	means any and all data that relates to an identifiable person who can be directly or indirectly identified from that data. In this case, it means personal data that you give to Us via Our Site. This definition shall, where applicable, incorporate the definitions provided in the EU Regulation 2016/679 – the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”); and
“We/Us/Our”	Means Property118 Ltd , a limited company registered in England under company number 10295964, whose registered address is 1st Floor, Woburn House, 84 St Benedicts Street, Norwich, NR2 4AB.

Name of Cookie	Purpose	Strictly Necessary
JSESSIONID	Used only to collect performance data, with any identifiable data obfuscated	No
__cfduid	This cookie is strictly necessary for Cloudflare's security features and cannot be turned off.	Yes

Name of Cookie	First / Third Party	Provider	Purpose
__utma, __utmb, __utmc, __utmt, __utmz	First	Google	Helps to understand how their visitors engage with our website
_fbp	First	Facebook	Helps to understand how their visitors engage with our website