James Cleverley blames Labour’s Renters’ Rights Act after receiving Section 21 notice
8:30 AM, 24th April 2026, 2 hours ago
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The Shadow Housing Secretary has said he has received a Section 21 notice, blaming Labour’s housing reforms for prompting landlords to sell up.
Speaking at a London Housing Conference, James Cleverly said the notice was issued after his landlord decided to sell the property.
He also warned that the Renters’ Rights Act will do more harm than good.
Renters’ Rights Act will not protect tenants
Mr Cleverly said his experience of receiving a Section 21 notice is “replicated thousands of times across the country”.
He blamed the Labour government for the Renters’ Rights Act, arguing that despite claims it is meant to protect tenants, it will have the opposite effect.
Speaking to PoliticsHome, he said: “The key bit of this is the arrogance with which Labour approached this process. They just refuse to listen to the points we’re making because it was we who were making those points.
“Unfortunately, now the people who are suffering are the people who could and should have a decent supply of properties in the private rented sector, and they don’t.
“The people who they claim to want to protect are the very people who are being disadvantaged by this and it didn’t have to be like this. If the Labour Party weren’t so arrogant and unwilling to listen, it wouldn’t be happening.”
Conservatives failed to ban Section 21
A Labour source hit back and told PoliticsHome: “The Shadow Housing Secretary will be furious when he finds out who is responsible for allowing no-fault evictions to continue.
“It’s his Conservative Party that failed to ban them during their 14 years in office.
“Labour in government is putting things right and ending this unfair practice to protect renters from suddenly being thrown out of their homes for no reason. If he has changed his views and now agrees with us, he should cross the floor and join Labour.”
The news comes ahead of the Renters’ Rights Act coming into force on 1 May 2026.
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Councils with selective licensing schemes must think we are stupid
Member Since December 2023 - Comments: 1589
8:57 AM, 24th April 2026, About 1 hour ago
When will people realise, it’s not Section 21 that is the problem. The vast majority of Section 21 Notices have been issued for a reason or reasons that will be covered by Section 8.
The problem is that the government takes too much money from the Private Rented Sector.
The Tories started it. Labour have amplified it.
Tenants are just collateral damage and Labour do not care. They need the CGT receipts.
Section 8 Grounds 1 and 1A will be the all new Section 21.
Member Since June 2013 - Comments: 583
9:41 AM, 24th April 2026, About 22 minutes ago
Cleverley says:
“They ( Labour) just refuse to listen to the points we’re making because it was we who were making those points.“
Pot calling the kettle black me thinks .
No council or government has ever listened to me in 25 years simply because it was me, a Landlord, daring to have a view and making a point . I have always been treated as the enemy and shut down whenever I try to suggest to them how we could together try and make it work better for all . It falls on deaf ears though . I have a list of dozens and dozens of incidents where they have failed me and my tenants. The tenants are alas a by product to them. Councils and Governments and the likes of Shelter constantly and persistently attempt to create a wedge and a toxic divide between the largely good rapport and relationship I have with my tenants.