Landlords face £3,000 eviction bills under Section 8 possession claims

Landlords are facing eviction costs that could reach £3,000 when Section 21 is abolished with May’s Renters’ Rights Act, the Daily Telegraph has revealed.

Estate agency Martyn Gerrard said the move to Section 8 claims will expose landlords to court fees, solicitor bills and lost rent during delays.

The Act will remove ‘no-fault’ notices and require landlords to rely on Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988, triggering a hearing before possession can be granted.

Allegations of anti-social behaviour and serious rent arrears will need to be evidenced in court.

Landlords could pay more

Greg Tsuman, of Martyn Gerrard, said court fees and legal costs could total £3,000.

He says HM Courts and Tribunals Service charges £404 to issue a claim and bailiffs charge £148 to enforce it.

Solicitors usually charge around £350 to serve a Section 8 notice, before hourly rates apply.

Mr Tsuman told the newspaper: “A solicitor outside London may charge around £350 per hour, whereas an expensive practitioner could charge more than double this.”

He added that ‘it would be reasonable to expect total costs in the region of £3,000 on average when lawyers are involved’.

However, that doesn’t take into account any loss of rent while awaiting a court date and eviction.

£3,000 tenant removal bill

Separate research by Benham and Reeves also put the average legal fees for removing a tenant at £3,000.

It also found that restoring a property left in disrepair costs £22,775 on average.

Percy Hughes & Roberts told the Telegraph that landlord costs can exceed £3,000 if proceedings are transferred to the High Court to speed up enforcement.

Transfers are used in some cases to shorten timelines.

Lose a year in rent

Paul Shamplina, founder of Landlord Action, said delays and procedural requirements could increase losses.

In the worst instances, he said, landlords could ‘face close to a year of unpaid rent’.

He points out that Section 8 claims are more complicated than Section 21 and carry a greater risk of being dismissed if paperwork is not completed precisely.

Mr Shamplina told the newspaper that evicting a tenant is no longer a simple administrative process and landlords will ‘increasingly need specialist, regulated legal representation’.

Section 8 eviction reasons

Section 8 applies only to defined grounds, including anti-social behaviour, property damage and arrears of at least three months.

It may also be used where a landlord or close family member intends to move in, or where the property is to be sold.

Those latter grounds cannot be used within the first 12 months of a tenancy.

If a sale falls through, re-letting will be barred for 12 months.

Last year, Section 8 cases took an average of eight months to be processed and enforced.

Since 2019, landlord possessions have averaged 5,700 per quarter.

Court delays for landlords

A spokesman for the National Residential Landlords Association said: “It now takes an average of more than six months for Section 8 possession cases to be processed and enforced by the courts.

“This is far too long for landlords who are dealing with significant rent arrears or potentially anti-social tenants.”

Propertymark’s Megan Eighteen said: “While the overall principle of strengthening renters’ rights should rightly be supported, the practical reality of abolishing Section 21 and replacing it entirely with Section 8 eviction routes from May places an enormous additional burden on an already overstretched court system.

“Private landlords will inevitably need to pursue more cases through the county courts, but the courts currently lack the capacity to cope with this extra workload.”

A government spokesman told the Telegraph: “The Renters’ Rights Act will give landlords stronger legal reasons to get their properties back when needed.

“Only a small minority of eviction cases go to court, and the Act will not change the fees linked to this.”

However, Ministry of Justice data shows that 28% of landlord possession claims issued in 2024 progressed to bailiff enforcement.