Lib Dems urge landlord MPs to disclose use of Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions

It would be useful if anyone who has issued a Section 22 Notice gave a reason for doing so.

Landlords are unlikely to issue a Notice for no reason. I accept that there will be some who issue the Notices for tenants that know their rights when it comes to repairs. I’d expect this to be the minority but that could just be my rise-tinted spectacles.

https://www.nrla.org.uk/research/deep-insight/s21-and-landlord-experience#:~:text=The%20decision%20to%20issue%20a,of%20a%20Section%2021%20notice

The reasons for landlords issuing Section 21 notices are overwhelmingly due to the actions of tenants: our survey showed over 70% of landlords issuing Section 21 notices did so because of rent arrears. The decision to issue a Section 21 notice is often because of several factors rather than a single cause.

Thus one-third of Section 21 notices were issued because of property damage. Anti-social behaviour (28%) or other, illegal, activity (17%) are also key reasons prompting the issuing of a Section 21 notice.

Reply to the comment left by Monty Bodkin at 26/10/2023 – 09:39
You only asked landlords to complete the survey? If so, it’s hardly surprising there weren’t many saying that they don’t use Section 21 for retaliatory evictions.

I guess we’ll never know why Section 21 is used so often. At least, not until Section 8 is used with its selection of ‘no fault’ grounds.

What does she expect the answer to be? “Yes, I’ve done it many times, it’s a hobby of mine”. I suspect the commonest answer would be never, and certainly never without a reason. I can’t even understand why retaliatory eviction for asking for repairs is a thing. Surely it’s cheaper and easier to fix the thing than go to the hassle and expense of evicting someone and finding a new tenant, and still need to fix the thing? I imagine there’s more to these stories than meets the eye.

Most evictions will be of a retaliatory nature but not retaliatory as defined by law. Eviction is the only retaliation a landlord has for rent arrears, property damage and anti-social, threatening or criminal behaviour or any combination of these. What are landlords supposed to do when their livelihood and property are threatened, grin and bear it?

Helen Morgan, the Liberal Democrat Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson, is misleading the public. Rents have not spiralled out of control. Far from it.

In 2022 the UK inflation was 5.7%, and the average rental increase was 4.3%. Even if Helen Morgan MP wanted to argue over one percentage point, she would still be wrong.

The question I ask is, is she telling lies to attract voters?

“Any MP who has ever used a section 21 notice needs to make that clear to the House and to the public”. No they don’t there’s no reason whatsoever why they need to do this. It’s their own private business. Just crazy out of control left wing thinking.

Reply to the comment left by Easy rider at 26/10/2023 – 09:26

I’ve done about 9 Sec 21’s over 26 years & not once have I been asked why.