The Bill proposes that the Section 21 notice will be removed from legislation entirely and that there can be no end date on a tenancy. This means two things:
- Firstly, all tenancies will become open-ended. A fixed term gave a specific period that the tenancy would last for, this is often 12 months and would be renewed annually. A fixed term gave flexibility to tenants, who did not want to be held into a contract for a long time, and for landlords, who may wish to make changes to the terms of the tenancy. With no fixed term provision, a tenancy can effectively last indefinitely, until ended by either party.
- Secondly, if a landlord wants to bring a tenancy to an end, they will need to use other grounds for eviction, under Section 8 of the 1988 Act. Propertymark has been lobbying for these grounds to be strengthened in order to give assurances to landlords that they will be able to regain their property when they need to.
Some Section 8 grounds have been amended and updated and some new grounds have been added in order to give landlords protections in certain circumstances. Please see our information on the Section 8 grounds and the changes.
Changes to grounds for eviction in England
The Renters (Reform) Bill has made amendments to the grounds for eviction under Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988. These have been changed and, in some cases, strengthened, to give landlords better protections when evicting a tenant. These changes will be necessary if the Bill becomes law because a Section 21 notice will no longer be valid.
Under the proposals in the Renters (Reform) Bill, tenancies which give a fixed term will not be legally effective and all tenancies will be on a monthly (or in some cases, depending on the rental period, 28 days) basis. The tenant will be required to give two months’ notice to leave their agreement, however, unlike now, the notice could apply at any point during the tenancy, and they would only need to pay rent until the end of the notice period. The notice period a landlord must give is dependent on which ground for eviction they need to use.
Additional information for ARLA Propertymark Members
A key concern of agents is student accommodation where fixed-term contracts currently play an important role. The Bill has amended Ground 4 for eviction in student accommodation, but this only applies to purpose-built student accommodation. It is unclear currently how other student accommodation will operate under a periodic tenancy. Propertymark will continue to work with the UK Government to address the issues raised by members.
