What to expect from 2022 - The End of Section 21 !

What to expect from 2022 - The End of Section 21!

I know this terrifies most landlords and agents, and rightly so. But with any change comes an opportunity to shape that change in a way that works better.

Yes, I am hopelessly optimistic sometimes, but hear me out.

Section 21 is going to go, we know that, all political parties seem to support it and even the NRLA has caved in to the inevitability.

However, there seems to be be agreement that with the removal of section 21, section 8 needs to be reformed. This reform has to be in the form of new grounds under the section 8 procedure (at least to cover the sale of the property or re-occupation by the landlord), but could it also include more efficient and effective processes for enforcing section 8 grounds ?

If it does, and as a community we should use the opportunity of change to push it in this direction, then these reforms could be beneficial.

I know I am being optimistic here, and we wait to see how the government intends to amend section 8 as it removes section 21. But I think if we are clear about the likely unintended consequences of simply removing section 21 then we might be able to move things in a positive direction.

And let's be honest, a simple removal of section 21 would have significant unintended consequences.

For starters, how much more picky are we going to be about tenant selection ? We are more likely to leave a property empty than take on a difficult tenant that we have no means to remove.

That is going to mean that tenants find it harder to find properties unless they have a squeaky clean record. We will probably almost look for character references for tenants and longer rental histories and more references from previous landlords.

Selecting a tenant will have a higher level of risk if it is almost impossible to end a tenancy in the absence of rent arrears or some other breach of tenancy. What happens where there is higher risk ? You put up the cost to cover that risk, so rents might rise.

So I think there are really strong reasons why the government needs to carefully consider what it hopes to achieve by removing section 21 and make sure that the changes work for all.

Anyway, these are just my thoughts, I would be interested to hear what others think.