Michael Gove’s promise to ban no fault evictions will not go ahead until a full review of the courts has been completed, MPs have confirmed.
Ministers voted in favour of the Renters Reform Bill on Wednesday but a new amendment would postpone a ban on “no fault” Section 21 evictions until a review has taken place.
Landlord Tory ministers have been mounting pressure on the Housing Secretary to delay a ban on no-fault evictions for fear that current court delays could worsen and put off landlords from letting their homes.
Currently, landlords can evict a tenant with two months notice and without seeking court approval. Under the ban – a promise made by the Tories in their 2019 manifesto – all evictions will have to go through the county courts.
On Wednesday MPs voted 287 to 144, majority 143, in favour of the new clause.
Shadow housing minister, Matthew Pennycook, tabled an amendment to roll out the ban on no-fault evictions as soon as the Bill is enshrined in law and before a county court review. MPs voted 282 to 158, majority 124, against this amendment.
Conservative MP for Bromley and Chislehurst, Sir Robert Neill, told the Commons he supported the county court review.
He added: “Not because I want to delay that reform, but because I do think we have to be frank and open about the pressure that potentially puts on an already strained county courts system.
“If we want to make this Bill work, we have to use the assessment in new clause 30 as evidence for the need for sustained investment in our civil justice system.”
Currently, it takes 276 working days – 55 weeks – on average for a landlord to repossess their property, from inquiry to a possession date. But some housing associations have been waiting 18 months to repossess homes.
MPs also voted 283 to 143, majority 140, in favour of the Government’s new clause 15 to prevent a tenant from serving notice in the first six months of a new tenancy.
Backbench Tory MPs had argued the previous period in the Bill of just two months did not offer landlords enough certainty.
Mr Pennycook said clause 15 could leave tenants trapped in “unsafe” properties. He also said the Bill more broadly was “far weaker than it need be” – going as far as to call it “fatally compromised”.
Over 100 amendments put forward by the Government, many informed by lobbying from backbench MPs refusing to support the Bill, were passed in the Commons on Wednesday night. The Bill will now go to the House of Lords for its third reading.
Jacob Young, under-secretary of state for the Department for Levelling-Up, said the Government has accepted “almost all amendments” from backbenchers such as Totnes MP Anthony Mangnall who have lobbied on behalf of landlords.
