Two words - How Liz Truss announced another Section 21 U-turn

At Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday Labour MP Graham Stringer asked about media reports - based on leaks from government - that the Liz Truss administration would drop a commitment to scrap Section 21 eviction powers.

He said: “Going back on commitments to end no fault evictions is an act of extreme callousness. Can the Prime Minister reassure the 11 million private renters in the country that she will carry out the commitment to get rid of no-fault evictions?”

Truss replied: “I can.”

It is now unclear whether other elements of the Renters’ Reform Bill will also go ahead as planned or change, as it is believed Housing Secretary Simon Clarke would like.

The Renters Reform Bill is known to include these measures, which may or may not be favoured by the Truss administration:

- remove Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 providing in the government’s words “security for tenants in the private rented sector and empowering them to challenge poor practice and unfair rent increases without fear of retaliatory eviction”

- reform possession grounds for landlords, “introducing new and stronger grounds for repeated incidences of rent arrears and reducing notice periods for anti-social behaviour, ensuring that they can regain their property efficiently when needed”; 

- apply the legally binding Decent Homes Standard in the Private Rented Sector for the first time ever, giving tenants safer, better quality and better value homes;

- introduce a new Ombudsman for private landlords “so that disputes can easily be resolved without the need to go to court, which is often costly and lengthy, and ensure that when residents make a complaint, landlords take action to put things right”; 

- introduce a new property portal to help landlords understand their obligations, give tenants performance information to hold their landlord to account as well as aiding local authorities.

There has been no word from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on its approach to the Bill following the Truss U-turn on Section 21.

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